Kevin Smith Contemplates Retiring from Filmmaking, But Not From Being an Important Player in Pop Culture3

by Damon Martin

It all started with 1994’s independent smash hit Clerks and just a few short years later Kevin Smith was well on his way to being the Quentin Tarantino of pop culture nerd films. Now as 2010 closes, Smith may very well be embarking on his final films before moving on to concentrate on other projects including his vast podcasting and public speaking empire.

If Hollywood has a set of directions to follow, Kevin Smith has been one writer/director who has veered off course more times than he can probably count. Sure, Smith tried to play along in his early days when he made his film Mallrats, but for the most part the Red Bank, NJ native has made a career of doing things his own way and never becoming a product of the movie making machine.

Recently, Smith announced following the release of his next two films, Red State, due to hit theaters in March 2011, and Hit Somebody, the hockey movie he’s currently working on, that he may walk away from the filmmaking world. However, Smith has eluded to possibly going back and working on a Clerks 3 project, though he said from the beginning that he had about 10 films in him and Hit Somebody would round his resume out at that number.

Now, since his “unofficial” retirement announcement, Smith has lambasted the press for picking up on that as actual breaking news, seeing as he’s eluded to it for quite some time. But does anyone truly believe that if something comes across his creative mind past Clerks 3 that Smith wouldn’t type out a script and turn his cameras back on? Of course not.

What Smith has managed to do over the last few years is become independent of the filmmaking industry, while still being a relevant person in the realm of pop culture. The Clerks creator has recently started a podcast series with several shows that he hosts along with a slew of friends, actors, producers, and various other Smith related folks.

It all started with Smith and his long time friend and cohort Scott Mosier making what they called a “Smodcast,” which subsequently became one of the most downloaded podcasts on iTunes. He then began to expand, adding more shows. He even rented out a small 50-seat theater in Los Angeles that he calls the “Smodcastle” to host live recordings of his shows.

Smith has also become a hit on the spoken word/public speaking circuit. A few years back, Smith released a DVD called An Evening with Kevin Smith, which followed him as he toured colleges and universities speaking to students and answering questions about his films and other projects. The DVD was such a smash hit due to Smith’s honest and often hilarious storytelling, that he went on to release several more live question and answer DVD’s. (If his story about meeting and hanging out with Prince for a week don’t get you laughing, nothing surely will.)

In addition, Smith is a popular comic book writer dabbling in characters ranging from Batman to the Green Hornet, and just about any publisher out there would pay handsomely to attach their comics to a Kevin Smith penned project. He owns and operates a store in his hometown of New Jersey called Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash that sells books and merchandise relating to all of his film and comic projects.

The truth is no one knows if Smith will truly put down the camera after only two more films, but what is obvious is that he has remained a voice that transcends generations. The college kids that grew up watching Clerks likely still laughed hysterically at Zack and Miri Make a Porno, while a whole new group of fans may discover Smith’s irreverent style via his weekly podcast series.

It’s Smith’s own willingness to dabble and work in other mediums that makes him such an asset to the creative world whether you’re a fan of his films, comics or podcasts. He’s given a blueprint to young filmmakers and writers everywhere that a fan with a vision and a little bit of humor can make it in Hollywood, and make it, more or less, on his or her own terms.

As he says on his blog about doing something that you love: “It doesn’t even take talent to do what I did; I’m living proof of that. All you need to do is identify what you love to do and monetize that.”

Truer words have never been spoken. Maybe philosopher is next on Kevin Smith’s resume.