Hollywood is all about commercialism. Risky, creative works from directors with distinctive points of view can't buy a green light from big-time distributors. Smith of “Clerks” and “Dogma” fame knows this, so he's taking things into his own hands with his new project. After the first public screening of “Red State,” an intense thriller based upon controversial Pastor Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church, Smith held a mock auction in which he purchased his own film's distribution rights for a token $20. At that price he didn’t even have to take out a cash advance

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The ‘Red State’ journey plans

Rather than place “Red State” in the hands of a advertising machine that would cower in fear of protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church, Kevin Smith has packed up his film and, beginning Mar. 5, strategies to journey across the United States throughout 2011, screening it for “any wise exhibitor” willing to open its doors and house an audience. Smith told the Associated Press that he is hopeful that the on-the-road exhibition of “Red State” will make back some of the film's $4 million spending budget before the Oct. 19 theatrical release, as the exhibitions will replace the standard pre-release movie marketing format.

"What we need to prove is that anyone can release a movie," Smith told the debut audience at the Eccles Theater in Logan, Utah. “Indie film isn't dead, it just grew up. We sell our movies ourselves.”

The Hollywood machine is the issue

Kevin Smith describes himself as simply a “fat ... stoner” who wants to tell stories. The “Red State” director wants to get rid of the commercial machine that would make an effort to get control of his movie since he has never liked Hollywood. As Smith told the Eccles audience, excessive commercialism may drive dollars, however it also pounds creativity into bloodless waste.

Several protests on ‘Red State’ happening

Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church, an institution known for its extreme anti-gay agenda, have taken offense at Kevin Smith's portrayal of Pastor Abin Cooper and his fundamentalist church in “Red State.”. Rather than protesting with offensive signs, Cooper’s church would kill homosexual people which are much more extreme than the Westboro Baptist Church does. Nevertheless, the “muse” for Cooper’s character is Phelps, according to Smith.

Information from

Green Field Reporter

greenfieldreporter.com/view/story/05f6e79698074e70b6c44e9a810a5019/US--Film-Sundance-Kevin_Smith/

Hollywood Reporter

hollywoodreporter.com/blogs/risky-business/sundance-red-states-kevin-smith-74829

'Red State' teaser trailer

youtube.com/watch?v=6I0caLF2Q2c