Does Kevin Smith want you to pay for his next movie? (with video)

  Interested in bankrolling Kevin Smith's next movie?  It could happen to you.

No, he doesn't.  But that hasn't stopped some internet columnists from taking shots at the comedic director of "Chasing Amy" and "Dogma" over his proposed idea for how to fund his un-attached horror screenplay, "Red State": have the fans kick in the money to make it.  Smith's gone on the defensive, going so far as to outline how such a plot might work.  Interested in paying for the next Kevin Smith movie you see?  Read on for the details, future investors and gentle Examiner readers...

To hear Kevin Smith tell it, there are far too many internet-based "journalists" trying to sling mud over the director's proposal for having fans fund the filming of his unmade "Red State" script.  Oh, you hadn't heard about that?

Well, it started several months ago-- again, according to Smith (whom we have no reason not to believe)-- when some random fan asked if he could "throw in" some money to get Smith's unproduced horror film, "Red State" made.  Smith was intrigued by the idea, and promptly went about having a team of lawyers look into the possibility of a film funded entirely on donations.  Or, as Smith described it:

This fan-financed-film (aka, “begging”) hasn’t happened yet, nor might it ever happen. While it all sounds perfectly Amish, it’s fraught with crazy pitfalls and tax problems that have required hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars in legal fees to investigate even the possibility of the fan-financed idea’s merit.

Simple, right?  Smith further planned to "match" any contributions fans made, while declining to have a salary for the film.  Here's what he had to say about that:

If (and I mean IF with a huge f-cking i & f) this fan-financed idea were to move forward? I’m not making a dime. If I were, as suggested, to turn to the fan-base to fund the movie, do you honestly think I’d even take a salary? I was just tickled and touched a bunch of people wanted to see it so badly, they were like “Here’s my twenty, if it’ll help.” All without having read a script. I wouldn’t want or take one dime from something as pure as that gesture. I’m not a money-guy; if I was I’d charge for SModcast (at 300k-plus dl’s per ep at .99cents apiece, even if only half started paying, that’d be a cool $150k per week - and I leave that on the table weekly). This isn’t about making money, you negative pr-cks: it’s about making movies. And what’s sickening about it? Motherf-ckers screaming foul WRITE FOR MOVIE WEBSITES. You’d imagine they’d support the making of a movie.

Apparently, not.  The internet-- particularly film geek sites-- had some stern words for Smith's idea.  There were many that didn't like Smith's idea, but the one that seems to be getting the most attention comes from BloodyDisgusting.com, who really, really didn't approve of the idea (we'd like to excerpt that particular article, but it seems to have mysteriously gone missing for the moment). 

Smith further outlined how this system of filmmaking would work, and while the idea sounds admirably noble, it's also kind of naive to think that this won't be a bigger headache of a production than Smith seems to think it will/won't be:

If we did fan-finance and actually make the film, let’s say it sold: what then? There will be profits? Would people get their money back? Where would that money go? Our plan is to put anything we make into a fund that would, in turn, finance other (cost-sensible) flicks fans want to see. And from that? Build a People’s Studio. Simply have any interested/frustrated/desperate party put their script on our website, open for all to read, during a “pilot season” of sorts. Script that gets the most votes, gets the loot. That flick gets made and sold, all the loot goes back into fund for next round. If there’s enough loot from RED STATE sale to do so, idea would be to fund two low budget flicks a year.

So, what do you folks think?  Is Smith on to something here, or has he completely lost his mind?  Are you a Smith fan, and if so, do you really want Smith to make "Red State", or should he stick to what he knows-- comedy?  Sound off in the comments section below, folks: we wanna know what you think about all this.  While you're here, check out the redband trailer for Smith's latest, "Cop Out":

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(photo: slashfilm.com)