Interview: Joel Cohen, writer and associate producer of The Simpsons
by Ruth Suehle
Joel Cohen is an Emmy award-winning writer and associate producer of The Simpsons. He’s also a keynote speaker at the Red Hat Summit this June. Enjoy this sneak preview of Joel, and then join us in Boston to hear more from him about The Simpsons and keeping innovation alive for 420 episodes over two decades.
The Simpsons has been on for 20 years now. What does the team do to keep creativity alive for that long?
I look forward to talking about this more at the Summit, but basically it is a lot of brainstorming, building on ideas, constantly pushing ourselves to find new, previously un-mined veins for stories and jokes, and shamelessly ripping off other people’s ideas (somehow this last one is the easiest).
How did you wander from a career in sales to writing for The Simpsons and other shows and movies?
A question my parents have asked me repeatedly, although when they ask, they are more sneering and judgmental.
I noticed while Googling that there’s another Joel Cohen who turned out to be a biologist. Maybe you could convince them that’s you. Although he appears to have more than a few years on you in age, so make sure the parents have images turned off when they’re surfing.
It is for exactly that reason that I have refused to allow my parents home to have electricity–that way they can never look me up on a computer. The power generated by the water wheel isn’t enough to run anything but the basic necessities. Some people call it cruel, I call it protecting my self-interests.
I always wanted to write; I just never really pursued it until I found myself in LA growing bored with my sales job. Once I made the decision to pursue a career in writing, it was incredibly tough, and were it not for getting the chance to write some jokes for the comedian Kathy Griffin, I very well might still be selling bad movies to video stores or late night commercial spots on CNN Latin America. So the next time someone out there rents a bad movie or hears of an insomniac in Peru buying something they saw on late night TV, well, that’s my legacy.
Can you explain how The Simpsons used Linux?
Well, before I answer this, I first will admit to being only a writer and consequently both ignorant and in awe of our animators and their process. That said, based on conversations with them, I am willing to commit to the following answer:
The show is all hand-drawn and digitally animated, and the movie was too. However, because we were writing and re-writing the movie at such a furious pace, the scenes we would write needed to be seen and approved or revised (or often rejected) before they committed to the very labor-intensive process of hand drawing the cels.
For that purpose, crudely animated scenes were produced with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Linux animation technology, so our animators were able to show us these scenes incredibly quickly. Once a scene or piece of a scene was approved, it would begin the more traditional animation route; however, the volume and speed of material that was created for the movie could never have been done without that Red Hat-fueled system.
I saw an interview with you and Tim Long where you guys mentioned that the Americans were writing most of the Canada jokes on the show. Any cracks on Canada you need to set straight?
We once had an episode where a bunch of characters sang “Oh, Canada” (the national anthem), and I noticed that they skipped a line in the song when they sang. I pointed it out to my boss, and he said no one would notice. I was of course indignant until the episode aired in Canada and the US and indeed, no one did notice. Therefore, I’ve given up and just try every day not to be teased too much by the American bullies I work with.
Who’s been your favorite character to write, major or minor?
I love writing for Moe the bartender and Ralph Wiggum. It’s a chance to explore the furthest depths of misery and stupidity respectively – both wonderful places to visit and even better to come home from.
And of course we have to ask… What’s your favorite episode? Or even a top 5?
My very favorite episode is one I saw a crude version of my first day and was absolutely blown away by. It is a homage to the VH1 show “Behind the Music,” but our version is called “Behind the Laughter.” My very first half-hour working on the show was spent watching this episode, and I was amazed by how great it was. My second half-hour was spent hearing all of the talented writers on the show talking about how to make it better–and they were right. It was like sitting around with amazing artists as they talked about how to improve the Mona Lisa. The final product is terrific, and as such, I have a fondness for it. It also may be the only episode of the show since I have worked there that hasn’t gotten worse as a result of my presence.
If you’re interested in hearing Joel speak, attending over 100 technical sessions, and having a lot of fun with Red Hat in Boston, register for the Red Hat Summit. Early bird pricing has been extended until May 30.
May 29th, 2008 at 8:30 am
Awesome….my Linux based Tivo now records my favorite TV show that uses the same superior technology to entertain the masses!
Eat my shorts!
May 30th, 2008 at 11:42 am
LINUX ROCKS! Who needs Windoze anyways!
JT
May 30th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Linux Animation Technology? Is he insinuating that they’re using some sort of proprietary in-house solution or are they using something remotely based on an existing application suite?
May 31st, 2008 at 1:41 am
Alex, dude,
I think the /trés generique/ term “Linux animation technology” (mind the lower-case letters) means simply that Joel, as he says, is “both ignorant and in awe” of the animation process. Meaning, he could have seen the program window open on each animator’s workstation ten times each and every day for the entire span of the show and movie, and the program name never once sunk in.
May 31st, 2008 at 5:35 am
I don’t see where it is said that final product was done on Linux? Only crudely early drawings?? Unless it’s in house designed software, Linux is not burning up media studio’s.
May 31st, 2008 at 6:29 am
John S says: “I don’t see where it is said that final product was done on Linux?”
Hey John, Joel very clearly stated multiple times that the final product is “all hand-drawn”.
Doh!
CD Baric
May 31st, 2008 at 9:21 am
Haciendo Los Simpson con Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Joel Cohen le cuenta a Red Hat Magazine acerca de cómo Los Simpson usan Linux para acelerar su proceso de animación. VÃa Digg.com . En inglés
May 31st, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Alex: If it’s in-house, it probably isn’t proprietary, it’s just not released to the masses. There’s a difference.
June 1st, 2008 at 8:00 am
actually linux IS burning up media studios, at least
in film and animation. Weta, Dreamworks. ILM, and others all use it. Google it.
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:01 am
Mona Lisa? I didn´t check that one (well maybe, because I am from Austria ^^)
P.S: Did he said, that he made the Simpsons worse? XD
June 5th, 2008 at 9:17 am
[...] Los Simpsons usan Linux… Así responde Joel Cohen, escritor y productor asociado de Los Simpsons, a la pregunta ¿Puedes explicar cómo Los Simpsons usan Linux? "Lo que mostramos está todo hecho a mano y animado digitalmente, y la película también lo fue. Sin embargo, debido a que estábamos escribiendo y re-escribiendo la película a toda pastilla, las escenas que escribíamos necesitaban ser vistas y aprobadas o revisadas (o muchas veces rechazadas) antes de que ellos consideraran la gran labor y el intensivo proceso de creación de fotogramas a mano". "Por eso, la escenas que necesitaban una animación mayor las producíamos con Red Hat Enterprise Linux y la tecnología de animación de Linux, así que nuestros animadores pudieron mostrarnos estas escenas increíblemente rápido. Una vez que la escena o parte de la escena era aprovada, empezaría el trabajo más tradicional de animación; sin embargo, la cantidad y la rapidez con la que creamos el material nunca la podríamos haber conseguido sin aquél sistema Red Hat". Fuente: VivaLinux! » GNU/Linux como una pasión de multitudes y La Ventana Muerta. Última edición por Xseba fecha: 02-06-2008 a las 12:05:47. [...]
June 7th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Great Linux i’m working with Red Hat Enterprise Linux too.
June 9th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
This is an excellent example of how Linux affects industry in a real and appreciable way. I will let my students know of this event, and make this article a required reading assignment.
June 12th, 2008 at 12:40 am
[...] Asà responde Joel Cohen, escritor y productor asociado de Los Simpsons, a la pregunta ¿Puedes explicar cómo Los Simpsons usan Linux? [...]
June 12th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
[...] Linux in Hollywood (Part II, III, IV, etc..) – Linux Help Bring Titantic to Life, Star Wars Episode II, Simpsons [...]
June 13th, 2008 at 1:29 am
John S:
“I don’t see where it is said that final product was done on Linux? Only crudely early drawings?? Unless it’s in house designed software, Linux is not burning up media studio’s.”
Bournemouth university in Britain is renowned for its computer media centre for animation and stuff (even did some of Toy Story) They use a version of Ubuntu (not sure which flavour) They do not use Windows at all! I’m not sure of the software that is used however.
June 19th, 2008 at 7:29 am
[...] Linux can streamline traditional work flows. [read this post in: ar de es fr it ja ko pt ru zh-CN ] [...]
February 15th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
I wish I had the talent to produce a good poster for the simpsons 20th anniversary contest. I love the simpsons. But at least there are others (as I see here) that share an interest still.