Kevin Smith

The world of indie film is full of outsized personalities, but few made a bigger splash on the scene than Kevin Smith. His debut, the micro-budgeted Clerks, was filmed at the convenience store where Smith toiled, and he captured the speech patterns and daily rhythms of over-educated, underemployed slackers with remarkable clarity. Smith picked up a Filmmakers Trophy for his effort — pretty impressive for a spiritedly profane black and white feature financed by maxing out his credit cards.