Curated playlist
Inkpot Award winners
- Steven SpielbergSteven Spielberg walked into Universal Studios without a pass, and the guard waved him in.
- George LucasGeorge Lucas turned down a higher directing fee for Star Wars. He asked for toy and merchandise rights instead.
- Kevin SmithKevin Smith maxed out credit cards and sold his comic books to make Clerks. The film raised $27,575 and won at Sundance.
- Hayao MiyazakiHayao Miyazaki was told as a boy he would not live past 20. He went on to found Studio Ghibli in 1985.
- Dr. SeussAn education publisher dared Dr. Seuss to write a book children can't put down. The result was The Cat in the Hat.
- Jim HensonJim Henson made the first Kermit from a halved table tennis ball and his mother's old coat.
- Vernor VingeWhat happens when machines get smarter than the people who built them? Vernor Vinge kept asking.
- Neil GaimanNeil Gaiman is the first author to win both the Carnegie Medal and the Newbery Medal for the same book.
- Kevin FeigeUSC film school rejected Kevin Feige five times. He applied a sixth time and got in.
- Ralph BakshiRalph Bakshi sold CBS a show it already owned. CBS had acquired the Terrytoons library in 1955 and forgotten it.
- Francis Ford CoppolaMarlon Brando won the Godfather role only after a screen test and a reduced fee.
- Poul AndersonPoul Anderson's typewriter now sits in a Berkeley bookshop. His widow donated it after he died in 2001.
- Stan LeeStan Lee used a pen name because comic books embarrassed him. He wanted his real name saved for a novel he never wrote.
- Edgar Rice BurroughsEdgar Rice Burroughs wrote Tarzan after failing as a mine manager and pencil-sharpener wholesaler.
- John LasseterDisney fired John Lasseter in 1984 after he pitched a film blending hand-drawn art with computer backgrounds.
- Larry LieberLarry Lieber could not say where he found the word uru, the name of the mystical metal from which Thor's hammer Mjolnir is made. It first appeared in the debut of Marvel's thunder god, in Journey into Mystery #83, cover-dated August 1962.…
- Jack KirbyJack Kirby was drafted in 1943 and became a scout who drew reconnaissance maps in towns.
- Steve DitkoSteve Ditko covered Spider-Man's face because it looked too young. He reasoned a full mask would add mystery.
- Arnold SchwarzeneggerArnold Schwarzenegger broke into a locked gym on weekends as a teenager. He later became California's governor.
- Howard KazanjianHoward Kazanjian proposed filming Return of the Jedi as a fake horror movie called Blue Harvest.
- Clive BarkerUnhappy with how others filmed his screenplays, Clive Barker directed Hellraiser himself. It opened in 1987.
- George R. R. MartinA chess craze helped save George R. R. Martin's writing career. Bobby Fischer's 1972 win got him a tournament job.
- Joe ShusterSuperman's city of Metropolis was modeled on Toronto, where artist Joe Shuster grew up.
- Osamu TezukaOsamu Tezuka was a licensed physician who never practiced medicine. He is the manga artist behind Astro Boy.
- Roger ZelaznyA story by Roger Zelazny traveled to Mars in 2008. "A Rose for Ecclesiastes" rode on a DVD aboard the Phoenix lander.
- David BrinAuthor David Brin won the Hugo Award for Best Novel twice with his Uplift Universe books.
- Mark HamillMark Hamill voiced Ukraine's air raid alert app as Luke Skywalker. Each alert ended with "May the Force be with you".
- Brian Michael BendisWriter Brian Michael Bendis stretched Spider-Man's origin into seven issues. Peter Parker waits until issue five.
- Yoshitaka AmanoIn 1996, artist Yoshitaka Amano became the world's highest-earning artist.
- Donald F. GlutDonald Frank Glut was born on the 19th of February 1944, and his career refuses to stay in one lane. He has written novels, cartoons, comics and books about dinosaurs. He has directed horror films and played bass in a band. Most people who…
- Jim ShooterJim Shooter was 14 when DC Comics bought his scripts. His first paycheck went toward a rebuilt family car engine.
- Byron PreissIn 1982, Byron Preiss hid twelve boxes in North American parks, each holding a key for a $1,000 jewel.
- Moto HagioMoto Hagio's parents did not accept her career as a manga artist until 2010. She was 61 by then.