This blog post has been adapted somewhat from a Twitter rant I had last night after a screening of Kevin Smith’s Red State had let out at the Sundance Film Festival.
I follow a lot of movie bloggers on Twitter. Several of them are at Sundance. Nearly all of them were taking the piss out of Smith after the screening of Red State.
It wasn’t necessarily the film alone that ruffled their feathers. But, rather, Smith’s “auctioning” of the film’s distribution rights that snapped up for $20 which was promptly announced as “SOLD!” by the movie’s producer, Jonathan Gordon. Smith intends to forgo traditional major studio distribution and will market the film himself on a multi-city tour.
Was it a publicity stunt? Sure. But I’m not sure I understand why movie bloggers are up in arms about this.
I remember the days when Smith was the hottest thing since sliced bread. Journalists were more than eager to prop him up when he was the guy who maxed out his credit cards to make a movie no one had heard about.
Not that I expect journalists to be in his corner at all times. Certainly the quality of his movies has declined a little bit and he’s taken a very vocal anti-media stance. No wonder he’s unpopular in blogging circles. After being burned one too many times, he doesn’t give media the same access as before.
But watching a series of tweets from movie bloggers roll in last night, you could see how the frustration with Smith has turned into outright animosity for (what I think are) largely arbitrary reasons.
Smith has taken the distribution of Red State into his own hands. He brought it to Sundance not to sell it to a studio, but to kick off his own marketing campaign. Folks, this is as indie as indie gets. Yet, there is no praise for this decision?
I’m reminded of music acts like Radiohead or Nine Inch Nails – musicians who have walked away from major record labels and who are producing albums for fans that they release online. These guys are celebrated as marketing mavericks. Meanwhile, Smith is still a pariah.
I can’t help but think this is somewhat deliberate on the part of the movie blogging community. They’re looking for a way to punish Smith for making the decision to communicate only with his fans. Either that, or they’re participating in that time-honored media tradition of championing the unknown artist, validating his work to the masses and then tearing him down in order to look ahead of the curve.
What’s your take on the Kevin Smith hate? Is it warranted? Did Smith bring this on himself? What about his decision to distribute Red State on his own? A bold move or career suicide? Leave your comments below.
In the meantime, if you’d like to watch Smiths’ Q&A from Red State at Sundance, I’ve included that below. I’m eager to read your feedback!
I had mixed feelings about the whole ordeal when it happened last night. ON the one hand I felt a little cheated by Smith with the way the auction played out, because I felt like I had been lied to. However, as I look on it in the light of day I really don’t care that much. I’m excited about the film because it looks interesting, and I’m strongly considering going to one of the touring shows since it’s coming fairly near me.
I understand the bloggers reaction too though, they think Kevin Smith has cut them out of the hype game. There won’t be any more trailers beyond the teaser to go over in obsessive detail and there won’t be a traditional opening weekend to judge the film (and Smith) on. But Smith has realized he doesn’t have to play their game. Earlier he wrote about the aborted plan to fund Red State through the fans, and hoe he let himself be convinced to drop the idea by a bunch of bloggers. It seems like he’s learned his lesson there and finally decided to do things the way he wants. Smith has continually had films that were successful in the long run no matter what happened in the opening weekend, and so he’s taking that arbitrary scale of success off the table.
Will it all work out for him? Maybe, maybe not., but he seems like a guy who has decided he won’t let other people determine how successful he feels. And isn’t that what most creative people should do?
Have been a Smith fan since I saw Mallrats on vhs way back when. Dude can do whatever he likes with his movies.
I feel like I sound like a douche bag.
You kind of bring up a good point, though. Seems like anyone that isn’t drinking the Kevin Smith hater-ade is dismissed as a fanboy.
I enjoy Kevin Smith’s movies, but I probably appreciate him more as a public figure. I think he’s an entertaining storytelling and I appreciate his honesty.
Are all of his films great? Of course not. Has there been a marginal decline over the years? Maybe, but I attribute that more to my changing tastes than to Smith’s talent.
But for some reason, if you stick up for Smith, you’re not worth listening to.
I’m a Kevin Smith fan, but not a fanboy. I think it’s a great idea and sounds like a great execution — subverting the system in the heart of it all.
Your points are really interesting, Tom; why is what’s championed as cutting edge and “cred” for music frowned upon for movies? Is it because film is considered (slightly) less of an elitist medium than song? Or is there something else there? I think it’s interesting to look at, and I think it’s especially intriguing that Kevin Smith wants to forgo the usual distribution standards and tour the film *himself*. How will this work out? Will this be the first brick in a new distribution structure, or will it be the straw that broke the ailing camel’s back? Will the success (or failure) of the film hinge more on the strength of the film, or more on the draw of his presence? Does it even matter?
Regardless, kudos to Smith for trying something different. I’m excited to keep a close eye on this film (as I have been for some time), and what becomes of this tour.
It’s easier to distribute music independently, I suppose. All the artist has to do is upload a song and it’s up to the consumer to find the device to play it on.
Smith’s approach kind of subverts the theater distribution model. Theater chains are forced to take deals from the studios – commit so many screens to some movies in order to get the right to play others. Kevin is basically giving the theater the right to decide – and that cuts a lot of players out of the loop.
Right. The “you have to buy three Aston Kutcher movies to get the next Brad Pitt flick” deals. Gotta tell you. I am NOT a fan of that model, for obvious reasons.
I think it’s just as easy to throw a film online as it is for music. Michael Moore did it, and sounds like Red State maybe going that route at some point after the tour(s). Smith, I think, just wanted an excuse to tour and do his stand-up/story-telling and have some fresh material to bring along with him. How fresher can material get than that-movie-you-just-saw-right-now? The man advertises the movie, and the movie advertises the man. It’s a great co-dependent relationship.
There are a lot of smaller independent filmmakers who have taken the path of self distribution and it’s kind of hurting the smaller distributors. So, he’s not the first to attempt this, however being Kevin Smith will help him a lot. Especially now that VOD and streaming is increasingly more accessible to independents and is becoming a major source of revenue…if he’s successful doing it on his own and other named filmmakers follow suit the industry is going to take another hit.
The greatly entertaining and funny “Bottle Shock” film was distributed roughly theater to theater, with the filmmaker doing his own distributing. So this isn’t exactly a new idea. I don’t really understand why people got upset that he’s not going with the man (last time I checked, most movie bloggers complain about the controlling nature of Hollywood). Go Smith.
Also, see “Bottle Shock” if you haven’t. It’s streaming on Netflix last time I checked.
Tom,
it’s a great point comparing Smith to Radiohead.
Well the only thing I had heard about this film at all was nothing to do with the distribution, but some drivel about tea partiers hating the movie. so I had to go and look up what the movie is even about. I understand that his post-premier presentation was rather ranty and tangential, but isn’t that kind of a hallmark of indie films and their creators? The guy is making money doing what he loves, and we should all be so lucky. The flick looks solid enough if you like bloody slasher horror so lay off, huh blogger community?
I like Smith and his movies myself. He’s like a counterpoint to Tarantino for me. They both came from this place of being “movie geeks” who got lucky doing what they enjoy, but while Quentin went off into this whole arthouse ultraviolent thing (which is great too) Smith kept up with his jersey trilogy stuff (which is a trilogy in the same way Hitchhikers Guide is) and somehow got panned and attacked for seemingly nothing worse than no longer being flavour of the month.
Have their been dogs along the way? Of course; but hey, dude keeps trying, which is all anyone can ask. At this point in his career he could just be sitting back and making money off writing for DC and generally geeking it out instead of trying new things and taking risks.
It was the Westboro Baptist “Church” that showed up to protest Smith’s film. Red State is loosely based on them.
As I saw reported, Smith actually joined the protesters and held up his own sign that read “GOD HATES FAT.”
i LOVE kevin smith…have for a very long time. his ability to write a script that is touching and crude and funny and awkward all at the same time blows my mind.
i can’t wait to see red state. i don’t mind he’s blackballed the media for the most part for this movie.
i watch anything view askew …. just watched small town gay bar the other day and it was great.
I haven’t read anything about this anywhere other than here so I guess I’m lucky for not reading some rather mean-spirited blogs. I feel as though he’s kind of the fall guy right now more than anything. I don’t see why this would make blgogers hate him… haven’t they been complaining for years that he’s sold out?
Yeah, this is the first place I read about it too, which I think is refreshing. Hopefully it didn’t shape my view of the situation too much, but I think Smith gets blasted just as often as not. But say what you want, the man has created a fantastic niche audience that he can live the rest of his days off of. I honestly believe he’s just making the films for the love now, as naive as that might be.
Check out the WTF with Marc Maron podcast from a week ago. Kevin Smith talks a little about why he turned his back on all the media types. He also talks a bit about his experience during the marketing of Zack and Miri and of Cop Out. This is a must for any fan of Smith.
I meant to mention Smith’s interview on WTF. I listened to it and agree it was very insightful.
He also did an interview on Chris Hardwick’s The Nerdist podcast that is also valuable for filling in these gaps.