…Pretty much every thing you need to know about their profession and relationship comes across in that short conversation. Ever since I saw Chasing Amy, I’ve frequently used that as an excellent example of how a film can build character by showing people going about their jobs. Seldom in movies or television shows do you see people actually working, unless they’re surgeons, police officers and trial lawyers.

So when I finally got Kevin Smith on the phone, I briefly told him about that, and it said, “That rocks. It gives me chills to hear you say that. Chasing Amy came out in 1997, so it was 1996 when we filmed it. I remember that day, and how we started the scene with just the phone ringing. Then I thought about it and said, ‘Hey, start out by saying something about his work. Compliment his lamppost,’ and that’s what we used. For you to remember that and say something 15 years later, that’s where the payoff is.”

• We’re getting closer to an official announcement of a UK (and maybe other regions) “Red State” screening. And yes, it will also include a live Q&A with Kevin after the film. Details soon.
• The great Michael Parks himself will be in the house for the April 9th Wiltern screening in Los Angeles, marking the end of the US tour.
• We hear that the Austin Film Society on Facebook might have a way to get you some cheap tickets for the big show tomorrow. Fan them and hit them up for details.

Yes, this Monday, the great movie city of Austin, Texas takes a look at “Red State”, then it’s on to Atlanta, Georgia on Tuesday. Next week, it’s on to
Seattle and Los Angeles. Tickets still available through www.coopersdell.com — Get there and be a part of film history.

Part 1 of 5 – “Red State” Roadshow Tour & Sales

Are you planning to make any changes to the film after the tour is finished?

I went to Sundance and watched it; that was the first time I got to see it with a real audience, and it was 97 minutes [long] at Sundance. And when I sat in the back, I sat down to watch it as a director at work, seeing it onscreen for the first time all of a sudden, I put my editing cap back on, and I [said], ‘Why did I keep that? Ooh, I could lose that. Ooh, I should tighten this. I’m not doing anybody any good service by leaving this long.’ So suddenly, by the end of the movie I found a bunch of time that I was like, ‘Ahh, I guess I can pull more time out of it.’ But I came home, and now the cut’s, from end to end, it was 97 and now it’s 88, so I guess I pulled out about nine minutes. And it runs so damn fast right now. I mean, from picture to picture you’re talking about 81, 82 minutes, and then you’ve got about six, seven minutes of credits in the back end. So it’s a lean, mean fighting machine, to borrow from John Candy back in Stripes.

Part 2 of 5 – International Distribution, Indie Film

Is there a similar plan for international distribution for Red State, or will that depend on how this tour does?

What a good question. No. It was never a factor for us. Our logic, and when I say ‘us,’ I mean me and Jon Gordon, my producer on the movie and my partner, and The Harvey Boys, which is the company we made the movie with. We always felt like if we do this we don’t even know how to release a movie in the United States, let alone elsewhere, you know what I’m saying? Let alone outside the country. So we trained under the Weinsteins, you know, he (Gordon) worked on Harvey [Weinstein]’s desk for years before he became a creative exec and whatnot. We were like, letís just do what Bob [Weinstein] and Harvey always did. Basically, keep the movie domestically, and just sell it off internationally.

Part 3 of 5 – Looking Back, Haters, Tweeting

How many tweets would you say you post each day?

I don’t know; it ranges, man. It kind of depends. Learning Twitter is a personal experience for everybody, but I had to learn how to do it without overwhelming people, and some people are like, ‘Are you kidding me? You write too many tweets now,’ but it used to be way worse. And I figured out how to do it in ways, and it also depends what you’re tweeting. Like, at the end of the day, they will forgive you 100 tweets in a row if the content is real. Somebody asked me a question where I’ll do these things called SMonologue, where I answer back, and it should be a blog, but Iím doing it there in Twitter, in real time and some people like reading it that way; it’s just fun for me to do it that way; something of a challenge, figuring out how to express yourself 140 characters at a time.

Parts 4 and 5 are coming later this week. Stay tuned! One of the best Q&As we’ve read in a long time, so be sure to click over.

As promised, Kevin’s sharing all the small details with us via the “Red Statements” blog, where he runs down a list of recent appearances he’s made — all free of charge to the budget, so ZERO marketing costs. The lesson here? Word about the film and the tour have gotten out on CNN, HBO, G4, The E network, countless radio stations, the SModcast network (of course), and tickets have sold. All without a single dime spent on advertising. Nice, right?

Here’s a snippet from the post announcing the big news:

“…The Radio City show was our Big Green Monster, but neither Jon nor I would rank much wood in Williamsburg. I’d been able to sell out Carnegie Hall two years back and that seats 2600 ñ but in the two years that’ve followed, I’ve increased my touring schedule dramatically, adding live SModcast performances to that mix as well. Two years ago, you couldn’t hear me on almost daily basis on SModcast.com. Add an incurable case of Twitterrhea to that equation and there’s a good chance the same folks who came out for that Carnegie show have burned out on my antics. If that was the case, maybe we wouldn’t even reach that Carnegie 2600 number, let alone our hoped-for Radio City 3000 (which would be half capacity, pre-NYPD). Anybody who gives a fig about Fatty McNoFly can hear what’s on his one-track mind 24/7, free-for-nothing; why pay to see him or his dopey flick?

Kids? You gain so much when you give away the farm.

For four years of all the free SModcasts for one year of all the aural we just give away at SModcast.com for seventeen years of being there for them? The audience, as always, is now there for me.

We’ve reached the minimums on all but one of the houses on the tour (I’m looking at you, Minneapolis). We’ve already cleared (not grossed; cleared, post-all payments and expenses) six figures in profits thus far. The tour is making our investors money now, long before the October 19th theatrical release.

The idea was, rather than festival hop (which would have cost money), we’d go right to work, bringing the flick with me on one of my Q&A tours, and start earning some money back for our investors. There’s four million dollars to return, and Jon and I have this dream of being in the black before our theatrical run begins. It’s costing us nothing but time and sweat equity to earn (Well, that’s not the whole truth: the earnings from my spring touring would’ve been mine, personally ñ but I’m giving all the tour earnings to Red State).

Will we sell out across the country? Not likely. I’m not even sure a single house will sell out on the tour. But it doesn’t matter, so long as the tour itself ultimately profits; and right now, the tour is already in profit. Naturally, our investors would like to maximize that number; so I’ll be doing all I can to spread the word without spending a dime. But I’ll be honest: the moment we hit profitability, the pressure was off.”

Make sure you stop over at the Red Statements blog for the entire post (and a look at that amazing trailer again, if you haven’t seen it in a while). Much thanks to Kevin also for the News Askew ink towards the end — To our new visitors, welcome, and like SModcast, expect big things and changes (for the better) around here in 2011.

Tickets for the US “Red State” road show are still available for the tour, where you can see not only “Red State” over a half of a year early, but also get a full-blown Q&A show with Kevin Smith himself. These are the ONLY SCHEDULED US DATES for a chance to see the film and Kevin together, so don’t miss it. If you’re waiting for this to come back around later in the year, don’t count on it. Get your tickets now, and proudly say that you not only saw the film early, but that your dollars went directly towards its budget. Pretty cool, right?

As promised, Kevin’s sharing all the small details with us via the “Red Statements” blog, where he runs down a list of recent appearances he’s made — all free of charge to the budget, so ZERO marketing costs. The lesson here? Word about the film and the tour have gotten out on CNN, HBO, G4, The E network, countless radio stations, the SModcast network (of course), and tickets have sold. All without a single dime spent on advertising. Nice, right?

Here’s a snippet from the post announcing the big news:

“…The Radio City show was our Big Green Monster, but neither Jon nor I would rank much wood in Williamsburg. I’d been able to sell out Carnegie Hall two years back and that seats 2600 ñ but in the two years that’ve followed, I’ve increased my touring schedule dramatically, adding live SModcast performances to that mix as well. Two years ago, you couldn’t hear me on almost daily basis on SModcast.com. Add an incurable case of Twitterrhea to that equation and there’s a good chance the same folks who came out for that Carnegie show have burned out on my antics. If that was the case, maybe we wouldn’t even reach that Carnegie 2600 number, let alone our hoped-for Radio City 3000 (which would be half capacity, pre-NYPD). Anybody who gives a fig about Fatty McNoFly can hear what’s on his one-track mind 24/7, free-for-nothing; why pay to see him or his dopey flick?

Kids? You gain so much when you give away the farm.

For four years of all the free SModcasts for one year of all the aural we just give away at SModcast.com for seventeen years of being there for them? The audience, as always, is now there for me.

We’ve reached the minimums on all but one of the houses on the tour (I’m looking at you, Minneapolis). We’ve already cleared (not grossed; cleared, post-all payments and expenses) six figures in profits thus far. The tour is making our investors money now, long before the October 19th theatrical release.

The idea was, rather than festival hop (which would have cost money), we’d go right to work, bringing the flick with me on one of my Q&A tours, and start earning some money back for our investors. There’s four million dollars to return, and Jon and I have this dream of being in the black before our theatrical run begins. It’s costing us nothing but time and sweat equity to earn (Well, that’s not the whole truth: the earnings from my spring touring would’ve been mine, personally ñ but I’m giving all the tour earnings to Red State).

Will we sell out across the country? Not likely. I’m not even sure a single house will sell out on the tour. But it doesn’t matter, so long as the tour itself ultimately profits; and right now, the tour is already in profit. Naturally, our investors would like to maximize that number; so I’ll be doing all I can to spread the word without spending a dime. But I’ll be honest: the moment we hit profitability, the pressure was off.”

Make sure you stop over at the Red Statements blog for the entire post (and a look at that amazing trailer again, if you haven’t seen it in a while). Much thanks to Kevin also for the News Askew ink towards the end — To our new visitors, welcome, and like SModcast, expect big things and changes (for the better) around here in 2011.

Tickets for the US “Red State” road show are still available for the tour, where you can see not only “Red State” over a half of a year early, but also get a full-blown Q&A show with Kevin Smith himself. These are the ONLY SCHEDULED US DATES for a chance to see the film and Kevin together, so don’t miss it. If you’re waiting for this to come back around later in the year, don’t count on it. Get your tickets now, and proudly say that you not only saw the film early, but that your dollars went directly towards its budget. Pretty cool, right?

• Spinoff Online donated generously to East Queensland Flood Relief to bring you an exclusive look at the latest from the “Red State” one sheets. Surf over and give their site some love to thank them for their donation. We’ll feature the poster here after giving them a window of exclusivity.

  If you grab the poster, and also include the link for the South East Queensland flood relief in your story/article, you’re not only being a thorough journalist, you’re also helping to save actual lives ‘n lives whose progress you’ll be able to trace via The South East Queensland flood relief website.

  It only takes a few seconds longer to provide all available facts in any story.

  Including THIS fact can help save a life.

• When asked about the film having a liberal slant, Kevin says it’s “…just a horror movie. Politics are not for me.”

• Actor Kevin Alejandro has a good amount of screentime, including a big scene with John Goodman.
• Kevin’s sticking by the March release date promised by the teaser trailer.
• The distributor who purchases the film will determine if an official trailer is created and used to market the film on a larger scale.
• DP Dave Klein shot “Red State” almost completely using handheld cameras, with the exception of just one scene.
• Want a little more background on the characters you’re about to meet? There’s a new page from the Cooper Family Album now available exclusively at http://www.goddamnsusa.com/.

What will the world think of the dark, bleak “Red State”? And who’s gonna bring it to the masses? It won’t be long before we know.

Film? I’m living proof that even chimps can make cinema if there’s enough talent to back it up; and the talent is never in the individual anyway, it’s in the group effort of many filmmakers – cast and crew – aiding the one in telling his or her story. I love film; it has given me everything I have today. But even filmmaking is not playing God.

Only writing ñ amongst not only all the arts, but amongst all of humanity’s waking endeavors ñ allows we mere mortals a true taste of all-encompassing creation along the lines of that which God (or a god; or a god-like energy from which the universe sprang) knew or knows.

Read the entire SMonologue exclusively at Silent Bob Speaks.

Hollywood Babble-On #23 – http://smodcast.com/babbleon
SModcast #157 (“The SMisland”) – http://smodcast.com/main.html
Plus One #12 (“The Jengularity”) – http://smodcast.com/plusone

It’s Friday night at 6. After a long week of waking up early to sell the tour on radio stations across the country, I’m plenty centered & ready to take stock of thoughts & feelings of a whirlwind week. But first? Huge thanks go out to @ColeAbaius over at the @rejectnation site. We Skyped what was, for me, a pretty cathartic conversation about me & the press, with Cole standing in for bloggers everywhere. It was a really great, honest talk that you can hear on the @rejectnation RejectRadio podcast soon. It was pretty healing for me if that makes any sense. And speaking of press, I sat down with Kim Masterson today for the @kcrw The Business. Kim wrote what Jen described as a “fair & funny” piece about me & the flick over at @THR for which I can only find the photo gallery right now: http://bit.ly/gS3lYg .

Don’t forget, Kevin will be at each and every “Red State” screening — Tickets and links at the top of the page you’re reading, or http://coopersdell.com/ or http://www.newsaskew.com. The first big show at Radio City Music Hall, is just a month away — March 5th. That joint holds 6,000 people, so let’s just see how close to sold out we can get that sucker. Nab your tix today, and be a part of history as Kevin takes it to the people.

Why the tour, and why Radio City, you ask? The latest “Red Statement” from Kevin goes into some good detail on the reasons for this type of rollout. Here’s a peek:

“…For each venue, thereís a minimum number of seats to sell before weíre at break-even. As long as the minimums were reachable, the tour wouldnít cost us anything ñ which is always my first goal in business: to spend as little as possible while eking out a living. Beyond the minimum seat numbers per venue weíd have to sell to cover the costs of doing a show in that venue, we figured it was all gravy. Best case scenario: we sell out every show and walk with $1.5 million net that would go toward recouping our $4 million dollar budget. Worst case-scenario: half-empty-houses that cost us nothing but also earned the movie back nothing but potential word-of-mouth.

Not the ideal, but still better than the alternative: sitting on the film ítil October or simply festival-hopping. But more importantly: the folks who really wanna see it could see it soon, and see me in the process, too ñ and, God-willing, theyíd start talking it up to everyone they know. If theyíre talking it up in March and April (on Twitter, Facebook, real life, etc), theyíre getting our word out six months before weíre in theaters. And as a creature of the web, I know thatís worth way more than monetary profit now: thatís profit later ñ when we really need it, once the flick hits theaters October 19th. Long tail, son.

…

“…I donít know who suggested Radio City Music Hall, but when they did, I knew weíd never sell it out: itís a 6000 seater. But that didnít matter: it was the idea that two fucking movie dorks like me and Jon could actually rent Radio City Music Hall at all to show our weird little flick. The moment Jon compared it to Spicolli getting Van Halen to play his birthday party (as revealed at the end of Fast Times at Ridgemont High), I was in. So even though I sold out the 2600 seat Carnegie Hall the day of the show, even with Red State shot from the Sundance cannon, we knew weíd never sell 6000 seats in only a month, with no paid advertising.

The good news is all we have to sell is 1700 seats.

1700 seats is the break-even point: the amount of tickets we have to sell so our rental of Radio City that night is paid for. After that, every ticket sold is all gravy. Naturally, weíd love to sell the rest of the seats, but the pressureís off at 1700. The rest of the shows across the country are under half the size of Radio City, so our break-even numbers everywhere else are far lower; only the Radio City 1700 looms large in our minds. At 1700 seats sold, we un-cork champagne and un-clinch our assholes.

On Monday, Iíll tell you how far away or close we are.

Read it all at the official site. Be a part of the Jerry Maguire-like movement by attending the shows, always up to date at http://www.coopersdell.com.