KEVIN SMITH

Nobody typifies the scrappy independent filmmaker better than Kevin Smith. In 1994, Smith burst onto the indie scene with “Clerks”, a comedy about a New Jersey college dropout working in a convenience store.

The film won a major award at Sundance, and went on to become a slacker anthem. Though Smith’s subsequent film “Mallrats”, was a box-office flop, he returned to glory with “Chasing Amy”, an offbeat love story that cost $250,000 to make and took in $12 million.

Gone are the days of credit-card debts and no-name actors. With a budget of between $4 and $5 million, Smith’s fantasy film “Dogma” has real-life stars Linda Fiorentino, Chris Rock, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Alan Rickman.

Story submitted to News Askew by P. Mae Lee.