Kevin Smith

In 1993, Kevin Smith made a splash in the independent film scene with his debut film Clerks. Now in 2011, seventeen years later, he has made an even bigger splash on the independent film scene with the release of his 10th Film, “Red State”. On Stage at the Sundance Film Festival, Kevin Smith decided not to sell his film for conventional distribution methods, instead he kept the right to his film “Red State” and has opened Smod Cast Pictures, his own distribution company.

Long in the industry, there was a certain way to do things, how to make a film, how to market a film, and how to distribute a film. It’s been proven that there is more than one way to make a film, there are definitely many ways to market a film, but until recently there wasn’t any really clear cut alternate options in distributing a film, at least theatrically.

Kevin Smith’s Smodcast pictures will distribute it’s first film, the directors “Red State” by taking it on a road show across the country, hoping to make the entire budget back for the film before its official theatrical release. Then when the film releases in October officially in standard run theaters, its all profit.

This initial plan while experimental, is also very daring. He then claimed that should the process work, his desire is to pluck up aspiring filmmakers and their low budget feature film projects. This is a tremendous opportunity for many young film makers, whose smaller films tend to get lost in the distributions shuffle at the festivals. Even the ones that do get picked up can get lost in the shuffle of release when distributors do not allocate enough funds to properly advertise a smaller less bankable indie.

This announcement excited me, as I know many young film makers, myself included who not only can hope to get plucked up from obscurity, but can also use something as simple as this announcement as a motivation to get out and do it themselves. The verdict is still out on whether or not Kevin’s plan to self distribute will work out, but so far ticket sales have been high, and things seem optimistic at the moment. Up and coming film makers can only hope that it goes well, because if it does, and Smod Cast Pictures opens it’s doors to small independent films, that small circle will open up to include many more people, myself included.