The Maker stables have gotten a little fatter lately with the recent high profile addition of director-turned-star-podcaster, Kevin Smith.
Smith, who ignited the slacker hearts of Generation X with his indie-film darling “Clerks,” is now a content creator for the powerhouse online studio responsible for such innovative web sensations as “Epic Rap Battles of History.” NMR is positively frothing in anticipation of what Smith, with his scathing invectives on pop culture, can bring to the Maker table. Already, his channel Seesmod has a host of content ranging from interviews and animation to an art tutorial with his longtime collaborator Walt Flanagan. Good saucy stuff, so far.
“Getting in bed with Maker allows me and SModCo to learn how the cool kids do things. I look forward to their patience as they teach a fat Padawan how to be a Jedi at YouTube the Maker way, and I plan to shoe-horn myself into all their fine programs,” joked Smith, making no secret of his love for the Star Wars way.
Smith joins a few other Hollywood luminaries spinning gold for Maker including Robert De Niro and Snoop Dogg, who both signed over the last year.
Occasional NMR guest writer Will Keenan, who is a serial RT’er and Partnerships Executive at Maker Studios, was responsible for the high-profile get. When asked by NMR why Maker was going after Smith when so many other celebrity YouTube channels have struggled to find their footing, Keenan responded:
“Having made a lot of indie films before joining Maker Studios in 2011 and becoming Maker’s Director of Programming/Network Optimization, signing Kevin Smith’s seesmod channel is an historic occasion. My wish is the two worlds inhabited by filmmakers and web-video content creators will continue to come together for the benefit of both, and viewers. Kevin and his collaborators have always been pioneers and they continue to pave new ground as evidenced today. Now subscribe to their channel!”
Keenan also recently signed BadLipReading, BaracksDubs, AJ Rafael, Alphacat, Adrian Grenier’s WreckroomRecords and others. Now it is not a question of can Maker get stars, but rather, “What star will Maker land next?”
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