Posted by Michael Raben at spider-mtc-th064.proxy.aol.com on August 28, 2001 at 02:46:10:
In Reply to: Questions for Kev posted by Viewy Askew on August 28, 2001 at 01:36:35:
: Hey Kev, got some questions for you about this flick and general ones about film.
Some of these answers appear in the other posts, others don't. Hope they're useful.
: 1) In the movie, when Jay and your-self were in the van with your wife and the other chicks and Jay made the reference to Silent Bob “Busting his first cherry” at Quick Stop, was that a real life reference>?
Well, I can't really answer that one.
: 2) If you don’t mind telling me, what was the budget for Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back>?
The flick was budgeted at around $20 million, then there's whatever Dimension spent on the advertising.
: 3) How did you get your start with Clerks, did you just go to Miramax and put it on some guys desk, did you have friends in the bizz>? And if it was friends in the bizz, would you be my friend in the film industry>?
The original edit of 'Clerks' (with the original ending, among other things) first played at the IFFM in New York in the fall of 1993. In the scant audience of about 12 or so people was one Bob Hawk, indie heavy and original champion of the film. Shortly afterward, producer' rep John Pierson took interest and with the two backing it, the film played the Sundance Film Festival. Miramax picked it up during the festival and as I remember it, Harvey Weinstein wasn't that big of a fan upon original viewing (I think he walked out during the Chewley's Gum speech???). So with Miramax pushing it, they played Cannes and did a limited release in 1994.
The entertainment industry is one that functions considerably on the friendships and relationships in it, which makes it tricky to break in. If you're asking someone over the internet to be a friend that'll help you get in, I'd say you were REALLY grasping at straws.
: 4) Where did you come up with the ideas for the other 4 flicks>? Meaning like the dialog and the premise>?
'Clerks' originally took the form of a series of short stories that Vincent Perreira convinced Kevin to turn into a full story. They both worked at the Quick Stop, incidentally. 'Mallrats' was an ode-ish tribute to 80s comedies. 'Chasing Amy' was based VERY VERY loosely on Kevin's own relationship with then girlfriend Joey Lauren Adams. 'Dogma' actually predates 'Mallrats' and 'Chasing Amy' (and might actually predate the original 'Clerks' script, although I can't say for certain) in script form, and was based on Kevin's searching through the varied religious faiths in his teens and 20s. 'Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back' is a send-off for the title characters which wraps up all the tales in a purely comic present, which I think Kevin stated was really for the "fans".
: 5) Did you write the part your wife played specifically for her, and if so, did you write her character to kind of resemble your character, because she really didn’t have much dialog>?
The part was written before Jen was cast, but there were 7+ drafts, so there were doubtless changes and tailering of all parts along the way. As for the amount of total material, it was really a large ensemble of characters and we'll have to wait to see what extras and cut scenes end up on the DVD of the flick.
: 6) What advice can you give me, I want to be a film maker, like your-self, but I don’t know how to go about it besides film school, and even that’s a little shaky because I want to go to a good film school but I don’t have one here in Rhode Island, so where can you say is a good film school, or even the one you went to>?
Here's the Readers' Digest version: Decide on film school or not. Read, study, write, live, re-write, plan, re-write, find some cohorts, work hard, re-write and create a kick as film/video project (be it feature or short) to show around. If you've done something truly entertaining, and you put it out there to be seen, and you continue to work hard, you'll get the attention you'll need to start your career.
: 7) Alright, last one, I have a couple of scripts I’m trying to write, but I am focused on one of them at this point in time, but I can’t get it to go anywhere, at least in my opinion I can’t, so is there anyway I could e-mail, or even snail-mail you a copy of it and maybe if you get some time you could read it over and give me some pointers on the dialog and such, I would love for you to do that, but it would be understandable if you couldn’t, just let me know>?
Well, there are a host of legal reasons why this won't happen. If you want some opinions on your scripts, find some folks who won't be shy about giving you an honest opinion of your script. Maybe friends, maybe family, a writing/english teacher/professor, film club, etc. There are screenplay writing contests at festivals and around the net, so look around. You'll have to do some of the legwork after all. Of course, you could always produce and direct the thing yourself.
Good luck with everything. Take heart; filmmaking is not an easy business to get into, nor is it an easy process itself. Both are doable, but quite detailed in their execution. But then again, if it were easy, everyone would be doing it.
Always,
Michael Rabne