Fanboy and Chum Chum

Mairghread Scott puts the clamp down on writer Itai Grunfeld. TREAD!

Frederator: Describe your chores on Fanboy & Chum Chum, please.

Mairghread: My job is Executive Assistant to Eric (Robles) and Steve (Tompkins), so I’m in charge of making sure the guys know where they’re going, which people asked them for what (and when they need it by), and in general handling the chaos that comes with cartoons. And yes, I do keep a pad of paper by me to write it all down.

Frederator: Where did you grow up?

Mairghread: I grew up in Dearborn, Michigan. It’s a nice town right outside of Detroit where everything is named after the Ford Motor Company. Oh, and I’m told we have the largest Arabic population in the country, so there’s that too.

Frederator: What was your favorite cartoon as a kid?

Mairghread: Batman: The Animated Series (and if no one’s around, Sailor Moon).

Frederator: Did you go to school to be doing what you’re currently doing?

Mairghread: Pretty much. I went to NYU (ooh, fancy), and studied Dramatic Writing, with a focus on Television Writing, with a focus on Animation. Anyway, Fanboy is exactly the type of place I want to be working. Of course, since I’ve only been out of college for a year and change, they don’t let me write the episodes yet, but I do get to pitch jokes and story ideas sometimes. Maybe if one of the writers meets with some kind of accident…

Frederator: Where do you get your creative inspiration?

Mairghread: I get a lot of ideas from reading the paper. I think people think that ideas for a kids’ show have to come from kids’ stuff, but most problems we faced when we were little are the same problems we face today. So when I think of an idea or joke I just use class president instead of nation’s president, bike crash instead of car wreck and Spider-Man collectable instead priceless work of art.

Frederator: Name one thing you’ve learned along the road to get to where you are.

Mairghread: Always try. There are so many things I didn’t try because I was sure I’d get rejected, only to see other people just give it a whirl and succeed. Plenty of people in life will tell you “no.” Don’t tell it to yourself.

Frederator: Are there any artists, present or past, you’d like to meet?

Mairghread: I can’t draw, so talking to artists is a little intimidating for me. (ex. Big Name Artist: So, what do you want to comment on in my body of work? Me: You draw real nice!). But I have always wanted to see the sculptor Daniel Chester French at work. A copy of his “Mourning Victory” is in the New York Met, and I’d love to see how anyone could pull that much emotion out of stone.

Frederator: If you had any super power what would it be?

Mairghread: Wings. Not just magical levitation like Superman. I mean, big, Hawkman-style wings. I want to fly, but I also what to know how the heck I’m doing it.

Thanks, Mairghread.

(Thanks to Angie Polk for the interview work.)

– Eric (Homan)