JANUARY

2008 kicked in with quite a bit of buzz for “Zack And Miri Make a Porno”, which Kevin had recently confirmed as his next flick. Several websites started the year listing the film as one of their most anticipated for 2008. Rumors soon started to swirl around what a mythical tenth Kevin Smith film would be, many speculating it would be “Ranger Danger and the Danger Rangers”, a sci-fi comedy he’d been dreaming up over the years. However, another genre-switch was first on the radar for post-“Zack And Miri”. “Red State”, a DARK horror project, would be the follow-up. It was the first time in years that we knew what the next TWO View Askew films would be, back to back.

Meanwhile, we had two high-definition DVD formats that were battling it out, HD-DVD and Bluray. While we were seeing View Askew offerings show up in both formats, “Dogma” was set to be among the first to show up in Bluray.

SModcast, Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier’s hilarious and successful podcast, returned with a new episode early in the year, their 43rd. Before the end of 2008, they will have presented over 25 more new episodes. With the television writers’ strike showing no signs of ending, we encouraged fans to check out the podcast as an excellent source of brand new entertainment during the draught.

Back in November of 2007, Kevin had revealed Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks as his two leads for “Porno”. On January 8th, the first rehearsals began, with filming of the first scene a week away — On Wednesday, January 16th, in Monroeville, PA, cameras started to roll on a Kevin Smith View Askew film for the first time in over 2 and a half years.

Mere days later, Kevin began to hint on the movie’s other cast members, sending your fearless webmasters at News Askew and many fans on a scavenger hunt by providing just small bits of photos. The cast was soon unveiled, adding Jason Mewes, Craig Robinson, Traci Lords, Jeff Anderson, Ricky Mabe, and popular porno actress Katie Morgan.

As January rolled on, we felt the exciting buzz of filming, mere hours from our offices in Pennsylvania — Pittsburgh reporters tracked down some of the sets, and we learned that the film would not only shoot in the Pittsburgh suburb of Monroeville, but the movie would actually call its onscreen home there as well.

Honors were handed out as January came to a close, with producer Scott Mosier nominated for an Oscar for his work on a short film titled “Salim Baba”, and View Askew production “Small Town, Gay Bar” and director Malcolm Ingram were nominated for a GLAAD Award for “Best Documentary”.

And, of course, filming on “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” continued…

FEBRUARY

Filming continued in Monroeville, PA in February, though we learned that this would be a production like no other before — Press suddenly began to calm down, and we learned of a new “less is more” approach to the making of “Porno”. Kevin was tight-lipped and shared very little about the movie himself, leaving us with only a few quick glimpses from the set, though hardly any looks at any of the film’s characters or details on the plot. This was going to be a production like none before, especially for those of us drooling for tidbits here in the cyber-world.

In mid-February, a rogue report filed by a local Pittsburgh paper with some candid photos brought Kevin to the web to confirm and deny some statements that the article made, though this wound up being one of the only times Kevin would speak of the film or its details until quite some time following production. Quite a contrast from the online “Train Wreck” videos we’d seen from “Clerks II” our only footage from the set was a shaky pocket camera video captured by a fan at the Monroeville Mall.

With word that a test screening could come as early as April, we did some digging to compile all we could about the mysterious production so far. Along with the place the film was set, we also could now confirm it would take place in the winter, with filming to wrap in early March.

Finally, on February 25th, with filming nearly complete on “Porno”, Kevin gifted patient cyber-fans with the first “footage” from the set, in the form of a song by Elizabeth Banks, Seth Rogen, and some of the cast — One of the funniest behind-the-scenes productions we’d ever seen, “I’m F*cking Seth Rogen” was a parody of the popular Jimmy Kimmel bits recently featuring Askewers Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. The film would soon be forced off the web due to MPAA regulations, heralding in a new, never-before-seen policing of web-created content in conjunction with a film promotion. Beacuse of this, we would not see the continuation of the “Train Wreck” series of shorts until much later in the year, a major change from the “Clerks II” days.

MARCH

With so many funny and talented people in one spot, several members of the cast and crew, along with Kevin, appeared at the Pittsburgh Improv for a sold out show as March began, and the filming for “Zack And Miri Make a Porno” hit the final stretch.

A week into the month, Kevin broke his silence with a few more tidbits on the movie, revealig a projected 2 hour runtime for the first rough cut (confirming his edit-as-you-go strategy was in place) and throwing major kudos to the cast. On March 11th, Kevin revealed that filming was, for the most part, complete, marking the end to one of the most secretive View Askew shoots we’ve seen since starting the website back in ’97.

“Dogma” hit Bluray on March 10th, joining “Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back” as the only two View Askew discs in the format (so far). With HD-DVD now officially dead, we would expect to eventually see more catalog titles hit the official winner of the format wars.

On the 14th of the month, Kevin bookended his first blog entry on the movie’s production, confirming that his intention was to “try something different this time” as far as the online marketing of the movie. Press continued to swarm for as many tidbits as possible though — USA Today led the pack with a series of “dispatch” entries featuring exclusive interview clips and quotes from the two leads.

Fans had questions, and Kevin had answers – just a bit more cryptic than usual. Now that his schedule was slowly returning to normal, Kevin took to the famous View Askew WWWBoard to answer fan’s questions about the shoot for the first time. Answers were fairly short and sweet, though it was the first exchange that Kevin had with the fans since filming had started. A fall release date had been speculated, and just like that — We had a release date. October 31, 2008. Halloween.

Kevin spent the rest of March whittling the runtime of “Porno” down, first hitting the two-hour mark he’d been shooting for. With every scene in place, he revealed the film would run almost 2 and a half hours (!!), though obviously too long for a comedy. The next steps would be to see what works in front of an audience, helping to determine what jokes/scenes can go to further reduce the runtime. By the end of the month, he’d be down to a lean 1:45.

APRIL

During more Q&A with fans online, Kevin continued to carefully drop “Zack & Miri” tidbits our way. The release date of October 31st seemed to be sticking, and Kevin continued to pay strict attention to the post-production process, adding CG, music cues, and editing together what would eventually become the R-rated teaser.

In sad news, when a fan asked about the status of the highly anticipated Chasing Amy X DVD, Kevin confirmed it may be a casualty of the Miramax/Weinstein split. By the end of the year, we have still not heard otherwise. The disc would feature an all new reuinion Q&A with the cast and heaps more new extras from the film many choose as their favorite in the Askewniverse.

Meanwhile, as a sure sign of the online Askewniverse re-aligning, SModcast returned to the airwaves with an all new episode, the first since production on “Porno” had commenced over two months ago.

Kevin continued blogging on his own sites, including Myspace and his “Silent Bob Speaks” blog, but took to a new blog venue that was not one of his own for the first time this month. For the playoff season, he would be a celebrity blogger for the NHL’s official website, chatting about his favorite team (the New Jersey Devils) and the rest of the excitement that comes with this thrilling time of the year for hockey fans.

As Kevin branched out in the blogging world, actor Jason Mewes branched out in the film world. With several horror genre film appearances under his belt (“Feast”, “The Tripper”, “Netherbeast Incorporated”), Mewes began appearing at horror and science fiction conventions across the country to meet fans, take photos, and sign autographs. At New Jersey’s “Chiller Con”, Brian O’Halloran and Marilyn Ghigliotti joined Mewes for a mini-“Clerks” reunion of sorts, as all three attended the show.

With fans clamoring for a chance to see Kevin’s famous live Q&A shows, dates across the country (and Canada) were announced for the second half of 2008. Of particular note, Kevin would return to the famous Count Basie Theater in Red Bank later in the Fall.

April came to a close with us biting our nails waiting for our first look at actual footage from “Zack And Miri”, as rumors swirled that a new teaser could show up online at any moment. Alas, we left the month dry. With the film’s release still around 6 months away, we’d have to wait a while longer before catching a glimpse.

MAY

May is sweeps month for television shows, and given the year we’d had with the writers’ strike, everything was up in the air, including Kevin’s exec-produced CW TV program “Reaper”. The show remained a crowd pleaser and a critical hit, though with so many shows having questionable returns, we started the month with the show “on the bubble”, and no certain renewal.

Kevin revealed that test audiences somewhere in the midwest would be the first to look at the 1:45 cut of “Porno”, announing an upcoming secret screening for Tuesday, May 13th. Then, on that same day, we were excited to learn that the CW would indeed bring “Reaper” back for a half-season order of 13 episodes in 2009.

Hot on the heels of the good “Reaper” news, reviews and reactions from the midwest (Kansas City) screening were in, and scores went through the roof, better than ever before for a View Askew test. With the screening, spoilers started to leak on the web, as for the first time, folks not associated with the movie directly had seen it. Reviews were all highly positive.

With the data he needed now at hand, Kevin went back into the editing room with the movie, trimming 9 minutes of “invisible cuts” in preparation for a second test screening in late June.

In late May, SModcast celebrated a milestone, with Kevin presenting the 50th episode of the popular free podcast.

And finally, after a long wait, Kevin presented his personally created teaser for “Zack And Miri Make a Porno” on the 30th of May, transforming the front page of multimedia portal Quick Stop Entertainment and bringing all our web servers to their knees. We were pleasantly (though also frustratingly) surprised to see that this trailer featured NO film footage, but rather, an exclusive scene filmed and edited just for this purpose. And while the teaser contained no actual film footage, it captured everything the movie was about and showcased its two leads in a pitch-perfect way. A triumph.

JUNE

Syndicated comic “My Cage” continued to spotlight one of its characters’ journey to see “Kevin Sloth”, giving nice exposure to a nation of newspaper and online comic readers.

On June 5th, our beloved internet teaser for “Zack And Miri” had suddenly disappeared. MPAA regulations stipulated that all promotional material for a movie, even one that didn’t contain film footage, had to pass through them for a rating before it could be posted anywhere — A obstacle that we’d never seen before this film. So, just like that, poof, it was gone.

Never being one to shy away from technology, News Askew joined the social networking service “Twitter” this month, making our headlines available to those who use the popular service. Much like an RSS feed, we send all new story headlines to any users who “follow” us at Twitter, branching into yet another corner of cyberspace.

On the 12th of the month, we learned that “Kevin Smith: Sold Out” would be the title of the third Q&A compilation DVD, arriving in stores sometime in October. Unlike the past two discs, this one would encompass a single show – Kevin’s 37th birthday event which we attended in Red Bank, NJ.

In waiting for the teaser trailer’s return, we heard the first hint that “Zack And Miri” might not have an easily-obtained “R” rating, when Kevin mentioned “dealing with the MPAA on other matters” when asked about its absence. We would later learn that another NC-17 battle was about to heat up. A quote made by Seth Rogen to MTV online confirmed our suspicions.

The main focus remained on “Porno”, but another film had been in the planning phases all year – “Red State”. As of June, funding to make the film, which Kevin and Scott were shopping around, had not yet been obtained.

One of the absolute low points of the year came June 23rd, when we announced the passing of the great George Carlin. Carlin was one of the greatest comedians in history, and appeared in memorable roles in 3 View Askew productions. He is still, and will forever be, missed by all. Kevin contributed a moving piece to Newsweek magazine to celebrate his life.

Without confirmation on the NC-17 rating, other agencies added fuel to the fire, with E! Online speaking with Seth Rogen, who again speculated that the rating was heading that way.

And thus ended June, with the loss of a great actor/comedian, a missing teaser, and and NC-17 looming. Will the teaser return? Will “Porno” get that “R”? Okay, we think you probably know, but still, you’ll wanna come back and find out, as in just a few short days, we’ll wrap up 2008: The Year in Askew with Part II.

COMING SOON – 2008: THE YEAR IN ASKEW PART II!!