They were told superhero comedies would never sell, then they spent years watching DreamWorks turn their "Lex Luthor" parody into a modern animation classic.

Brent Simons is the co-creator and screenwriter of Megamind and Penguins of Madagascar, a writer who turned a lifelong obsession with comic books into a career at the highest levels of animation.

Brent reveals the secret history of Megamind, including its origins as a subversive live-action script and the reason his agents thought it was too risky to tell him the movie finally sold. He recounts the high-pressure two-week "sprint" to finish the Penguins of Madagascar script and the heartbreak of seeing projects like The Yard fall through. We also discuss how his childhood struggle with dyslexia actually became his greatest strength as a storyteller.

Go inside the writer’s room for a deep dive into the "Research and Development" of the film industry.