David Silverman segued from The Tracy Ullman Show to The Simpsons almost effortlessly. He didn't know that Jim Brooks and Matt Groening had planned to do The Simpsons from the beginning.

We didn't just catch up with David Silverman. We hounded him. We listened to his lectures at I Castelli Animati and recorded them. We chased him down the ancient Appian Way as he tried to do a bit of tourism. We rudely sat down at his table at the bar and barked questions. We plied him with wine at the Cinecitta commissary. Finally, we dragged him out of bed for some follow-up questions on a frigid December day in New York while he was nursing a cold. Intrepid reporter or restraining order? You decide.

The Simpsons Series

Russell Bekins: How did this all start?

David Silverman: In 1986, I was working on a film called One Crazy Summer. One of the other animators was named Wes Archer. He worked for a very small company called Klasky Csupo. Klasky Csupo got the contract from Fox to do The Tracy Ullman Show and that's how it all started. It was in March of 1987 that Wes Archer and I and Bill Kopp were hired to create animations. We did about a minute or a minute and a half in one week. We had to work a lot of hours to get that done. The next week it was painted. The next week we'd shoot it, add sound effects and then we were done. So it took three weeks to do one segment on The Tracy Ullman Show. We were essentially making a short film once every three weeks. We were working with Matt's style. We didn't know at the time, but he was relying on us to develop the characters further. That's why the characters changed in their appearance over time. To wit: Lisa and Maggie got their hair, it got more of a pointed design shape. In the very early going, I did a sequence where Maggie electrocutes herself. This was the most fun I ever had animating. I actually got high after the experience, my endorphins were flowing.

Another thing I didn't know was that Brooks and Groening planned to do the show from the beginning. It was the success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit in 1988 that made it possible. By the beginning of 1989 we had an order for 13 episodes of the show. The first year of the show was all about evolving the look. We had all these new animators who had never drawn the style, so it was a long learning process. Among them was Eric Stefani, brother of Gwen Stefani of No Doubt. He also wrote a lot of their songs.

RB: How do the writers and animators interact on the show?

DS: The writers will write the script in about six weeks, then there will be a table read with the actors. That's when the animators come in. We start doing the storyboard from that point on; the director and the storyboard artists will be at the table read. We have five weeks, then we show the writers the storyboard and get notes. Then we're off to the races.

But before the animation come the voices of the actors. You want to have the actors' voices untethered by finished animation, because not only will they improve their performance, but also they will ad lib lines. We are very fortunate to [have] such talent to work with. We have great performances, great writing, and great animation.

On The Simpsons, the characters' voices come before the animation, and the actors are free to experiment and ad lib. ™ and ©1998 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved. CR:FOX

RB: Is it always precise?

DS: We basically animate more than we can show. We animate 22 minutes and we show 20 minutes -- it gives a little editing room. Any time you do a live-action sitcom, you film more than you end up showing. You want to have a little editorial room because sometimes you cut jokes out of it and the show moves faster. The joke may work in isolation, but it may not work with the comedic rhythm of the rest of the show.

RB: Some gratuitous animation advice?

DS: Animation is about big jumps for accents. [David shows an animation test of Homer as a huge fat blob.] Three in-betweens going down. I bring this up as an example of rhythm and timing: be sure to vary the in-betweens and don't be afraid to pop stuff. Everything is timing in comedy.

RB: Music?

DS: When we do a song, we do a piano track first. We are fortunate to have some great singers among the acting staff. I'm always amazed about how much you can get away with. [He smiles as he cues up a more refined sequence of Homer as a huge gelatinous mass, quivering down the street to the tune of the song Big Butts.] It's good to have music to work with because we can get a better flavor for the animation. See how we hit the accents. Notice how little head-moves and eye-moves go with the music.