Are YOU Kevin Smith's friend?
New York Magazine reports on "How Kevin Smith Reinvented Movie Marketing." By manufacturing a dust-up with a TV movie critic just before the opening of his film and getting lots of free publicity? Sure. But also, by listing 10,000 of his MySpace "friends" in his credits:
Smith’s newest addiction is MySpace: “I think it has a lot to do with growing up fat, ’cause you’re always trying to find acceptance and credibility. I’ve been on since March and I’m closing in on 50,000 friends. So I feel like, Wow, that’s kind of cool.� The Weinstein Co. hatched a plan to promote 'Clerks II' by putting the names of the film’s first 10,000 MySpace friends in the credits. They thought the contest would go for weeks. They had the names in two hours.Meanwhile, The Onion lists Smith's "career highlights," including:Smith feels a compulsive need to win over an audience with the sheer tonnage of his verbiage; there were no short answers to my questions. Even though he’s now a 35-year-old father who lives in his pal Ben Affleck’s old house in L.A., Web surfers still have access to insanely intimate details of his life: One blog post this month touched upon his predilections for cunnilingus, anal sex, and picking his nose.
2004: Got honey-mustard sauce all over favorite bowling shirt, but was able to learn from the experience and grow as a director.This may be the definitive test to see whether Smith has a sense of humor. About himself.
Comments
You'd think by all the recent media coverage that Kevin Smith was the first to pull a publicity stunt for a movie. It's gone on before by others (and more offensively) and it'll continue to go on.
I think as long as he's not trying to enlist the church (ala "Narnia") or something in that vein, I don't have a problem with it, and don't consider it any more unethical than most of hollywood marketing tactics. I don't see how this is any different than contests that virtually every movie puts on. "Sign up and win!" is basically as cheap as "Sign up and see your name!"
And at the average ticket price of $6.50, getting that 10,000 to show up isn't likely to make a monstrous impact on opening weekend. Not in a world where movies are pulling in $55 million on opening day.
I wonder if The Onion will list their own 2006 highlights? "Sold out to media giant that censors Comedy Central, less funny headlines ensue."
Posted by: Jordan Gray | July 27, 2006 03:31 PM
Kevin Smith, I think, will get a huge kick out it, as he's a fan of self-deprecation.
Hell, I love him, and I got a huge kick out it.
Posted by: Mark Adkins | July 28, 2006 08:49 AM
the honey mustard line is funny, but totally untrue.
not even that honey mustard could make smith grow as a director. although it was delicious.
Posted by: zac schmitt | July 28, 2006 02:39 PM