Kevin Smith Pitched a Project to Netflix

It sounds like Kevin Smith and Netflix have an interesting relationship.

The filmmaker revealed on his most recent Fat Man on Batman podcast that he had spent his day pitching a project to the streaming giant that, by his telling, would have some great talent behind it with him directing.

“I went to two meetings today,” Smith said. “One was a pitch for a project I would just be director on, wonderful project, wonderful script by a tried and true talent and I went in with a producer who has also made a zillion f**ing things, movies that have made hundreds of millions of dollars, and we went to Netflix, the new Netflix place.”

Smith heading to Netflix for a project probably isn’t a huge surprise to fans. With Netflix producing more and more original content, both movies and series, streaming sounds like it would be a good fit for Smith. But as Smith revealed, while everyone thinks he should work with Netflix, it’s not quite that simple.

“Everyone’s always like ‘you should do s**t with Netflix,’ including me, I say the same f**ing thing as if it was that simple, but they’re massive. I’d not been there for a pitch in a while. I pitched there over, like I was telling the people I went in with today, they were like ‘have you ever gone to Netflix?’ and I was like ‘yeah, four times this year I think,’ and I detailed each time and I said each time they are always so nice, but they don’t f**ing buy from me.”

That Smith, who is currently filming the horror anthology film Kilroy Was Here, hasn’t had the best luck with Netflix might not have been particularly comforting for the people he was making his latest pitch with, but Smith explained that there might be a chance for them if they managed to avoid Netflix’s chief content officer, Ted Sarandos.

“It’s weird, too, because I know Ted, the guy that runs the joint and I see him every time I’ve gone in to pitch and he’ll pop through the lobby and be like “oh s**t, Kev, what are you doing?’ and we sit there and chit chat and then he’s like ‘what are you bringing’ and ‘I hope we buy it’ and they never do. So, I told the folks I was with today as long as we don’t run into Ted in the lobby we might have a shot.”

As for what Smith and his partners were pitching, that’s anyone’s guess. Smith has a number of projects that have been announced in recent years, including Jay and Silent Bob Get a Reboot, a film that would see Smith return to characters first written for Clerks 25 years ago as they attempt to stop a reboot of the Bluntman & Chronic movie. Whatever the Netflix project is, Smith admitted that he wasn’t sure his relationship with the company was changing anytime soon.

“My only real interaction with this company will forever be me paying for it every month to watch Netflix,” he said. “That’s our relationship. You give us money, goodbye.”