He begins all of this by bitching about pilots, because he doesn’t understand what a pilot is. The name is self explanatory. It drives the show. The pilot’s only purpose is to be the first episode. What do you need in the first episode? The central characters doing something that’s similar to what they will be doing for the remainder of the show. In other words, it’s a regular fucking episode. He tried to sound smart by saying “think of any pilot you like and tell me if it’s yours favorite episode.” But that’s just a fallacy. Of course the pilot isn’t gonna be the best, often times the writers are just getting into the groove of the show.(for the record. I think the only legitimately funny episode of Bob’s Burgers was the pilot, but that’s just me).
He then complains about time constraints. “Brevity is my weakness.” And it was so important for him to have 22 minute episodes because “there’s so much to tell.” He claims that if he doesn’t show everything, he will feel like he wasted a concept. This is just the sign of bad writing because rather than pick the strongest elements and do something good when them, he feels the need to use everything regardless of quality. You know John, sometimes you can save unused elements on one episode and repurpose them into another. It happens all the time.
He also has this text that says “asking a writer for under a minute is like asking an artist to draw stick figures.” Which is absolutely stupid, especially in animation. You can get a LOT done in a single minute, especially when a minute can take weeks to animate depending on the complexity. I know you’re a shit writer(you even say you’re incapable of a short episode) but don’t lump yourself in with more efficient people.
he then claims the bloat and length of his pilot is necessary because it has to introduce over a dozen characters. But you know, it really doesn’t. He could have been just fine with less than half that cast and have the others be random extras in the background. Not every character needs to be vital when the location is a god damn party.
then, his big rant begins. First by claiming “Growing Around is the show to teach kids that it’s okay to grow up.”
Because slavery, prison camps, forced humiliation, and being stripped of all human rights is somehow a good thing to teach kids. The only benefit a world like this could have is as a lesson in karma.
he goes on to claim that the general public has been too stupid to get his premise, and that’s what’s been holding him back. And says you don’t need to be given all the lore to understand the show because you don’t read the prequel to lord of the rings first, despite lord of the rings being both a sequel to the hobbit, and fully adept at explaining its required lore as you read. I doubt he’s read any of Tolkien’s work. Finishing with
“I owe zero explanation to my premise, that’s the definition of a premise in fiction.” I guess he has no idea what a plot hole is or how it can be distracting
Except there’s one problem John. You have given explanations. And they’re creepy. And the more you explain, the creepier it gets. That’s why people ask about pedophiles and the like, because your “answers” are always more alarming than the question.
Then he complains about people bringing up the aging system by saying “Someone younger than you will replace you eventually.”
But he has never worked, so how would he know this? That doesn’t happen if you’re good at your job, and definitely not at basically at the beginning of your life. As I said before, you’re an adult way longer than you’re a child. You can work most jobs until you’re 60 and be fine. Some can ’work well into their 70’s and 80’s with no problems. Especially if they’re healthy. That’s more than 40 years on average. GA‘s world strips you of your job around age 18, 14 years at best. And you don’t just lose your job. You go to the home for the childless and lose your rights as a human, forced to become a slave for the rest of your life. Which again, much longer than your childhood.
his last real bit is the most bizarre and the one that set me off the off.
He says that you don’t need to worry about fleshing out every detail. Going as far as to claim his “advice” to anyone creating a series(like he should be giving advice to anyone) is “don’t worry about accurate lore. That’s the fanfic writer’s job”
No dumb ass. Any writing class will teach you to create a full list of every possible detail for a character. Most of it will never be seen in the final product. This is so you have a fully fleshed out human character and you have a perfect understanding of who they are and how they would react in any given situation. This is especially important to give to actors in a script setting. The royale with cheese conversation in pulp fiction is a great example. Through it you learn that Vince spent time in Europe, choses McDonald’s over burger king(which later plays into the fact that he’s a vintage purist) and likes to hold his knowledge of Europe as a badge of honor. He’s important to Wallace. So important that he was sent to Amsterdam and is trusted with his wife. All of that can be seen through a silly conversation between him and Jules about the regional differences of America and Europe. That’s how you make a character. You define them off the record and let them react to the scenes on the record.
This video, more than any of them, is proof of how pompous, arrogant, clueless, and outright bitter he is with everything he does. He doesn’t understand a god damn thing, but wants to talk down to everyone like he’s a genius. And the animatic at the end, that bit really got me. It was his huge “take that bullies!” moment. Only it just shows how much trouble he’s actually in. The voice acting is horrible, the music is just awful, and the framing doesn’t suit itself to actual animation. Not to mention the writing is not flattering. It looks like maybe a week’s worth of work. Which is alarming seeing as it’s been “in the works” for years.
