Scott Adams of Dilbert

Dilbert has been a comic strip for twenty years and has become a cultural icon in the process. The cubicle-dwelling characters have found their way from the newspaper to books and television over the years, and now they’ve entered the new medium of podcasting in the form of animated cartoons delivered every weekday. I caught up with Dilbert creator Scott Adams to get the scoop on the how and why of Dilbert’s transformation from the page to the podcast…

First things first: how did you originally come up with the name “Dilbert” and who if anyone is the character based on?

Dilbert is a composite of my ex-coworkers, with a little of myself in the mix. Physically he is based on one particular guy who does not know what he inspired. I never mentioned it to him. The name Dilbert was suggested by my friend and ex-boss at the phone company.

What inspired you to turn Dilbert into a daily animated strip?

It seemed like the natural step. The Internet is embracing video and animation, and the cost of animation is dropping.

What have been the biggest challenges in doing the animated strip? Biggest rewards?

The challenge is that I write for readers, not listeners, so the voice actors have an extra challenge translating my words. The biggest reward is simply that people like the animations.

What led you to release the animated strip as a free video podcast in iTunes?

The videos are already free on dilbert.com, as are the regular comics and my blog. iTunes is a way to reach a larger audience.

Do you worry about releasing your work in a format like podcasting, a format from which most content creators have been unable to derive any type of revenue?

The more people who enjoy Dilbert the better. Popularity can be translated into income a number of ways. For example, in October the 20th Anniversary Dilbert book comes out. It’s a huge volume (coffee table size) with everything from the story of how I got started to the comics that didn’t get past the editors to every comic I have drawn up to that point. Added exposure to Dilbert can only help sales of the book.

How do you feel about episodes of the Dilbert television show being available for purchase through iTunes?

If people like them, that’s fine. I don’t make any money from that, thanks to Hollywood accounting.

Why do you blog? Is it purely a personal exercise, or do you believe Dilbert’s readers gain something from reading your thoughts on the various topics you blog about?

No one knows why they do anything. But I will share some rationalizations and that might feel to you like an answer. For one, I haven’t been able to speak for several years, thanks to an exotic problem with my vocal cords called spasmodic dysphonia. I recently had surgery which should correct it within a few months, as the nerves regenerate, but during this time I felt a strong impulse to have a voice of some sort, and the blog allowed that. It is essentially a written conversation with tens of thousands of people.

Second, when you are a creative person, you need to create. It is an unstoppable force. Dilbert is a restrictive vessel as far as the types of material it can handle. Blogging has no limits. It is nearly instant, uncensored, and strangely personal. It appeals to me on every creative level. That’s a long way of saying it feels good when I do it.

Beyond blogging, have you dabbled in other social media tools such as Facebook or Twitter, either for personal reasons or for the sake of expanding Dilbert’s reach?

I haven’t. Those things can be problematic for us minor celebrity types.

You’ve taken Dilbert from the comic strip pages to television to books to the podcasting world and beyond. What other forms of media are you planning to (or hoping to) integrate Dilbert into in the future?

Maybe when artificial intelligence and holograms are perfected I can take the gang to a new level. How great would it be to summon a lifelike image of Dilbert every you had a technical question?