A Q&A on Culture, Filmmaking, Storytelling and Cool Tools

My notes from a MacWorld 2007 preso by Kevin Smith
1-9-2007

MY INITIAL THOUGHTS:
Kevin used quite a bit of profanity in his Q&A. I am not including any of that in this post of course, but as a warning you will encounter some if you visit his blog or probably if you hear him in person. His perspectives on filmmaking and acting are definitely worth hearing. He is a very down-to-earth person, regular guy– comes off as more of a standup comedian than a person you might typify as a filmmaker. The wikipedia article on Kevin has lots of info about his background and work to date as an actor, writer, director and filmmaker. Kevin is one of those rare people (at least I think they are still rare) who has emerged and made it big as result of a self-funded film that was shown at Sundance.

NOTES FROM KEVIN’S PRESO:

Writing is where it all begins, editing is getting another shot at the apple / another pass at the script
– at that point you’re editing, you’re the only person who can mess it up
– at the point you bring more people in, bets are off on what is going to happen

I do “cut my own stuff”

“Catch and Release” picture comes out at the end of the month
– got lots of acting roles lately, wondered if the message of industry was “stop directing!”

In “Man Child” for Showtime, includes character for Mark Antony from Caesar
– had awkward experience in the surfing scene for the opening of the film, in a wetsuit

I’ve been in six movies that I haven’t directed
– playing in “Silent Bob” some people don’t know I can talk!
– DVD I put out is the thing that got me jobs as an actor

Last year was pretty crazy just doing “Clerks 2”
– worked a bit on DieHard at the end of the year
– it’s fun to act and gives you a good perspective on doing your own thing
– the waiting around thing is what sucks (shooting pretty people first, ugly people later)

It’s been fun and enlightening to do (act) and was something I never thought I would do in a million years
– I played a role in “Silent Bob” and never thought I’d end up as an actor
– just kind of happened organically

Question about what was going on at Sundance and what you would have done if a studio hadn’t picked up
– went back for about 6 month working at QuickStop
– people expect results in the movies, at a convenience store they just ask “can I get my change?”
– if the movie wouldn’t have been picked up, I definitely would still be working at QuickStop

I tried to write a play at one point, girlfriend at the time was critical of it
– so decided to write a film
– went to he Vancouver film school for 4 months
– did a little documentary at that time, the main person flaked out so we had to do a documentary on our failing documentary

After “Clerks” came out, that film became the one that the Vancouver Film School shows all the new people

People give you a pass on your first film, so that was great with “Clerks”
– people didn’t realize that was the height of my ability!
– my desire to make films is to make them simple
– I don’t really care that much about the visuals, which is weird since it’s a visual medium– my main interest

My first Apple I got in 1994 (late)
– up to that person had worked on Smith-Corona word processor, except I had seen “War Games” and knew I couldn’t afford that!
– I knew nothing about computers at that time

My parents bought me the electric typewriter
– you couldn’t do computing on it, but you could do word processing
– that is what I wrote “Clerks” on
– it was BIG and heavy
– I remember lugging it into QuickStop, always took about 15 minutes to lug it in and
– when you wanted to print something out, it was really like you were typing very fast
– the hard drive would tell the typewriter to start typing
– it would take 4 minutes per page: I remember thinking that was lightning fast!

Wrote “Mallrats” on a Mac Portable

Some of you cats may not remember this, but there was a time before WiFi
– you had to plug your computer into a phone
– it is completely different now in just 10 years

I don’t want to turn into PC bashing but I just think the PC is weird and stupid
– why are there 2 buttons?
– I believe in both Mac and Vans, those are the 2 companies I’d buy stock in

Ultimately the studio and Kevin were pleased at the take for “Clerks”
– cost $5 million to make, brought in $10
– really should make straight to DVD movies

I am most interested in people talking to each other when I make films

it always help you to be funny

reviewing movies professionally is actually a tough job, because you have to watch many films you’d never choose to watch on your own

it is very helpful to have an entertainment lawyer when you are breaking in and working in the industry

I have not had much luck in Hollywood- so how expensive is your film to make
– my advice is really to make “Clerks” because
– I just kind of said the right thing at the right time, I never took a script and tried to get someone to agree to produce it– I just wrote Clerks, put it on my credit card and made it myself