Rarely, an art film can be so well liked that a franchise is created because of it. The "View Askew" universe is an example of this. Kevin Smith wrote and directed the movie "Clerks". He produced the movie himself with a friend, Scott Mosier. They named their production company, View Askew Productions. This movie was an art film. It had a small budget, dealt with personal issues and its actors were mainly Smith's friends and family. Smith even played one of the characters himself. The movie was very popular and sold well when it was released on DVD. Universal Pictures, a large Hollywood studio, asked him to make a movie for them. He used two of his characters from "Clerks", Jay and Silent Bob, as part of the new movie. He later used Jay (played by Jason Mewes and Silent Bob (played by Smith) is three other movies he wrote: "Dogma", "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" and "Clerks 2", a sequel to "Clerks".