BEST OF: Kevin Smith: From Clerks to NFTs & The Future of Indie Filmmaking

In honor of Dogma's 25th anniversary, check out my convo with the great Kevin Smith! First aired 8/12/22 Kevin Smith is an American filmmaker, actor, comedian, comic book writer, author, YouTuber, and podcaster. His first big break was in the film industry, after winning the Filmmaker's Trophy at Sundance Film Festival in 1994, for low-budget comedy buddy film Clerks. He also notably wrote, directed, co-produced, and acted in as the character Silent Bob of stoner duo Jay and Silent Bob, in Clerks, as well as multiple follow up movies such as Mallrats (1995), Chasing Amy (1997), Dogma (1999), Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001), Clerks II (2006), and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019). As a podcaster, Smith co-hosts several shows on his SModcast Podcast Network, including SModcast, Fatman Beyond, and the live show Hollywood Babble-On. He is known for participating in long, humorous Q&A sessions that are often filmed for DVD release, beginning with An Evening with Kevin Smith. Check out Kevin’s new film, Killroy, which is the first movie to be released to the public as an NFT! For all things Kevin Smith, check out https://thatkevinsmithclub.com/ This Episode’s Heavy-hitter’s: Kevin was fortunate enough to work with legendary stand up Comedian George Carlin for his film Dogma. On the set of the film, which was largely about Christianity, he had a conversation with Carlin which made him question his Faith for the first time in his life. For his upcoming NFT film Killroy, Kevin is working with Ringling College of Arts & Design students to create the film. The intention isn’t to be a blockbuster, it’s to capture the first film released as an NFT and help give the students a platform. Another of the main points of excitement for Kevin in the NFT & Film space is the idea of collaboration– as someone who launched his career as an independent filmmaker, it reminds him of the early days of the internet. A huge motivator for Kevin– particularly after the heart attack he suffered some years back– is desperation rather than creativity. Kevin has a huge will to make the creative visions he has happen, and he sees it as battling the clock to get as far down the list as possible. To that last point, Kevin actually believes in quantity over quality when it comes to creative work. To sum it up– “F*ck quality– quality gets decided by the audience”