{"id":35887,"date":"2023-03-31T12:22:25","date_gmt":"2023-03-31T16:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/?post_type=bu-article&#038;p=35887"},"modified":"2023-04-04T14:43:12","modified_gmt":"2023-04-04T18:43:12","slug":"how-bart-and-lisa-simpson-helped-launch-a-com-profs-career","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/articles\/how-bart-and-lisa-simpson-helped-launch-a-com-profs-career\/","title":{"rendered":"How Bart and Lisa Simpson Helped Launch a COM Prof\u2019s Career"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Earlier this year, Fox announced that it would renew \u201cThe Simpsons\u201d for its <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/2023\/01\/the-simpsons-family-guy-bobs-burgers-renewed-two-additional-seasons-through-2024-25-1235241757\/\">35th and 36th seasons<\/a>. It\u2019s a staggering, historic run for a primetime network television series. Of the current 34 seasons (more than 700 episodes), Season 4 is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.looper.com\/444226\/every-simpsons-season-ranked-worst-to-best\/\">rated by some as the series\u2019 best<\/a>, as it includes \u201cMarge vs The Monorail\u201d (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theringer.com\/tv\/2023\/1\/17\/23558002\/the-simpsons-marge-vs-the-monorail-conan-obrien\">Read &#8220;The Ringer\u2019s&#8221; 30th anniversary retrospective<\/a>.) and \u201cLast Exit to Springfield.\u201d There was also another well-received episode called \u201cThe Front\u201d by a new writer named Adam Lapidus, who is now a COM assistant professor of film and television.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In \u201cThe Front,\u201d which aired 30 years ago, on April 15, 1993, Lisa and Bart are inspired to write an episode of \u201cThe Itchy and Scratchy Show.\u201d They send their script to television executive Roger Myers Jr., but he doesn&#8217;t even read it. Lisa and Bart, who believe they aren\u2019t taken seriously because they are children, resubmit the script under the name of their grandfather, Abraham (Grampa) Simpson. With Grampa\u2019s name at the top, \u201cfronting\u201d for Lisa and Bart, Myers reads the script and subsequently hires Grampa as one of Itchy and Scratchy\u2019s writers. The episode, which Lapidus says was \u201cdefiantly\u201d named after a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0074554\/\">1976 film starring Woody Allen<\/a> about blacklisting in the 1950s, parodies the blacklist era and pulls back the curtain on animation and television writing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After \u201cThe Front,\u201d Lapidus earned his first network staff job writing on \u201cFull House.\u201d He spent the bulk of his career working for the Disney Channel on shows including \u201cPhil Of The Future,\u201d \u201cThe Suite Life Of Zack And Cody,\u201d and \u201cJessie,\u201d where he became an executive producer. He also wrote and produced \u201cTeam Kaylie\u201d for Netflix.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>COMTalk chatted with Lapidus about his big break 30 years ago, advice that he shares with students, and how \u201cThe Simpsons\u201d helped him meet his high school crush.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio is-style-background-yellow\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"responsive-video responsive-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bart, Are You Thinking What I&#039;m Thinking? (The Simpsons)\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gTwiapzCN00?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1&#038;origin=https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a test-block-editorial-q-and-a\"><div class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-title\"><h2 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-title-heading\">Q<span>&amp;<\/span>A<\/h2><h4 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-title-subheading\">With Adam Lapidus<\/h4><\/div>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">COMtalk:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\"><strong>What were you doing in Los Angeles in the early 1990s?&nbsp;<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Adam Lapidus:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">What I was doing was struggling with writing. I had been writing for three years, and I had a few credits. But I was trying to get a job. Back in the day, you would write an episode of a show that&#8217;s currently on the air, and then your agent would send it out to people to show that you can write. But you never would send the script if you wrote an episode of \u201cThe Simpsons\u201d \u2013 to \u201cThe Simpsons.\u201d They would <em>never<\/em> buy it. But it was sent to other shows to show what you could do.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">COMtalk:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\"><strong>Where did you get the idea for Lisa and Bart to write for Itchy and Scratchy?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Adam Lapidus:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">I got an idea for the episode after watching a story about the show \u201cTiny Toons.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/8c9376468220e91026e73eaf51db593e\">Some kids had submitted an idea to Steven Spielberg<\/a>, who was executive producer. I thought that would be funny for Bart and Lisa to write Itchy and Scratchy. I knew a very successful writer named <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0204444\/\">David Davis<\/a>, who worked with [Simpsons co-creator James L.] Jim Brooks. I called David with the idea because he knew \u201cThe Simpsons,\u201d and he was kind of my mentor. I was going to write it as a spec script, but he called back maybe a day later and he said, \u201cI pitched it to Jim. Jim really likes it and he wants to buy it and have you write it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">COMtalk:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\"><strong>You must have been floored.<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Adam Lapidus:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">It was one of those \u201cThis Doesn\u2019t Happen To Me\u201d moments. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">COMtalk:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\"><strong>Did you feel a lot of pressure?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Adam Lapidus:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">Oh, my god! Immense pressure because the hope was to get a job. That&#8217;s what you try to do. I just wanted to do a really good job, and I couldn\u2019t believe this was happening\u2014that I was going to write for the hottest show on television.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">COMtalk:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\"><strong>You worked with \u201cThe Simpsons\u201d writing team, which had really hit its stride by Season 4. What was the key for you writing this episode?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Adam Lapidus:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">I had a very detailed outline. An outline might be 5 or 10 pages for a 30-page script. My outline was 25 pages! I really worked through the outline with the writers. It was about a week before I had the outline done.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">COMtalk:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\"><strong>At the end of the opening scene, Bart asks Lisa, \u201cCartoons have writers?\u201d It\u2019s one of many jokes aimed at animation and the TV industry. Was that the focus of your comedy?&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Adam Lapidus:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">That wasn&#8217;t really at the front of my mind, but an amusing side story. I did have more of that in my first draft, with Bart and Lisa also seeing the Itchy and Scratchy cartoon dubbed into different languages when they went on the tour of the studio, which I thought would be funny.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">COMtalk:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\"><strong>What is your favorite joke or gag from the episode?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Adam Lapidus:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">My favorite one that was mine? As a kid I was a big Flintstones fan. I loved how Fred would run through this tiny house and pass the same window nine times. So I wanted to write a joke when Bart and Lisa went on a tour with the producer, and he\u2019s talking about animation being expensive as they are passing the same\u2014I think it\u2019s a water fountain and a cleaning person\u2014four times.<br><br>My absolute favorite joke in the script was actually Conan O\u2019Brien\u2019s. There\u2019s a line where Grampa is asked to share his life experiences, and I remember Conan pitching \u201cI was a night watchman at a cranberry silo.\u201d That\u2019s crazy funny. I was happy to have a joke like that in my script. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">COMtalk:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\"><strong>Speaking of Conan, he\u2019s a Harvard grad. So are many of the writers. What did they have to say about the jokes at Harvard\u2019s expense?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Adam Lapidus:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">All that Harvard stuff, they wrote that in ensuing drafts. I wouldn&#8217;t dare have made fun of Harvard writers when that was nearly the whole staff of the show at the time.&nbsp; That might have been a bit self destructive of me.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">COMtalk:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\"><strong>Brooke Shields does a cameo toward the end of the episode. Was that your idea?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Adam Lapidus:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">I had a crush on Brooke Shields in high school. My friends and I joked that when I moved to Hollywood, that was the reason.&nbsp;<br><br>At the end of the episode, we had an awards show. It was basically the Emmys for animation. I thought, \u201cWho would be a good presenter?\u201d So, Krusty the Clown should be a presenter. And I thought \u201cWho else?\u201d Well, Brooke Shields would be funny, and maybe they would like it. And they did. I always tell my students, if there\u2019s someone you want to meet, write them into your script. I got to meet Brooke Shields, and she was super nice.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">COMtalk:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\"><strong>\u201cThe Front\u201d led to your first network staff writing job. How do you advise your students who want to break into the industry today?&nbsp;<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Adam Lapidus:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">It&#8217;s a mix of things. The main thing I tell them is once they get out [of school] they have to keep writing. You need a sample of everything. You need a half-hour live-action sample. A half-hour animated sample. You need a feature, because you never know who you\u2019re going to meet. If you meet a movie producer, you want to have a movie.&nbsp;<br><br>And the thing I tell them the most, actually, is to create a group of friends who are peers with them. People like Judd Apatow [who also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbr.com\/judd-apatow-simpsons-episodes-20-years\/\">has a Simpsons writing credit<\/a>], Amy Poehler, all those people that you know, are working together. They met before they were famous. In 33 years I got four jobs through an agent, and everything else I got through my own contacts.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Earlier this year, Fox announced that it would renew \u201cThe Simpsons\u201d for its 35th and 36th seasons. It\u2019s a staggering,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1654,"featured_media":35890,"template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1627,164],"bu-publication":[],"discipline-type":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/35887"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1654"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/35887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35916,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/35887\/revisions\/35916"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35887"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=35887"},{"taxonomy":"discipline-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/discipline-type?post=35887"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=35887"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=35887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}