"Harvey Weinstein Didn't Pay Me Royalties For 'Clerks" - Kevin Smith

Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein may think for a moment that problems will finally stop but that certainly isn't the case.

Actor and filmmaker Kevin Smith sold his first movie, “Clerks,” to Harvey Weinstein out of the Sundance Film Festival in 1994.

Weinstein, who ran Miramax at the time, shelled out $227,000 for the black-and-white movie set in a video store. But their agreement allowed for Smith to receive a backend if the movie became profitable.

That fall, “Clerks” grossed $3.2 million in North American theaters. And it generated tens of millions more on VHS, as it became a cult hit.

Now, in a recent interview with Variety, Smith reveals that it took Weinstein seven years to pay him back some of the royalties that he was owed. And even then, Weinstein deployed sketchy accounting tactics, like billing “Clerks” for the costs associated with renting a yacht for “Pulp Fiction” at the Cannes Film Festival.

He said, "He was notorious for that. I did encounter that. And I’m still out money. But you got to understand, I never cared about the money. My whole career, my reps were like: “You’re supposed to be making far more.” Money’s never been a motivator for me.

This much I know. They bought “Clerks” for $227,000. And the movie went out and made $3 million at the box office and stuff. And it took seven years for us to see any profit from that movie. For seven years, they were like: “Nope, the movie is still not in profit.” And we were like “How?” And then there were things.

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