…Pretty much every thing you need to know about their profession and relationship comes across in that short conversation. Ever since I saw Chasing Amy, I’ve frequently used that as an excellent example of how a film can build character by showing people going about their jobs. Seldom in movies or television shows do you see people actually working, unless they’re surgeons, police officers and trial lawyers.

So when I finally got Kevin Smith on the phone, I briefly told him about that, and it said, “That rocks. It gives me chills to hear you say that. Chasing Amy came out in 1997, so it was 1996 when we filmed it. I remember that day, and how we started the scene with just the phone ringing. Then I thought about it and said, ‘Hey, start out by saying something about his work. Compliment his lamppost,’ and that’s what we used. For you to remember that and say something 15 years later, that’s where the payoff is.”