I was reading posts on Twitter all night about the Sundance premiere of Kevin Smith‘s new horror film Red State and his subsequent decision to self-distribute the film on October 19, preceded by a road show tour of the film.
I thought I would provide some of my personal thoughts on this news, which also included the announcement that Kevin Smith would only direct one more film (the hockey-based Hit Somebody) before moving on to a producer role with his new distribution company.
From what I gather from the many posts I read, Kevin Smith used a bit of a bait and switch tactic, where he announced that he was going to auction the film off to distributors following the screening before going off and “winning” the auction with of bid of $20. This was then apparently followed by a rant criticizing studio distribution tactics.
In response to all of this, I have say that I somewhat understand why Kevin Smith would want to self-distribute the film, since it was a very hard film for him to make (I believe it was essentially self-financed) and I would assume he believed that self-distribution would the most respectable for the film. However, I also believe he somewhat disrespected the film studios in attendance, including long collaborators The Weinstein Company, who were expected to get a chance at bidding on the film.
Either way, my interest in the film has never been higher and I really do hope that eventually screens in Toronto, so I can see it.
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