Kevin Smith won’t use Kickstarter to fund ‘Clerks III’

Crowdfunding may have worked wonders for “Veronica Mars” and Zach Braff on Kickstarter, but cult filmmaker Kevin Smith (“Mallrats,” “Red State”) says he is having none of it.

Smith, who recently finished the first draft of his “Clerks III” script, would seem like an ideal candidate for a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter. Like Braff and the “Veronica Mars” folks, the filmmaker has a rabid and devoted fan base that would almost certainly pony up to help him get a movie made – especially another sequel to “Clerks.”

But while Smith admits he’s toyed with the idea of crowdfunding, the “Jersey Girl” director said he'd feel uncomfortable making his fans pay for a pet project.

During a recent AMA (Ask Me Anything) session on popular social news site Reddit, Smith said using crowdfunding wouldn't be fair to up-and-coming directors who need the money more than he does.

“I'm feeling like that's not fair to real indie filmmakers who need the help,” Smith wrote. “Unlike back when I made 'Clerks' in '91, I've GOT access to money now -- so I should use that money and not suck any loot out of the crowd-funding marketplace that might otherwise go to some first-timer who can really use it.”

That's either a roundabout shot at fellow established filmmaker Zach Braff (whose divisive Kickstarter project just picked up nearly $8 million extra in traditional financing) or just Smith trying to dodge some of the flack that the “Garden State” actor/director has taken for crowdfunding his new film.Or maybe Smith is trying to avoid the same fate as former “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” star Melissa Joan Hart, whose recent Kickstarter effort crashed and burned in spectacular fashion.

“I'm gonna try to pay for 'Clerks III' myself,” Smith continued. “As much as I love the crowdfunding model, that's an advancement in indie film that belongs to the next generation of artists. I started on my own dime, and if I'm allowed, I should finish on my own dime."

Whether those are fighting words from the 42-year-old Smith or if he just doesn't want to steal the limelight from emerging talents, you've got to admire his principle here. "Clerks" fans would jump at the chance to crowd source another movie in Smith's long running "View Askewniverse," but the director raises a point that has come up in other recent Kickstarter movie projects: Why should you pay for his movie when he's got the money and clout to make it on his own?