Kevin Smith: Being a Heart Player, Modifying Expectations, and Betting on Yourself

Welcome to the latest installment of One Moore Hollywood Podcast, featuring the man, the myth, the legend: Kevin Smith. On this episode, OMHP's hosts Chris Moore, Katie Marpe, and Dennis De Nobile chat with Smith about the vital importance of being a heart player, how modifying your expectations for your art changes the game, and betting on yourself. 

Smith's Industry Start

While Smith thinks of himself more as an editor who likes to direct, the world knows him as a brilliant cult-classic director, producer, actor, and writer, having risen to fame with films like Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma, and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Throughout his thirty-years-and-counting stint in the film industry, he's also hosted a podcast and recently acquired a movie theater in his home state of New Jersey. 

Moore says it's not often that people push for other people's work, but Smith did just that for Good Will Hunting, where he and Moore first crossed paths. Smith was in his twenties; he'd made it big with the indie flick Clerks, released Mallrats, and was working on Chasing Amy and Dogma. At this point in Smith's career, he was at the height of his ability to get things made. As soon as he read the Good Will Hunting script, he knew he had to use that power to push it through all the right channels at Miramax. Smith never stopped championing Good Will Hunting, eventually becoming one of its executive producers. 

Being A Heart Player

Smith has spun many plates throughout his career and continues to do so with enthusiasm for art in its many forms. His love for film, writing, and comics began at an early age, and at one point, he decided to try making a movie himself. Why not? 

"I wanted to play the game, and just because I wasn't born with the talent to play the game doesn't mean I don't have the heart to play the game. Many of us are heart players."

–Kevin Smith

When it comes to making art, Smith advises not to be afraid of being an outsider artist. “Don’t leave yourself out of something enjoyable because you can’t do it like they do,” he says. Life's too short not to try to make your mark on the world. 

Modifying Expectations

There are several dogmas (get it?) that Smith lives by, one of them being that modifying expectations in art is essential. Modifying expectations, according to him, changes the game. In art, remembering your perspective's innate value is vital. No one else can tell your story quite like you do. “Your voice is your currency," Smith insists. However, you have to understand that although your dreams are doable, nothing and no one can guarantee their success, so you might as well make it for the one person you know it will satisfy (you). 

"The only guarantee you have is to make something you love with your entire heart."

–Kevin Smith

Modifying your expectations around how your art will be received is essential in making the art you believe in no matter how successful or unsuccessful society deems it. "Don't cheapen up and do what people have done. If you're going to take a risk, take a risk on you because that's the thing, guaranteed, they've never seen before," Smith says. 

Betting on Yourself

Moore asks Smith: Why do you keep making movies? 

While Smith admits he makes more money standing on a stage talking about movies than he does making them, there are two main reasons why he continues to churn them out.

1. He knows how to do it. 

"I built a brand and a brand name that makes it easier. And I have a pretty good track record of getting the movies I want made because I know how to modify expectations,” Smith says.

2. To honor twenty-one-year-old Kevin Smith, who got him here.

Throughout Smith's career, he's made sixteen movies and is working on his seventeenth, all due to this one kid's decision to believe in himself. Smith keeps going as a thank you to his kid self whose biggest dream was for the world to treat him seriously as a filmmaker. 

As Smith says, "That kid bet on himself, and more importantly, he bet on me.”

Building for the Future in the Present

Ultimately, only you can take the steps to get your art out in the world. 

"You're never going to be better in the future than you are right now. The best way to ensure success in the future is to build it now in the present, to make it foolproof and failsafe so that future you stumbles into it and the table is set for that person," Smith states. So, take it from Kevin Smith in his early twenties: Start today.

"You have to take all the steps towards art before art takes a single step towards you." 

–Kevin Smith

And because we all could do with more advice from today’s Kevin Smith, we’ll leave you with this: "Remember, at the end of the day, we're here for a minute, and then we're fucking gone. So make sure you take time for your head and heart, not just for your career."

Hear hear. 

Listen to the entire episode here: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or iHeartRadio.