How to Pitch a Movie Idea

I had mentioned Jenkins before this, but I had not shown him. Then I wrote this comic, and wanted a drawing of someone who looked like a famous filmmaker. Missy and I had a friend who looks a bit like George Lucas, so I exaggerated his hair to heighten the effect and used the drawings in this comic.

Later, I needed to show Jenkins. None of the fresh drawing I did looked any good (It may surprise few of you to learn that my art skills are fairly limited, and my drawings tend to be hit and miss). I had always liked these drawings and lamented the fact that I had no reason to ever talk to the film producer character again, so I came up with a half-assed story to explain why the film producer now worked in my office and called it good.

Note from Missy: I don’t think I’m alone here in being anxious to see the half-assed story. Because I totally don’t remember it.

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How to Pitch a Movie Idea

I had mentioned Jenkins before this, but I had not shown him. Then I wrote this comic, and wanted a drawing of someone who looked like a famous filmmaker. Missy and I had a friend who looks a bit like George Lucas, so I exaggerated his hair to heighten the effect and used the drawings in this comic.

Later, I needed to show Jenkins. None of the fresh drawing I did looked any good (It may surprise few of you to learn that my art skills are fairly limited, and my drawings tend to be hit and miss). I had always liked these drawings and lamented the fact that I had no reason to ever talk to the film producer character again, so I came up with a half-assed story to explain why the film producer now worked in my office and called it good.

Note from Missy: I don’t think I’m alone here in being anxious to see the half-assed story. Because I totally don’t remember it.

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As always, thanks for using my Amazon Affiliate links (US, UK, Canada).

How to Apologize Without Accepting Any Blame

A friend of me once told me that their teenaged daughter had actually taken some advice I’d given in my comic and applied it to her life. They seemed amused when I cringed.

I asked what the advice was. They told me that she had taken panel three of this comic and used it to craft an insincere apology to one of her classmates. They seemed confused when I continued to cringe.

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How to Apologize Without Accepting Any Blame

A friend of me once told me that their teenaged daughter had actually taken some advice I’d given in my comic and applied it to her life. They seemed amused when I cringed.

I asked what the advice was. They told me that she had taken panel three of this comic and used it to craft an insincere apology to one of her classmates. They seemed confused when I continued to cringe.

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As always, thanks for using my Amazon Affiliate links (US, UK, Canada).

How to Exhibit Good Form

This comic is one of my favorites, and it’s one of the very few that I can clearly remember writing. That’s probably because instead of writing it sitting at my desk, staring at a blank Word document, chanting to myself, “come up with something, come up with something,” I wrote this sitting in the Orlando airport. We were flying back home to Seattle after Missy’s audition for what was essentially her dream job at Walt Disney World.

I got the idea for the comic, then I sat there at the gate and scratched the whole script out on my Palm Pilot. At that point, my daily site traffic was something like a few hundred unique visitors a day, which felt huge. As for Walt Disney World, we had hopes, but neither of us really expected Missy to get the job.

Less than three months later Basic Instructions was running in Seattle Weekly, we lived in Orlando, Florida, Missy had her dream job, and I was being trained at the Tower of Terror (which was then, and still is, my favorite ride). Three months after that (thanks in no small part to the intervention of Scott Adams), I was getting thousands of uniques a day. Three months after that I had a book deal with Dark Horse Comics.

Life can change pretty fast. This comic reminds me of that, because the guy who wrote it would have been shocked to see who he was nine months later, and both of them would be pretty surprised if they could see where I am now.

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As always, thanks for using my Amazon Affiliate links (US, UK, Canada).

How to Exhibit Good Form

This comic is one of my favorites, and it’s one of the very few that I can clearly remember writing. That’s probably because instead of writing it sitting at my desk, staring at a blank Word document, chanting to myself, “come up with something, come up with something,” I wrote this sitting in the Orlando airport. We were flying back home to Seattle after Missy’s audition for what was essentially her dream job at Walt Disney World.

I got the idea for the comic, then I sat there at the gate and scratched the whole script out on my Palm Pilot. At that point, my daily site traffic was something like a few hundred unique visitors a day, which felt huge. As for Walt Disney World, we had hopes, but neither of us really expected Missy to get the job.

Less than three months later Basic Instructions was running in Seattle Weekly, we lived in Orlando, Florida, Missy had her dream job, and I was being trained at the Tower of Terror (which was then, and still is, my favorite ride). Three months after that (thanks in no small part to the intervention of Scott Adams), I was getting thousands of uniques a day. Three months after that I had a book deal with Dark Horse Comics.

Life can change pretty fast. This comic reminds me of that, because the guy who wrote it would have been shocked to see who he was nine months later, and both of them would be pretty surprised if they could see where I am now.

You can comment on this comic on Facebook.

As always, thanks for using my Amazon Affiliate links (US, UK, Canada).

How to Give Directions

Wow! MapQuest! When was the last time you heard that name? Before MapQuest I used a program called Microsoft Streets and Trips. It was a CD-ROM. You’d print out the directions and bring the sheaf of paper with you to consult as you drove.  It was not terribly accurate, and would get me lost more often than not, but at least it got me lost near my intended destination, which was better than I usually did on my own.

Note from Missy: This comic made me wonder if Thomas Guides were still around. Which led me to learn from Wikipedia that they were primarily a west coast thing, while I’d always assumed they were nationwide. Also, in the Wikipedia, “The neutrality of this article is disputed.” I guess even a bunch of books full of street-level maps can raise people’s ire.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Guide

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As always, thanks for using my Amazon Affiliate links (US, UK, Canada).

How to Give Directions

Wow! MapQuest! When was the last time you heard that name? Before MapQuest I used a program called Microsoft Streets and Trips. It was a CD-ROM. You’d print out the directions and bring the sheaf of paper with you to consult as you drove.  It was not terribly accurate, and would get me lost more often than not, but at least it got me lost near my intended destination, which was better than I usually did on my own.

Note from Missy: This comic made me wonder if Thomas Guides were still around. Which led me to learn from Wikipedia that they were primarily a west coast thing, while I’d always assumed they were nationwide. Also, in the Wikipedia, “The neutrality of this article is disputed.” I guess even a bunch of books full of street-level maps can raise people’s ire.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Guide

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As always, thanks for using my Amazon Affiliate links (US, UK, Canada).

How to Act Casual

Yes, I know that beatniks are a terribly outdated reference. I still use it for three reasons.

1.       Beatnik is a funny word.

2.       The nearest non-dated equivalent, hipster, is a moving target. What constitutes a hipster changes every year. If you had told someone from ten years ago that hipsters today would wear plaid shirts and have handlebar moustaches, they wouldn’t believe you.

3.       I can make fun of beatniks without fear of offending beatniks because the very few of them who are still around are not reading web comics, unless there’s a comic about bongo drums that I’m unaware of.

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As always, thanks for using my Amazon Affiliate links (US, UK, Canada).

How to Act Casual

Yes, I know that beatniks are a terribly outdated reference. I still use it for three reasons.

1.       Beatnik is a funny word.

2.       The nearest non-dated equivalent, hipster, is a moving target. What constitutes a hipster changes every year. If you had told someone from ten years ago that hipsters today would wear plaid shirts and have handlebar moustaches, they wouldn’t believe you.

3.       I can make fun of beatniks without fear of offending beatniks because the very few of them who are still around are not reading web comics, unless there’s a comic about bongo drums that I’m unaware of.

You can comment on this comic on Facebook.

As always, thanks for using my Amazon Affiliate links (US, UK, Canada).