# View Askew Productions
**View Askew Productions** is an American independent film production company created by filmmaker [Kevin Smith](https://www.edgepedia.org/kevin-smith) and producer [Scott Mosier](https://www.edgepedia.org/scott-mosier) in 1994, responsible for cult films including *Clerks*, *Mallrats*, *Chasing Amy*, *Dogma*, *Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back*, and *Clerks II*.[1](https://kevin-smith.fandom.com/wiki/View_Askew_Productions) Together these films form the [View Askewniverse](https://www.edgepedia.org/view-askewniverse), a transmedia franchise named after the production company.[1](https://kevin-smith.fandom.com/wiki/View_Askew_Productions) • [2](https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.5117/9789462986213-14/invoking-holy-trilogy-andrew-butler)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1994, by Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier[1](https://kevin-smith.fandom.com/wiki/View_Askew_Productions) |
| Headquarters | Red Bank, New Jersey[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-10-29-ca-62456-story.html) |
| First release | *Clerks* (1994), a $27,000 production financed by the filmmakers themselves and distributed by Miramax[4](https://cultureinjection.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/tzioumakis-yannis-american-independent-cinema-an-introduction.pdf) |
| Studio relationship | A first-look deal with Miramax, extended in 1999 into a three-year production pact[5](https://www.viewaskew.com/press/inpgh.html) • [6](https://viewaskew.com/news/nov99/1.html) |
| Principal credits | *Clerks 1&2*, *Mallrats*, *Chasing Amy*, *Dogma*, *Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back*, *Jersey Girl*, *Zack and Miri Make a Porno*[7](https://www.backstage.com/resources/detail/productioncompany/view-askew-productions-inc-51465/) |
| Leadership | Kevin Smith, President; Scott Mosier, VP[7](https://www.backstage.com/resources/detail/productioncompany/view-askew-productions-inc-51465/) |
| Active projects (2026) | *Clerks III* and *Jay and Silent Bob Get a Reboot* (completed); *Moose Jaws* (in post-production)[8](https://www.productionlist.com/production-contact/view-askew-productions) • [9](https://www.productionlist.com/production/moose-jaws) |
## Origins
The company grew out of *Clerks*, which Smith shot at the Quick Stop convenience store in Leonardo, New Jersey, for roughly $30,000 borrowed on personal credit cards.[10](https://www.viewaskew.com/press/trt.html) The film was a $27,000 production financed by Smith and Mosier themselves, and Miramax bought it out of the [Sundance Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/sundance-film-festival) and made it a success through its distribution.[4](https://cultureinjection.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/tzioumakis-yannis-american-independent-cinema-an-introduction.pdf) Its reception made Smith an emblem of the mid-1990s independent film boom, and View Askew became the banner under which he and Mosier made their subsequent features.[11](https://sightlines.media/film/2255/chasing-amy-1997)
The company's identity is deliberately idiosyncratic. Its logo is a burly, scruffy-faced clown in drag, which Smith described as "a clown wearing garter belts and clothespins on his nipples."[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-10-29-ca-62456-story.html) • [10](https://www.viewaskew.com/press/trt.html) A larger-than-life version of the clown was stamped on the window of the company's office above the Bow Knot restaurant in Red Bank, overlooking Broad Street.[10](https://www.viewaskew.com/press/trt.html)
## The Miramax relationship
View Askew operated between micro-budget independence and the studio system. Smith's production company held what the trade press called a "first-look deal" with Miramax.[5](https://www.viewaskew.com/press/inpgh.html) In 1999, after *Dogma* opened strongly at the box office, Miramax extended that arrangement into a three-year deal, replacing one expiring at the end of the year, under which Smith would write and direct his own Mosier-produced projects through the New Jersey-based shingle; the two were also at work on a Miramax Television adaptation of *Clerks*.[6](https://viewaskew.com/news/nov99/1.html)
**Budgets swung widely.** *Mallrats* (1995), financed by Universal and released through Gramercy, cost $6 million and gave Smith a real studio budget; its reception was hostile on both critical and commercial fronts, and the next film was a deliberate retreat back to View Askew, back to New Jersey, and back to a budget small enough that no one could impose a third act.[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-10-29-ca-62456-story.html) • [11](https://sightlines.media/film/2255/chasing-amy-1997) *Chasing Amy* (1997) was made for $250,000, with the economics depending on the cast of recognizable actors working at or near scale, and it earned a standing ovation at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival.[12](https://viewaskew.com/films.html) • [11](https://sightlines.media/film/2255/chasing-amy-1997) *Dogma* (1999) was Smith's largest budget and most logistically complex production to that point, a long way from the single convenience-store set of his debut.[13](https://sightlines.media/film/1832/dogma-1999)
**The Dogma distribution crisis.** *Dogma* was developed and financed within the Miramax orbit, but Miramax was owned by [The Walt Disney Company](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-walt-disney-company), and the film drew organized protest, most prominently from the Catholic League, well before release. So that Disney would not face a boycott, the Weinstein brothers, who co-chaired Miramax, bought the picture themselves from the studio and set up its distribution through Lions Gate Films instead.[13](https://sightlines.media/film/1832/dogma-1999) The rights situation shadowed the film for decades, and it disappeared from circulation; the story concluded with *Dogma: A 25th Anniversary Celebration* in 2025, when Smith reclaimed the film.[14](https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/story-behind-dogma-disappearance-from-circulation-how-kevin-smith-got-it-back) In May 2025 *Dogma* returned to the Cannes Film Festival as part of the Cannes Classics program.[15](https://lionsgatelimited.com/pages/kevin-smith-writer-director-editor)
## The View Askewniverse
The Smith-directed features made under the View Askew banner share characters, locations, and continuing plot threads. The first dozen years of Smith's directorial output are dominated by six interconnected films, *Clerks* (1994), *Mallrats* (1995), *Chasing Amy* (1997), *Dogma*, *Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back* (2001), and *Clerks II* (2006), which constitute the transmedia franchise of the View Askewniverse, named after the production company; the franchise also includes *Clerks: The Animated Series* (2000) and a number of comic books.[2](https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.5117/9789462986213-14/invoking-holy-trilogy-andrew-butler) The slacker duo [Jay and Silent Bob](https://www.edgepedia.org/jay-and-silent-bob), played by [Jason Mewes](https://www.edgepedia.org/jason-mewes) and Smith, first appeared in *Clerks* and reliably feature in every one of Smith's View Askewniverse films, from *Clerks* through *Clerks 3*.[16](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/cringe-90s-stoner-icons-jay-and-silent-bob-are-getting-a-cosy-farming-sim-but-wait-for-it-you-farm-weed/)
The franchise extends well beyond the features. When not making movies, Smith and View Askew have run a wide array of websites, including News Askew, a news site run by fans; Movies Askew, a shorts competition for aspiring filmmakers; My Boring Ass Life, Smith's online blog; and the individual websites for his movies.[1](https://kevin-smith.fandom.com/wiki/View_Askew_Productions) Movies Askew was a yearlong competition in which the top five shorts each month were showcased online, and at year's end all twelve monthly winners were shown at a Movies Askew film festival with one grand prize winner.[17](https://www.viewaskew.com/links/index.html)
Smith and Mosier's work also reached outside their own films. After reading [Ben Affleck](https://www.edgepedia.org/ben-affleck) and [Matt Damon](https://www.edgepedia.org/matt-damon)'s screenplay for *Good Will Hunting*, the two took it to Miramax and urged the studio to make it; the Kevin Smith/Scott Mosier co-executively produced film won the [Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay](https://www.edgepedia.org/academy-award-for-best-original-screenplay).[5](https://www.viewaskew.com/press/inpgh.html) • [17](https://www.viewaskew.com/links/index.html)
## Films not directed by Smith
The company has also produced films directed by others, including *Drawing Flies*, *Reel Paradise*, *Small Town Gay Bar*, *Vulgar*, *A Better Place*, and *Big Helium Dog*.[1](https://kevin-smith.fandom.com/wiki/View_Askew_Productions) Vincent Pereira and Bryan Johnson, both collaborators listed on the company's own site, were part of this circle of filmmakers.[18](https://www.viewaskew.com/sitemap.html)
## Recent activity
The company remains active. Industry production listings updated in 2026 show three projects: *Jay and Silent Bob Get a Reboot* and *Clerks III*, both completed, and *Moose Jaws*, a feature in post-production with View Askew Productions and Smodcast Pictures attached, directed and written by Kevin Smith, produced by Scott Mosier, Jordan Monsanto, and Jon Gordon, and shot in [Jersey City, New Jersey](https://www.edgepedia.org/jersey-city-new-jersey).[8](https://www.productionlist.com/production-contact/view-askew-productions) • [9](https://www.productionlist.com/production/moose-jaws) A 2023 New Jersey motion picture production report also lists a Kevin Smith film produced with View Askew and [Saban Films](https://www.edgepedia.org/saban-films), shot in Atlantic Highlands, Highlands, Long Branch, and Middletown.[19](https://www.nj.gov/njfilm/assets/pdf/annual/NJ-motion-picture-annual-report-2023.pdf)
## References
1. [View Askew Productions, Kevin Smith Wiki](https://kevin-smith.fandom.com/wiki/View_Askew_Productions)
2. [Andrew Butler, Invoking the Holy Trilogy: Star Wars in the Askewniverse](https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.5117/9789462986213-14/invoking-holy-trilogy-andrew-butler)
3. [He Hits the Small Time as Producer, Los Angeles Times (1995)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-10-29-ca-62456-story.html)
4. [Yannis Tzioumakis, American Independent Cinema: An Introduction](https://cultureinjection.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/tzioumakis-yannis-american-independent-cinema-an-introduction.pdf)
5. [Stairway to Kevin, In Pittsburgh Newsweekly (1998)](https://www.viewaskew.com/press/inpgh.html)
6. [Miramax Extends Pact With 'Dogma' Duo, Variety](https://viewaskew.com/news/nov99/1.html)
7. [View Askew Productions, Inc., Backstage](https://www.backstage.com/resources/detail/productioncompany/view-askew-productions-inc-51465/)
8. [View Askew Productions, Production List (FTIA)](https://www.productionlist.com/production-contact/view-askew-productions)
9. [Moose Jaws, Production List (FTIA)](https://www.productionlist.com/production/moose-jaws)
10. [The View Askewniverse, The Two River Times](https://www.viewaskew.com/press/trt.html)
11. [Chasing Amy (1997), Sightlines](https://sightlines.media/film/2255/chasing-amy-1997)
12. [View Askew Productions, The Films](https://viewaskew.com/films.html)
13. [Dogma (1999), Sightlines](https://sightlines.media/film/1832/dogma-1999)
14. [The Story Behind Dogma's Disappearance From Circulation, CinemaBlend](https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/story-behind-dogma-disappearance-from-circulation-how-kevin-smith-got-it-back)
15. [Kevin Smith, Lionsgate Limited](https://lionsgatelimited.com/pages/kevin-smith-writer-director-editor)
16. [Jay and Silent Bob farming sim, PC Gamer](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/cringe-90s-stoner-icons-jay-and-silent-bob-are-getting-a-cosy-farming-sim-but-wait-for-it-you-farm-weed/)
17. [View Askew Productions, Links](https://www.viewaskew.com/links/index.html)
18. [View Askew Productions, Sitemap](https://www.viewaskew.com/sitemap.html)
19. [New Jersey Motion Picture Annual Report 2023](https://www.nj.gov/njfilm/assets/pdf/annual/NJ-motion-picture-annual-report-2023.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen production organizations › Production companies and industry people › Independent production companies › American and Canadian companies*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license