In his latest podcast, Director Kevin Smith spoke with a group of bloggers to celebrate the completion of his new film, Red State, a horror film featuring murderous Christian fundamentalists.  Smith got his start with one of the biggest indy films of the early 90s, and precursor to the mumblecore genre, Clerks.  Almost immediately he sold out to the Weinsteins, former owners of Miramax, and Oscar-Bait producers who understand marketing dramas, but whose grasp on basic film making seems tenuous at best.


Smith's relationship with the Weinstein's soured, and now they've turned down producing Red State. 

His films usually consist of extended dialog scenes and little action, this translates into an easily manageable budget.  2008's Clerks 2 was made for slightly over 5 million dollars, an easily recoupable figure considering Smith's pedigree.  Though his films are divisive and the quality ranges from brilliant to insipid, his persona is still beloved among his fans so much so that they will support him in whatever he does.  However, the Weinsteins, apparent disbelievers in the 'true fan' theory, decided to put up 10 million dollars towards the film's advertising budget in the hopes of recruiting a wider audience, but also tripling the chances that the film wont make back the money it cost to make and market.


Now severed from the studio system, Smith is free to create, market, and release films on his own, important given Red State's potentially divisive concept.