Thank you! I don’t even mind being wrong. 
This is one of the most contradictory posts I’ve ever seen. Are you claiming that
A) Making a movie that he knows fans wants to see,
B) Refusing large amounts of money up-front, and
C) Backing away from big-budget Hollywood films
makes him a sellout? That’s a seriously twisted argument.
I hated Jersey Girl, not because of the lack of trash-talking stoners, but because it was a very, very poorly made movie. The script meandered, Affleck looked bored, and there was zero chemistry and humor.
Despite this, I’m looking forward to him making more serious movies, because I think he’s a talented guy. I am also looking forward to Clerks 2,for the same reason.
Dude, that was months ago. I found the episode a bit disappointing, though. He’s such a fan of the series, they probably could have gotten him to be a regular or a writer or something.
I have no problems with Smith going for the fan recognition. That’s not my issue here.
Here is what’s bothering me: Kevin Smith is portraying himself as some sort of martyr with this “volunteer financial sacrifice” that is anything but. He either got bitchslapped by the studio, or he’s playing it smart. Either way, unless he has resigned from the Directors Guild of America given that his film has a $5,000,000 budget, he is going to make a minimum of $10,000/week and $2,064 for every day worked above his guarantee. Cite (PDF.) So if he works for 5 weeks, he’s earned $50,000+. There’s a large percentage of us reading this who aren’t going to earn $50,000 between Labor Day and Halloween, and I don’t think that Kevin Smith oughtta laud himself for the “pain” of doing so.
If the film earns $40,000,000 and Smith makes a measley 1% of gross profits, he will still earn an additional $250,000. I’m betting he has a minimum of 5% and as many as 15%. (A $5m budget, extrapolating $15m as the break-even point.) Not counting his participation in DVD sales, book rights, merchandising, residuals from TV sales, and whatever else he’s grabbing hold of in the secondary market.
So go whine about your sacrifice somewhere else, Mr. Smith. I’ll be glad to direct your movie for $5 grand a week, with no back end.
Kevin Smith found that he works better in a smaller medium. That’s fine - it’s called personal and career growth. But the fact that he’s not working on a film that’s paying other people oodles of money doesn’t detract from the fact that he will take home a minimum $10,000 a week for his active work in the film.
He’s selling out on his vision of making movies detailing where he is in his life, either personally, socially, intellectually, whatever. He’s now become a director for hire, doing sequels. Money has nothing to do with “selling out” in this case, motivations do, especially when coupled with self serving statements.
I hope the film proves me wrong, that Clerks 2 is a labor of love and a personal movie, I really do. But I was disheartened when I read that quote because of how purely untrue it was.
Let’s hear again from the man making $10,000 week:
Waaaahhhh. He’s making the baby Jesus cry.
Hmm…I’ll be interested to see this. While I think Kevin Smith is over-rated, I do look forward to his work, and nothing has matched the magic that was Clerks. Mallrats was very good, too, if not underappreciated. Chasing Amy bugged the hell out me, and it just wasn’t the girl’s voice. The sexual flip-flopping of the title character just didn’t seem believable to me. Jay and Silent Bob, regardless of the fact that it’s supposed to be enjoyed as a stupid movie, was a stupid and boring movie. Dogma was good concept with lackluster execution. Jersey Girl, I’ve yet to see.
Ah, cut him a break. If you read his “My Boring Ass Life” blog, he’s blowing thousands of dollars playing poker at the Ultimate Bet Web site. He’s gotta make that up somehow. 
Dude, he’s back for two more episodes, which was why it was in my paper.
And he can’t be a writer on the show, because the money for D:TNG comes from the Canadian government, and the law says that the creative positions must be filled by Canadians.
As far as a regular, well, he probably has other commitments. But I don’t want to speak for him.
Well, thanks for taking the time to clear that up for me, Sparky.
There was no sexual flip-flopping of the title character: in the one story we heard about her, Amy was nothing but straight. You’re talking about the sexual flip-flopping of Alyssa. Which, btw, seemed quite believable to me (but then, I loved that movie).
I agree, however, that Joey Lauren Adams has an annoying voice – especially in the “screaming-while-crying” scenes. Those scenes always make me want to throw something at her!
:smack: It’s been awhile since I’ve seen that movie.
You know, I wasn’t particularly interested in Passion of the Clerks before, but that post has me reasonably enthused. Smith’s films (Jersey Girl excepted; I didn’t see it) got really derivative at the end there, so if he can successfully get back to basics and do that well, I think I’ll enjoy it a lot.
To state where I stand: really liked Clerks and Chasing Amy the most, not a Mallrats fan, Dogma and …Strike Back were both very hit-and-miss, mostly the latter. The stuff on the Miramax studio lot was pretty good, but other than that, not so much. Smith’s humor actually seemed to regress as his original fans got older, which was odd. I really dug the animated series, which was at least as funny as any of the movies.
After I saw Jersey Girl, I told my friends: There’s good news and there’s bad news. The good news is that Kevin Smith has matured as a director. The bad news is that Kevin Smith has matured as a director.