POTD: Here's The Original Budget Breakdown For Kevin Smith's 'Clerks'

If you're a Kevin Smith fan, then you know that the filmmaker's career was launched after he made the black-and-white indie comedy Clerks for a measly budget. We've known for awhile how little it cost Smith to direct his first feature, but the director recently posted the actual budget breakdown that he sent to Miramax in hopes that they would buy the movie, and the rest is history. See it below!

Here's the Clerks budget that Kevin Smith submitted to Miramax 22 years ago, from the director's Facebook:

Clerks budget

You'll notice that there's a missing figure in this document. Smith explained in his post that the negative cut figure cost over $1,000, which is what takes the total up to $27,575. That's not bad at all considering the film led to a career that has turned Smith into a millionaire.

We'll admit the math might be boring, but I like that original bio that he had attached to the budget. It's pretty cool that his high school gave him a varsity letter for being the basketball team's cameraman.

Smith's story is one of those rare success stories that inspired so many indie filmmakers to follow their dreams into show business. Say what you will about the filmmaker Smith has become (I'm still a fan), but it's still cool to get a glimpse into how someone like him became a well-known name in the filmmaking world. And the good news is that you can probably make a film like Clerks for significantly less today with all the technology out there now. So go make a movie!