"It's too expensive, that's the thing nobody wants to talk about. It is too expensive to make movies. That's not true, it is too expensive to market movies. Making movies is not"
About this Quote
Kevin Smith’s knack is puncturing Hollywood’s self-mythology with the kind of blunt clarity that sounds like a friend talking you out of a bad purchase. Here he aims straight at the industry’s favorite alibi: that “movies are too expensive,” therefore risk-aversion and franchise monoculture are inevitable. He flips the culprit from production to publicity, exposing how the real budget-buster isn’t the camera but the megaphone.
The intent is practical and political. Practical, because Smith comes from the scrappy end of filmmaking, where ingenuity substitutes for cash and a movie can be made with favors, constraints, and a strong point of view. Political, because he’s indicting the economics that decide what gets seen. If marketing is the true cost center, then studios aren’t financing stories; they’re financing certainty. The system rewards projects that can justify a massive ad spend and deliver predictable opening-weekend returns, which conveniently nudges cinema toward IP, sequels, and easily summarized premises.
The subtext is a quiet rebuke to gatekeepers: don’t tell emerging filmmakers the dream is unaffordable when the real barrier is distribution power. Smith’s correction also lands as a diagnosis of our attention economy. Marketing isn’t just billboards; it’s the price of occupying a culture that’s crowded, algorithmically filtered, and trained to treat visibility as proof of value.
Contextually, the quote reads like a post-streaming-era reality check: the tools to make a movie keep getting cheaper, but the cost of being noticed keeps climbing.
The intent is practical and political. Practical, because Smith comes from the scrappy end of filmmaking, where ingenuity substitutes for cash and a movie can be made with favors, constraints, and a strong point of view. Political, because he’s indicting the economics that decide what gets seen. If marketing is the true cost center, then studios aren’t financing stories; they’re financing certainty. The system rewards projects that can justify a massive ad spend and deliver predictable opening-weekend returns, which conveniently nudges cinema toward IP, sequels, and easily summarized premises.
The subtext is a quiet rebuke to gatekeepers: don’t tell emerging filmmakers the dream is unaffordable when the real barrier is distribution power. Smith’s correction also lands as a diagnosis of our attention economy. Marketing isn’t just billboards; it’s the price of occupying a culture that’s crowded, algorithmically filtered, and trained to treat visibility as proof of value.
Contextually, the quote reads like a post-streaming-era reality check: the tools to make a movie keep getting cheaper, but the cost of being noticed keeps climbing.
Quote Details
| Topic | Movie |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
More Quotes by Kevin
Add to List
