For those who have never herd of Clerks (and you must be living under a rock if you haven’t) is the film that launched the career of director and actor Kevin Smith. Smith spent 4 mouths at the Vancouver Film School but never completed his education deciding instead to leave in order to save so that he could produce Clerks. Noted for its realism and memorable characters Clerks was shot entirely in black and white in 1994. It gained acclaim for its portrayal of middle class, young adults and their day-to-day lives. It’s smart dialogue and deadpan approach made Smith’s modest produce feel authentic and relatable but also a comedy cult classic!
Smith served as writer, director and producer as well as actor. Clerks introduced the character Silent Bob played by Smith himself and was one of the many recurring characters including Silent’s Bob’s partner in crime Jay who later got there own spin off movie in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. However in order to bring Clerks to the big screen Smith’s journey in making this movie is truly inspirational. Smith had to max out several credit cards, sell his much loved comic book collection, dip into his college fund but also use the insurance money on a lost car in order to finance the film. Shooting over 21 consecutive days Smith shot the movie in the convenience store where he worked, casting his friends to play the various main roles.
Clerks went on to be screened at the Sundance Film Festival where it won the Filmmakers Trophy. It also won several awards including the Prix de la Jeunesse and the International Critics’ Week Prize at Cannes where is was picked up by Miramax. It was this determination to succeed and any means necessary approach that not only brought Clerks to life but made it a critical and box office success. On a budget of $27,575 the film grossed over $3 million!
“It's too expensive, that's the thing nobody wants to talk about. It is too expensive to make movies. That's not true, it is too expensive to market movies. Making movies is not. You can have 10 bucks to 10 million bucks and if you got a crew, imagination and a lot of people willing to turn in some work next to nothing, you going to have a feature. But you can't get beyond how expensive marketing the movie is, it's so crushing.” - Kevin Smith