Kevin Smith and Virgin Mobile Want to See How ‘Bleepin Awesome’ You Can Be!

Virgin Mobile USA Celebrates User-Generated Content with First ‘Bleepin Awesome’ Awards
Guest Host Kevin Smith Produces Own Call for Entries on YouTube

WARREN, N.J., Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ — Celebrating both the explosion of user-generated content and freedom of self-expression, Virgin Mobile USA is launching its first-ever “Bleepin Awesome” Awards. Writer/director Kevin Smith, whose smash hit “Clerks II” comes out on DVD November 28, is attached as guest host. The contest, designed to cultivate unusual and unique talent through the Internet, invites the public to submit videos on YouTube.com showcasing someone or something transformed from the ordinary to the “bleepin awesome.” The event is part of Virgin Mobile’s “Bleepin Awesome” holiday campaign.

Kevin Smith, best known as the purveyor of irreverent cult classics “Clerks,” “Clerks II,” “Chasing Amy” and “Dogma,” debuts his own video invitation today on YouTube asking people to send in entries at http://www.youtube.com/group/BleepinAwesomeAwards. During the submission period which ends December 6, Smith will be offering additional director commentary on the videos submitted and will announce his own personal favorite at the end of the contest. Winners will be announced at the same online destination on December 15, 2006. The grand prize winner will receive a trip for two to NYC to watch the winning video on an animated billboard in Times Square on New Year’s Eve.

“The Bleepin Awesome Awards f&*#% rock,” said Smith. “I like that Virgin Mobile’s recognizing potential talent out there on the web but I’m worried every entry’s gonna be better than any film I ever made. And where’s my prize? I get bleeped all the time and I never get sh*t for it.” Smith’s film “Clerks II” will be released on DVD on November 28.

“We’re thrilled to have Kevin sign on for this very ‘Virgin’ event,” said Howard Handler, Chief Marketing Officer for Virgin Mobile. “He represents everything provocative and irreverent about what it means to be bleepin awesome. We look forward to the numerous aspiring filmmakers who follow Kevin’s lead and submit videos.”

Hosting the awards throughout are the stars of YouTube’s “Nobody’s Watching,” Derrick and Will [Taran Killam and Paul Campbell], who will help guide participants through the contest rules. The public will have the opportunity to vote for their favorites online between December 6 and December 10. Participants will earn points for originality, appropriateness to theme, creativity and representation of the Virgin Mobile brand as determined by a panel of judges and their scores will be combined with the public voting to determine the winners.

Virgin Mobile customers got a sneak peek of Smith’s video message when it aired on the mobile company’s “Sugar Mama” service earlier this week. Entries for Virgin Mobile’s Bleepin Awesome Awards are being accepted now through December 6, 2006 right HERE.

AN EVENING WITH KEVIN SMITH 2: EVENING HARDER is a wildly funny, irreverent Q&A session in London and Toronto with one of Hollywood’s most gifted and hilarious filmmakers. This is another chance to get up close and personal with the man that brought you Dogma, Clerks and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back!

Send us a video explaining why you should spend an evening with Kevin Smith and you could win a trip for you and a friend to travel to Los Angeles for an opportunity to have dinner with Kevin Smith up close and personal!

One (1) Grand Prize

1. One (1) trip for the Grand Prize winner and a guest to have dinner with Kevin Smith in Los Angeles, California. Trip includes roundtrip economy class air transportation from a major airport nearest the Grand Prize winner’s residence (Approximate Retail Value “ARV” $1200)
2. Two (2) night’s standard hotel accommodations, double occupancy (ARV $600).
3. Opportunity to dine with Kevin Smith for the Grand Prize winner and a guest (ARV $300).

TOTAL ARV: $2100

AL: One of things in the press conference that you said that I find interesting is that you’ve been offered some of these bigger-budgeted films but you’ve declined-I guess-because you feel you have to do films your way-(like) talky films. Is that because you’ve been burned on some of these projects?

KS: I mean a little bit but the biggest burn I got was on JERSEY GIRL and even that wasn’t that expensive a movie. It was expensive for me at $35 million but that’s not even that much as far as studio filmmaking goes these days but I felt a little burned but that doesn’t infringe on making a big- budget comic book movie. What makes me not want to do that is in realizing “Shit, I don’t have it in me.” I just don’t have that mindset to spend like a week on a 2 minute action sequence and just sit there shooting day after day of pieces that will go into a scene. Its just not what I’m good at and not what I have much interest in doing. So, generally, I stay away from that stuff not because I’ve been burned but I just can’t do it-its not my thing. It would be like if someone said to me “Why don’t you get into cancer research?” I’m no good at that-I know nothing about cancer research.

AL: That’s interesting because you seem very truthful and honest about admitting your range of talent. So that’s not a problem with you but that seems to be a big problem in Hollywood.

KS: Or the internet. People will tell you “Well, you’re not pushing yourself hard enough” or “You should try other films” or “He keeps making the same movies” and its just like “Dude, I’m making movies. What do you want from me? If you don’t like seeing them-don’t go!” This is what I do. Why would you want to do something else? Because of the persona, because I was the dude from nowhere whose movie got picked up and I suddenly had a job in film, people look at you as a proxy of sorts. Well, they’re like “Shit, you’re just like me except the only difference is you did it.” That is true to a degree: I was very much like them and I’m still very much like them but at the same time, maybe their aspirations are greater than mine. I had no aspirations beyond the first CLERKS and then suddenly people were like “What do you want to do next?” and I said “All right, how about this? How about this?” I didn’t have a 5, 10, 15 year plan. So, I don’t know-for me-I don’t have a problem going “This is what I do and I’m happy with it.” I make a nice living off of what I do and I’ve got an audience. Why do I need more beyond that?

Smith Takes TV Comedy Role

Director Kevin Smith has signed up to star in the US remake of hit British TV show Manchild, because he wants to become a better actor. Smith has written, directed and starred in Clerks, Mallrats, Dogma and Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back – and now wants to turn his attention solely to portraying a cynical divorcee in the Showtime comedy. He tells MTV, “It should be an interesting exercise that, if the show works as well as the script, will turn into a sweet side gig for me. At the very least, I’ll learn a thing or two about acting; at the most, I’ll have something to do four months out of every year.”

In a never aired episode from the first season, Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith reprised their Jay and Silent Bob roles when Earl had to cross them off his list because they had kept a marijuana tab for him that he never paid.