Kevin Smith made a name for himself with independent feature films like Clerks and Chasing Amy, though recent years have seen the filmmaker step behind the camera for a number of TV series. During a recent episode of his podcast Fatman on Batman, Smith noted there were multiple upcoming projects in which he would serve as a showrunner, yet avoided offering audiences any more specifics.
Videos by ComicBook.com
The conversation began when discussing the differences between the director of an episode and a series’ showrunner, with Smith noting that a showrunner helps create the overall tone of a series by tapping the appropriate writers and directors, while a director has to attempt to match the tone created by the showrunner.
“I’m working on a different thing now that, I’m in a different end of the process, if everything works out well, then I would be a showrunner, which lends more toward what I’m used to doing in the day job as a movie maker and stuff. And we’ll see if it keeps going forward,” Smith pointed out.
The filmmaker has offered his services to many different DC Comics TV series, such as Supergirl and The Flash, with these experiences being invaluable when it comes to taking the next step to becoming a showrunner.
“If everything goes well, I’ll be heading towards the next step where it’s like, ‘Okay, we gotta pull together a writers’ room.’ Unlike most writers’ room, it wouldn’t be a situation of, ‘What would this show be?’ There’s a map already. That’s one of the things I was brought on to do,” Smith detailed of his involvement on the project. “I’m gonna be able to see both sides of that equation. And it’s been nice doing The CW stuff just as an observer because you can pick and choose how you would do it. I’ve now done enough where I can look and see how a showrunner runs a show and form an opinion on how I would do it. ‘Would I do it that way, would I do it a different way?’ Most of the time, I’m like, ‘This is all good, maybe I would change this or do this a little bit differently,’ so that’s been good training for if this thing winds up happening.”
Smith suffered a heart attack earlier this year and, while this might slow some people down, Smith has seemingly been more productive than ever. In addition to directing more episodes for The CW, there are multiple projects that could see Smith taking the next step in his career.
“If this thing doesn’t wind up happening, there’s another TV show that I’ve been working on and if that one doesn’t wind up happening, there’s a f-ckin’ third,” Smith confessed. “I’m spinning a lot of plates post heart attack. I just need one of them to go, man. I’ll let you know as soon as it gets close. It’ll be cool if it goes, though. I’ll find out what it’s like to be a showrunner.”
Given Smith’s proclivity to update his fans on his numerous projects, as soon as one of these is confirmed, we’ll likely hear about it imminently.
Are you hoping Smith gets to serve as showrunner or would you like him to spend more time directing? Let us know in the comments below!
[H/T YouTube, Kevin Smith]
