movies Kevin Smith Says No to Kickstarter

[Rappy Veteran]

Writer-director Kevin Smith won't use Kickstarter to get his long-gestating Clerks III project off the ground.

The filmmaker, who has recently completed his first draft of the movie's 137(!) page screenplay, took to Reddit recently to explain why he changed his original stance on crowd-sourcing funds for the movie.

"We nearly Kickstarted the budget back in November," explained Smith. "But now I'm feeling like that's not fair to real indie filmmakers who need the help. Unlike back when I made CLERKS in '91, I've GOT access to money now - so I should use that money and not suck any loot out of the crowd-funding marketplace that might otherwise go to some first-timer who can really use it."

Smith will instead fund the movie himself, explaining that the crowd-funding model should be left to "the next generation of artists."

Nicely put, Mr. Smith.

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/05/16/kevin-smith-says-no-to-kickstarter

[M_Lyons10]

Very respectable. I always liked him. He seems like a standup guy.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Very respectable. I always liked him. He seems like a standup guy.

Yeah this is a very noble move on his behalf. Much respect.

[+primortal Subscriber²]

As he would say, a big bucket of win :D

[RangerLG]

But using other people's money to make money for yourself is the American way. He's a communist! /sarcasm

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

Nice gesture. I do struggle when I see people like Zach Braff who made over $1m per episode of Scrubbs asking for money on Kickstarter to fund a project "he really believes in"!

[Hurmoth]

Nice gesture. I do struggle when I see people like Zach Braff who made over $1m per episode of Scrubbs asking for money on Kickstarter to fund a project "he really believes in"!

But that's the way the real world works though. No one wants to front all of their money on a project that could fail. If someone wants to start a business, even if they have their own money, they don't put all of it in their company, they put a percentage in and the rest comes from investors, same thing here.

Plus, do we really know how much money Braff actually has? I think people are getting production budget and distribution budget confused or blended together. To distribute a film worldwide, it costs millions (both in getting the film printed and shipped to theaters and for marketing promotions) outside the production budget.

Also, Braff didn't make a million dollars per episode for Scrubs, he made $350 thousand per episode. That is a big difference.

I don't have a problem with anyone using Kickstarter for whatever they want. If you don't like the project, guess what? No one is forcing you to put money in; in fact, you don't even have to click on the Kickstarter link.

[Growled Member]

I think he did the right thing. Props to him.

[McCordRm]

This was the move of a true artist.

If he were a parasitic money-######, he'd have gone the Kickstarter route. The fact that

he's allowing the system to provide NEW artists that need the help proves he's just

an artistic badass. Props.