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.

WANT TO BE ON SUCKS LESS WITH KEVIN SMITH?

If you are a current student who is a purveyor of cool things to do this weekend, this may be your big shot. Kevin and the class are looking for Sucks Less Correspondants to report from Anywhere USA. If you have covered, or are covering a Sucks Less relevant happening and have that footage edited to a segment between 60 and 90 seconds, we want to see it. It just might get included in a future episode of Sucks Less with Kevin Smith. If mtvU uses the piece, you’ll get $75 bucks.

Email a compressed review version not to exceed 7MB to sucksless@mtvu.com

Or mail DV tapes to:

I Want To Be A Correspondant for Sucks Less With Kevin Smith 770 Broadway, 10th fl New York, NY 10003 Attn: Brian DeCubellis

Things to consider: – mtvU wouldn’t air the piece if had music in it that you do not have the rights to.

– Titles would be added by mtvU so send a version without titles.

To be considered for air, you would have to provide guest releases, location releases and materials releases for every person and place appearing in the piece. Any logo or brand name on clothing or otherwise would not be able to be aired.

Only pieces that say where you are and explain clearly what is happening would be considered.

If it’s a one time event that is not happening in other areas of the country, it’s not likely to make the cut. Send any questions to sucksless@mtvu.com

Secret Stash DVD SIGNING, West Coast Style!

Last time we had a signing at one of our Stashes, it was just me.

This time, I’m bringing some friends…

If you loved Randal and Elias, how the fuck can you not be here? So far, it’s just Jeff, Trevor and me. Who knows who might be added later (probably Mewes, maybe others…)? But here’s your chance to pick up the “Clerks II” and “Evening Harder” DVD’s, as well as Jeff Anderson’s directorial debut, “Now You Know” (also starring Jeff and Trevor) – and get ‘em all signed! Just in time for fucking Christmas, no less!

All info can be found here.

Just a heads-up: back in August, at the East Coast signing, we had a bit of a crowd…

Video from the August East Coast Stash signing.

Fair warning: while I doubt we’ll have 2000 folks showing up for this signing as well (it ain’t summer, and we ain’t on the East Coast), it’d still be a good bet to get there as early as possible.

You’ve got a little less than two weeks. Start making travel plans!

…

ZAK: Rosario had no problems whatsoever. Rosario was like, “Oh, you guys are doing that?” And she jumps right in front of the camera. And Jay was kind of the saving grace. Jay loved that camera. Without Jay we wouldn’t have half the Train Wrecks we did. And you know, Brian and Jeff, and just everybody, was just outstanding.

…

QUICK STOP: The biggest misconception people might have about the documentary, compared to the Train Wrecks, is that the documentary is just a duplicate of what they saw in the Wrecks…

JOEY: Well, yeah. Everybody, just from reading stuff online and on the message boards and stuff, had the inclination that it was gonna be just a bunch of Train Wrecks pasted together. And we kinda let that fly. We’re like, “That’s cool that they’re gonna think that, because hopefully it’s gonna be a nice surprise when they see it’s something totally different.” We wanted to do something a little more in depth. Because if it was just gonna be pasted together Train Wrecks, why not just watch all the Train Wrecks back-to-back?

ZAK: We really wanted to give them… Joe and I were kinda there to see all this stuff that we put in the documentary. Even when we weren’t doing the documentary. Like, we start out basically with the end of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. We go into Jersey Girl. We go into Green Hornet. Because Clerks 2 was kinda being bounced around throughout that entire time. So we kinda wanted to say, “Look, this is when it really started to roll.” Because at one point Kevin closed the book on the View Askewniverse. Now he’s going back into it. And after working with these guys for the last five years, there was a lot of story there to be told, that we just didn’t want to deal with Train Wrecks. We wanted to actually get in there and do some stuff. Like the fact that Scott left. Scott was really having issues with being a producer, and there were other things in his life that he wanted to do, and it’s the exact opposite of Kevin. You know Kevin – that’s all he wanted to do, is make movies and write. So there was all this stuff in there that we really wanted to get into and show, and kinda show the relationship between Kevin & Scott, because Kevin takes a lot of the spotlight, but Scott’s really the one who helps push Kevin, and when Kevin is on the fence about a joke or on the fence about a story or something like that, Scott’s the one that he goes to. Scott is kinda the unsung creative partner in the entire thing.

ZAK: Out of the footage we shot, Joe and I figured we can probably do three more documentaries. Out of the stories, out of everything else, we could do three more documentaries. Like, we’ve already made jokes about, but one day it might be true, on the Clerks 2 10th anniversary DVD, doing an entirely new documentary out of the footage. Like, it’s totally possible. And it wouldn’t be a crappy documentary, either. It’d be really good. We just had to pick the stories that we felt were relevant at the time to telling the story. We’ve got so many others that we can go into. We can totally do another DVD just out of the footage that we have, as a supplemental, or as the one that stands alone five years from now. It’s a wellspring that I don’t think anybody has really thought about. And the other cool thing about the internet that I didn’t bring up, is you’re able to address stuff as it happens. If something happens at 11:00 that morning… this happened once or twice, where we wanted to get something on the net immediately. Kevin would say, “I want to put something on the net right now.” We would shoot his intro at 11:00, and by 4:00 I was uploading it to the server so that it could be up for 5:00 when people got home from work. That’s something that you don’t have with the newspaper. Something you don’t have with a regular article. It’s something that you can go all-out, boom, and it’s automatic. You can address something as it happens.

QUICK STOP: So I guess the big question would be to ask, what’s next?

JOEY: Well, we had some stuff going on where Kevin threw us this idea of shooting an in-depth documentary for the Chasing Amy 10th anniversary release. That’s kind of in a holding pattern right now for reasons we really shouldn’t even be talking about.

ZAK: We’ve got two projects with Kevin. This is the official one. We have two projects with Kevin that we would… actually more like three… that we’re talking about doing right now, but we’ve got to wait for things like money and contracts and all that kinda stuff, and then there’s a couple other people that we just started talking to, because they’re really pleased at the way the documentary’s turned out, and the Train Wrecks. So we’re trying to get it out there, and we’re trying to get it together. We just got our website up, that Ming from View Askew is helping us out with, and we’re trying to get that up and get that running.

JOEY: It’s a temporary site right now but Ming’s kinda diving into it pretty soon. He’s been real busy with all these screenings and whatnot.

ZAK: And then it’s basically putting together packages and trying to get in touch with filmmakers to say, “You got movies coming up – we can help you. And it’s not gonna cost you an arm and a leg, and you’re gonna be extremely pleased and happy with it at the end of it, and your movie will make more money because of it.”

QUICK STOP: What’s the URL again?

ZAK: Oh, it’s chopshopentertainment.com

“Back to the Well” trailer:
* Large (560 x 420 – QuickTime – 32.4 MB)
* Small (320 x 240 – QuickTime – 14.2 MB)

Download Clip #1 – “Rehearsals”:
* Large (560 x 420 – QuickTime – 19.22 MB)
* Small (320 x 240 – QuickTime – 8.51 MB)

Download Clip #2 – “Make Or Break”:
* Large (560 x 420 – QuickTime – 17.73 MB)
* Small (320 x 240 – QuickTime – 7.86 MB)

Download Clip #3 – “First Reactions”:
* Large (560 x 420 – QuickTime – 19.06 MB)
* Small (320 x 240 – QuickTime – 8.63 MB)

Though the stories aren’t as hilarious as those heard on the first collection, and there are some serious momentum killers in the audience, this set remains an easy way to find plenty of laughs, as Smith remains a raconteur par excellence. He’s one of the few people I could listen to speak for four hours, only to jump back and listen to him again, thanks to a very folksy manner and a genuine sense of humor. The DVDs look and sound very good, though the extras are slim compared to most Smith productions. Fans of the Jersey Boy will absolutely want to check this one out, and likely own it, as there are quite a few spins one could get out of it.

On our latest episode of DVD Talk Radio, DVD Talk Editor Geoffrey Kleinman sits down at talks with Kevin Smith about the DVD Release for Clerks II and An Evening With Kevin Smith II – Evening Harder. Kevin Smith talks about his experience with Clerks 2, why he’s so passionate about connecting and communicating with his fans and critics, a top secret Showtime Series and DVD collecting. Listen to our interview with Kevin Smith using our Online DVD Talk Radio Player or Download the complete interview with Kevin Smith (37 min 27MB).

I am a “Manchild”

So it looks like I’m gonna be doing a TV pilot…

Hollywood Reporter “Manchild” story.

But, oddly enough, it’s not a show I’ve created; it’s a show I’ve simply been cast in. And, like anything in life, there’s a story behind it.

A few weeks back, Brent Morely – one of the agents at Endeavor – called to say “There’s this Showtime pilot I want to send you to take a look at, because I think you’d dig the sensibility.”

Every few months, scripts get sent my way from various studios looking for a rewrite or comedic punch-up, but I haven’t done one since “Coyote Ugly” – probably because, after all my work on that script, they hired a director who, naturally, wanted to bring his writer aboard the project, and almost all of my stuff got shit-canned. Generally, the scripts just sit on a pile near my desk for close to a year before they hit the trash – which isn’t a statement on the scripts themselves as much as as statement about my lack of interest in rewrite gigs.

When it hit the pile, the “Manchild” script caught my eye because a) the script was very slim, and b) the cover letter said nothing about rewriting. I was directed to read with an eye toward the role of “Paul”.

An acting gig? Were they kidding? I’m not an actor.

So while Jen was sitting on the bedroom couch reading a book with Harley, I sat on the other end of the couch and started leafing through the “Manchild” script, curious as to why anyone would think of me in conjunction with this show.

Then, I laughed. Out loud (or “LOL’ed” in the parlance of this medium).

Jen’s head immediately snapped up from the kid’s book and she stared at me, agog.

“Really?!” she asked, stupefied.
“It was a pretty funny line,” I explained.

Her reaction was based on the fact that I rarely laugh at anything on the page. Sure, I can split my sides at something like “Arrested Development” or the latest Carlin album (or “Borat”, I’m promised; I haven’t seen it yet); but when it comes to scripts, it’s rare that I react aloud at all (even at my own shit).

So I go back to reading, and within a few minutes, I laugh aloud again.

And again.

And again.

It was a truly funny script. And the part they’d earmarked for me to look at was a really funny character in a script full of funny stuff.

So I called Agent Brent back and said “I’d do this, sir. In a heartbeat.”

I met with the show creators, Robb and Mark Cullen (”Lucky” and “Heist”), as well as Darren Starr (show producer) and Stephen Gyllenhaal (show director and father of Jake) a few days later, found them all to be good guys, and suddenly, we were off and running.

We shoot the pilot in December, after I finish this other, two-day acting gig on a feature. If Showtime digs the pilot, we go to series two months or so after that. With twelve eps a season, it means I’m out of the directing game (which should please some folks) for only about four months out of the year.

I don’t know how Showtime will position the show (if they pick it up), but it’ll be a nice addition to their schedule alongside “Weeds”. It’s frank, crude, honest and funny: kinda like the flicks I do, if all the characters had high-paying jobs. While it’s based on the BBC show of the same name, from what I understand (never having seen the original), the Cullens kept the premise and title and re-built everything else. The original was compared to “Sex and the City”, so it makes sense that Darren is involved.

The only daunting aspect is that I’m surrounded by real, honest-to-goodness actors (James Purefoy, John Corbett, Paul Hipp). Thankfully, I got my first taste of acting beside real actors (the Silent Bob stuff barely counts) in “Catch & Release” (in theaters this January), so I’ve already got a bit of experience feeling inferior all the time (shit – I’ve got a lifetime of experience in that department, to be honest).

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, and be proud as punch to be involved with one really insightful and fucking funny show.

To say I never imagined something like this for myself is a gross understatement; this gig really, really comes out of the blue for me. But when someone hands you something as engaging and hysterical as the pilot for “Manchild” and says “We’d like you to be a part of it”… Jesus, saying no isn’t an option.

Hopefully, y’all will tune-in when (and if) we go on air.