Posted by Caulfield at adsl-151-204-69-114.delval.adsl.bellatlantic.net on June 11, 2001 at 18:44:13:
In Reply to: QUESTION FOR KEVIN SMITH posted by bigboyproductions on June 11, 2001 at 18:17:06:
: I am a HUGE fan of your work and I am verey interested in becoming a writer/director myself.I have already started my own production company with my friends, BIG BOY PRODUCTIONS,we are currently working on our 1st movie, wich we are verey excited about, its called "Hibabobatuffy," wich I wrote and am currently co-directing. But thats not the reason I posted this, I need to ask you a few questions on how to get our movie BIG.
Firstly, your production name is taken by a bunch of girls,(yes you know the ones, sugar, spice, everything nice)who made a bunch of skateboarding movies during 1995.Don't worry about it since they were very crappy and you can't even find them nowadays.
Secondly, your title, while cool and original is not the way to go if you want it to be big, remember some people are kinda dumb and if they saw that in a THE INDEPENDENT magazine, they would be hard pressed to say it properly in the future.
: 1.) Say we finish this movie, and its great, could we sell it to a movie company? Could it possibly get into movie theatres?
You should read SPIKE MIKE SLACKERS AND DYKES. Kevin has a hand in writing it, in the sense he is in it and is interviewed by the all-knowing Johnny P.
That book will really help you understand how movies get picked up for distribution(movie companies).IF it were good enough it might get in theatres, sure, but if you want my opinion- you don't by any means have to have your flick in theatres for it to be well known and respected.(ie- A BETTER PLACE, It did some touring but it's not like we saw huge bustop adds)
: 2.) How would we contact the movie companys to set up a meeting of some sort so they could review our movie. Can you give us some adresses?
Well, heres a idea, take the film to some festivals and start up a little bit of a buzz in the underground circut about your film and if it is good, a rep from a "movie company" will give you a card, that's why they make festivals int he first place- to give young obscure filmmakers a chance at climbing the ladder.
: 3.) Where can we buy movie cameras. Im talking about the kind that YOU use, is there any special place we could purchase them at, if so how much would they cost.
You ready for this? They can be as high as 20,000 dollars, and thats not incuding film stock which is also very expensive stuff, which- if you get you will have to send your film away to a lab and get it back two days or so later.(DAILIES)And if it isn't what you wanted, you gotta repeat it all over again.
I would recomend buying a REALLY good DV and using it with everything you got.
: 4.)How much money did you make from making clerks, I understand it was a LOW budget movie, so the profit was probably huge. (Something we hope to accomplish)
They are still collectin, when you think about it.It Only hit 500 screens so the box office reports weren't exactly Jurassic park.
: 5.) Is it really worth taking film school? What do they teach you there?
Depends what you want to do.They teach you all sorts of things from how to use a camera to techniques and such, you should also take a film class on the directors and filmmakers to better understand what was being said.
In a movie.
A movie is not shooting fish in a barell, my friend.
: 6.) Keep up the kick ass work.
His work is pretty kick ass, isn't it.
In closing- you shouldn't post theese kinda questions, try the film 411 board,they are very into that sort of thing.