Kevin Smith's 'Indie 2.0'... The Dawn Of A New Age?

banner by Justin Reed

I've been struggling with this article for a while now. With all the buzz surrounding Red State over the web lately, I felt a little remiss in my duties by not posting any news stories. It wasn't because I didn't feel it was news worthy, I just felt that it wasn't enough. I had too much to say to just bring it up as a news story.


First of all, I have to say what a huge fan of Kevin Smith I am, and have always been. I grew up on the ASKEWniverse: Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma. These films were the cornerstone of my youth, for a lot of reasons. Dick and Fart jokes for the intellectual, emotional forays into the dreaded 'relationship', friendship, betrayal, religion, humanity. Not that this ended with any of other Smith films, but those four kind of put me in the direction my life would continue to take. Living with humor, surviving with friends, dealing with your beliefs.

And the occasional dick and fart joke. Yea, I'm amping up these films a lot, not that they don't deserve it. But they were always more to me than a film. When I broke up with my first girlfriend, I watched Chasing Amy to try to understand, and I watched Mallrats to move on. Clerks was the inevitable bad work day movie, and Dogma, well... Dogma was different. I watched Dogma when I wanted to watch a Kevin Smith movie. Because that's the best part of his movies, they are classic Smith. You can watch his progression as filmmaker, from the motivational indie-that-could Clerks to the welcome-to-Hollywood Cop Out, which I loved.

The point I'm making is how inspired I was to not be afraid to do what you want. To write about what you know, tell your stories how you want to tell them. And here's why I'm able to write this article now. Because Kevin Smith continues to inspire those same ideals.


Red State is Smith's latest movie, here's the synopsis:


"Three horny high-school boys come across an online ad from an older woman looking for a gang bang. Boys being boys, they hit the road to satisfy their libidinal urges. But what begins as a fantasy takes a dark turn as they come face-to-face with a terrifying "holy" force with a fatal agenda."


Now take a look at the trailer:



Not what you expected right? This certainly takes a definitive turn in Smith's movie-making ways and brings us his first horror-thriller, which is news itself. But that's not the BIG news. Red State premiered at Sundance, with no press screenings or a distribution deal. The build-up for the screening was amazing, something I haven't seen for a while. People were pelting each other with hot dogs overflowing with mustard just to get a chance to see the film. Well, maybe not quite that, but it was pretty intense.

The rumor was that Kevin Smith was going to auction off the distribution rights after the screening, and that was true. Here's the kicker. Kevin Smith bought the distribution rights himself for $20. After years of criticizing the way Hollywood has marketed and distributed movies, Smith is doing again what he started with Clerks. He's doing it himself. And he christened it 'Indie 2.0' which I find to be quite fitting. There's an article here that goes more into the actual process he will be taking with the film, and it's pretty interesting.

Here's what I really wanted to share with you. Kevin Smith is unparalleled when it comes to fan interaction, what with his Q &A's and his Smodcasts, plus various social networking sites. And it's what I read today on his Twitter account that really inspired me to write this article.


I'll tell you what I'll never forget about Sundance 2011: as I left the stage last night, a couple 20-something dudes followed along in the hallway, saying the dug the flick. Then one of them nearly knocked me dead when he said, with all the earnestness & passion of indie film incarnate "You can do this." 


Hells, yea, Kevin Smith. "You can do this." And I for one, can't wait. Thanks for doing what you do.