Frequently Asked Questions

Q: When will Nickelodeon Air the Final Season of the Angry Beavers?
Q: When will Nickelodeon Air the Final Season of the Invader Zim?
Q: What Happened to the Old Website?
Q: Where Do You Live?
Q: Is All of that Hate Mail For Real?
Q: What's Your Favorite Kind of Writing?
Q: How Can I Break Into Hollywood as a Writer?
Q: How Can I Break Into Animation/Comics As An Artist?
Q: Were You In The Military?

A: I hear they're airing them now on Nicktoons TV, a digital cable/satellite TV station. Don't ask me when because I don't know.

Q: When will Nickelodeon air the missing Invader Zim episodes?

A:There are six episodes of the show which have only aired in Australia. They will probably eventually see the light of day here in the United States, but only Nickelodeon knows when.

Q: What Happened To The Old Website?

A: The old design was getting pretty stale, and the frames thing was getting old and too complicated, so now we're all CSS & fancy graphics! I'm trying to keep it simple for those without the fastest and whizz-bang-y new computers, so no Flash, no embedded quicktime or anything like that. Let me know if something's not working for you.

Q: Where do you live?

A: In beautiful Southern California in a little small town named San Diego.

Q: Is all of that Hate Mail for real?

A: Oh yes. Welcome to AmeriKKKa. I probably get two or three a day. I only post the funnier ones.

Q: What's Your Favorite Kind of Writing; Animation, Comics or Videogames?

A: There's something great about all three. Animation pays better than Videogames and Comics do, but when I'm writing Comics, I don't have 50 people in suits & ties with no sense of humor looking over my shoulder the way I do in Animation. Videogames have their own appeal because the medium is still so young and raw that we're really still making it up as we go. This must have been how D.W. Griffith and Charlie Chaplin felt as they invented the conventions which make up what we think of as "the Movies." In addition, the audience for Videogames is also far greater than either comics or animation at this point, and will only get bigger as time goes on. Obviously, a writer wants their work to reach the greatest audience possible.

Q: How Can I Break Into Hollywood As A Writer?

A: Hard Work and Luck. It doesn't happen without both components. My story is pretty typical: when I first moved to Los Angeles, I didn't know a single soul. I got a job at a temp company and temped at all the major studios for a few months. I busted my ass to make a good impression and was eventually hired by Nickelodeon Animation. I worked there as an assistant for the better part of a year, and kept my mouth shut and eyes open, learning as much as I could. I eventually started helping one of the executives read the scripts on his desk and provided coverage for him so that he could pretend that he'd read the work. From there, I started typing up his notes for the scripts. After a few months of this, I felt I knew the characters well enough to start pitching my own material. I sold a freelance script, then another and another and eventually wound up in a staff writer job. I did a good job on the show and pitched a show of my own to Nickelodeon. They accepted it, I wrote and produced it and they ended up cancelling the show due to post-9/11 concerns about violence in the media.

Q: How Can I Break Into Animation/Comics As An Artist?

A: . To get a job in the industry, you need to work up a portfolio of stuff in the exact job you want. For instance, if you want a storyboard job, you've got to have a portfolio full of sample storyboards from different types of shows (X-Men and Rugrats) showing a potential employer that you have range. Most people just put in one or two shows that they worked on and they think that's good enough, but it's not.

Again, focus on EXACTLY the job you want: if you want to draw props (entry level job), do a book full of different kinds of props in different show styles (Invader Zim props look a LOT different than Hey Arnold props). Then after the first 50% of the book which shows that you can do the job you want (in this example, props), branch out with 30% of the book showing other kinds of work you can do, for instance, 10% character design, 10% background design, 10% storyboard cleanup. Again, you're showing producers that you've got range. They might not have an open job for props, but they might have a storyboard cleanup job available and if there's storyboard cleanup work in your portfolio, you're already ahead of the rest of the people who apply for the props job.

Finally, fill the last 20% of the pages with Life Drawing from real models. To stand out from the crowd, go to the zoo and draw some animals as well. You'd be amazed at how few people can draw animals and how few animals you see in portfolios. I'd recommend at least three pages minimum of REALLY GOOD animals in addition to 2-3 pages of humans. Producers will be AMAZED at your versatility.

Then make 5 photocopies of your portfolio, buy some serviceable portfolio books (not too expensive, they're going to get banged up and lost and/or stolen) and then start sending them around to all the studios with a letter introducing yourself and saying what type of job you're looking for and detailing your educational background, previous employment, etc. Hope that helps. It's pretty much the ONLY real way to break in without having a famous uncle or something.

Q: Were You Really in the Military?

A: No, I was never in the Military. I was an ROTC student in college, but that's it. Anything else you've read is propaganda that I spread.