Should we start passing the hat around for writer/director Kevin Smith?

Smith, the mind behind the low-grade classic “Clerks” and last year’s “Zack and Miri Make a Porno,” says he can’t get the funding together for a new project dubbed “Red State.” The film, ostensibly a horror movie, would be based on a Fred Phelps type character. Phelps is the infamous pastor behind the Westboro Baptist Church, the group known for its awful God Hates Fags rhetoric. Smith claims the dark subject matter is scaring potential studios away.

The Weinstein Co., his usual financial partners, passed on the film. And Smith recently hinted he might try a donation model to get enough funds for the project. Why is “Red State” so radioactive?

Smith has been cryptic about the film’s content … but the name of the title certainly is one indicator. One would wish Smith, or any other director for that matter, might see Islamic terrorism as the source for some horror movie mayhem. But that’s an argument for another post.

The film’s struggles may be due to Smith himself. The writer/director may have the smallest ego in Hollywood. There couldn’t be a more self-deprecating auteur around. But his films simply aren’t very good of late.

“Zack and Miri” felt like something made by a teen with a camera and some really famous – and patient – friends. “Jersey Girl” wasn’t the disaster many said, but it was hardly a gem. “Clerks II” delivered the funny but felt more like a Hail Mary career pass than true inspiration.

And the less said about the trailer for his upcoming film, “Cop Out,” the better.

So if “Red State” continues to struggle, it could mean that Smith’s much delayed project isn’t intriguing enough to draw a crowd. Heck, if a film which could poke Red State audiences in the eye can’t command a financier’s attention in Hollywood something must be wrong.

Smith is the same director who created his breakout film, “Clerks,” with a bare bones budget.

Can’t an older, wiser Smith cobble the resources together to make another passion project come to life without begging for scraps?