How Kevin Smith Parlayed $27,575 Into a Career Spanning Three Decades

Kevin Smith didn't always want to be a filmmaker. As a youngster in New Jersey, he was more enamored with the written word and had aspirations to work as a journalist or write for shows like Saturday Night Live. But that would change in the summer of 1991 when, on his 21st birthday, he saw Richard Linklater's Slacker. Viewing the $23,000-budgeted film about a day in the life of misfits in Austin, Texas was a formidable experience for Smith. Suddenly the notion of trying his own hand at filmmaking seemed accessible and appealing. The result of such a revelation would be Clerks, a seminal, beloved example of 1990s independent cinema that also served as the launch pad for its writer and director's decades-long filmmaking career. Taking Clerks from conception to screen, however, had its share of challenges for Smith and his team, and the idea of it being seen by anyone outside his immediate circle of friends and family was never a foregone conclusion.