December 30, 2009
Cherry Cheva at the Ann Arbor Library
In Praise of Randomly Cool Civic Events
Photo: Angela J. Cesere,
AnnArbor.com
Blogging after a long drive home -- whee, it's like being in an altered state! I thought about doing this as an InStyle-type piece, starting with 'Cherry Cheva arrived wearing a tasteful, ruched blazer, looking cool and unruffled by the legions of fans surrounding her...' That's true. But the whole surreal experience deserves something a little quirkier than InStyle. I mean, here was a massively successful Hollywood writer hanging out in the grey-walled multipurpose room of a Michigan public library and fielding questions from fanboys, aspiring screenwriters, and random library patrons. Pretty wacky, and very cool.
The pre-discussion conversation was good entertainment. A bunch of twentysomethings next to me proved my theory that FG is too educational -- ha! -- when one of them admitted to looking up a lot of the show's references. 'It's like a Dennis Miller joke,' he said, 'even if you don't get it you want to know why.' 'Why'd she bother going to law school?' wondered another guy, who confessed he thought she had the best job ever. A nice lady (who turned out to be a teacher) started to explain the subtext of Duplikate to him, which was also pretty awesome.
An animatic (the animation equivalent of a rough draft) from the 'Hannah Banana' episode launched the discussion -- we even got to see an exploding dog joke that hadn't been included in the broadcast -- and then a librarian named Vickie moderated the Q&A.
Speaking about her writing career, Cheva said that her first step was 'wasting a bunch of money' going to law school. She admitted her parents (who were in the audience) were 'not psyched' about her decision to pass on the bar exam and drive out to L.A. -- but they still gave her a car to do it, which is pretty darned supportive. She then described what seems to be the Hollywood standard: a series of unglamorous jobs, some serious networking, and writing spec scripts until she was officially hired as a writer. I've heard the same story at a lot of conferences but I'll give Cheva props for explaining how everything works in the clearest and most sensible way I've heard yet.
Unsurprisingly, my favorite part was when she took us through the process of writing an FG script, which she described as a group effort (involving eighteen writers, yowza!) from start to finish. Although a single writer is assigned to write the initial script, the rest of the writers add jokes and tweak the writing. After a table read proves the episode sufficiently funny, it's recorded and sent to Korea to be fully animated. This takes several months but, as we learned, the show's freewheeling structure allows the writers to move unused gags to other episodes, as well as putting in last-minute topical jokes. Neat!
Cheva also revealed some fun facts, such at that when the writers are writing dialogue they all have their own 'lame' versions of the real actors' voices. She noted that the show's characters have had some organic development, as when Quagmire turned from 'a 50's guy' into the sex maniac that we all know and love. The discussion ended with a first look at an upcoming episode, 'Big Man on Hippocampus'. That was pretty darned cool, and I'm anxious to see if all the jokes will make it to primetime. There's a really funny shout-out to Adult Swim, and some fun riffs on Family Feud to look forward to.
I was impressed at how patiently Cherry Cheva answered endless questions about her boss, getting agents, sending spec scripts, and everything else the aspiring writers wanted to know She was encouraging but realistic, which is a good combo. She was also amazingly diplomatic. When this adorable little kid -- who I swear was some sort of GOP plant --- stepped up to ask why they didn't animate the show in America, Cheva very nicely explained that this wasn't her area of expertise but that yes, it might be considered outsourcing.
All in all, Cheva seemed out to inspire her hometown audience, telling them that yes, even kids from Michigan could make it in Hollywood. For those who couldn't make it to the gig, this is the AnnArbor.com article, which has some video clips attached. The AADL will also be posting video and a podcast, and I'll post the links when I find them. For now, I think I have to go to sleep.
