Sunday Mailbag

Q: Have you ever turned down an assignment for MAD, and if so, why?

A: Only once. Several years ago I was driving to Massachusetts to open my theme park operation at Six Flags New England for the first time. I received a call from MAD to do a parody of a movie called “Panic Room” starring Jodie Foster and Forrest Whitaker. Much as I would have loved to do it, I was about to spend almost two weeks setting up and working at the theme park, plus the drive home to Minnesota from Massachusetts. The deadline was too tight, so I had to turn it down. I was sick about it.

I’ve written before on the blog about the difficulties freelancers often have in turning down work for whatever reason. I always imagine that this job I am turning down will be the last one I get offered for a month. Sometimes it’s simply impossible to accept a job due to time or other issues. It’s a much bigger disservice to the client to take on a job you know you will not be able to complete in the time the need it than to tell them you cannot do the job.

Thanks to Grant Jonen for the question. If you have a question you want answered for the mailbag about cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar, e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here!