<Tr> <Th> Budget </Th> <Td> $27,575 $230,000 (post) </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Box office </Th> <Td> $3.2 million </Td> </Tr> <P> Clerks is a 1994 American independent black - and - white comedy film written, directed, and co-produced by Kevin Smith . Starring Brian O'Halloran as Dante Hicks and Jeff Anderson as Randal Graves, it presents a day in the lives of two store clerks and their acquaintances . Clerks is the first of Smith's View Askewniverse films, and introduces several recurring characters, notably Jay and Silent Bob, the latter played by Smith himself . The structure of the movie contains nine scene breaks, signifying the nine rings of hell as in Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, from which the main character, Dante, gets his name . </P> <P> Clerks was shot for $27,575 in the convenience and video stores where director Kevin Smith worked in real life . Upon its theatrical release, the film grossed over $3 million in theaters, launching Smith's career . </P>

Is the clerks movie in black and white