A couple of days ago almost everyone in the movie blogosphere started jumping up and down at the idea that Kevin Smith would be funding his next film (Red State) almost entirely through fan funding. A lot of people were up in arms that Smith would have the audacity to ask fans to fund his next film because no one else would. And I have to admit I was slightly negative towards the idea, but did give it a lot of thought as it sounded interesting.

Here’s the real deal though. He didn’t go begging to fans for money, and he has no plans to.

Smith was quick to write a blog post pointing out that it was never his idea. In Smiths own words:

The idea to fan-finance RED STATE wasn’t mine; it was suggested by someone following me on Twitter (more ambitious souls than I can wade through the morass of ass-eating bon mots smeared across my Twitterscape to find the exact moment the “Let’s put on a show”-ification of RED STATE happened).

Ok so it wasn’t his idea, will it still happen though?

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…

And if it does happen will he be rolling in our cash laughing at our stupidity?:

If (and I mean IF with a huge fucking 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?

So what’s he going to do with any profits?

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.

Which I think sounds like a really cool idea. We’d actually have the power to greenlight the movies WE wanted to see!

So just to summarise the facts one last time.

- Will Kevin Smith be funding Red State through fan donations?

Maybe, but if it does happen, he’ll match whatever we put in.

- Will he be keeping the profits from this film?

Nope, he’s gonna re-invest any profits back into other films.

There, I hope that clears up any negativity that’s been stirred up as a result of my (or anyone elses) blog posts. Kevin Smith is a decent guy. He does listen to the fans, and he’s not sold out (yet).

If he does decide to finance Red State or any other film through donations. I will make a donation. I want to see more of his films, and I like the idea of being able to make that happen.

I strongly urge you to read Smiths blog post in it’s entirety if you still have any doubts.