Featured image courtesy of the Savannah Box Office website
Written by Rummel Medina
The Scribble to Screen exhibit showcased and celebrated the writing and preproduction work that goes into film and television. As part of this presentation, The Writer’s Guild Foundation (WGF) brought in Holly Schlesinger and Nora Smith, both part of the writing staff on FOX’s animated hit “Bob’s Burgers” to discuss the production process.
With Katie Buckland — the executive director of WGF — moderating, the panel kicked off with Schlesinger and Smith discussing what it’s like to be female writers in Hollywood and how they got their start. “It seemed like a bunch of dudes,” said Smith, describing her start as a professional writer that stemmed from watching her father who had already broken into the industry. “[But] girls are doing great these days. We’re fine!” Schlesinger then detailed her story of getting writing jobs after interning for “Soup 2 Nuts” and eventually working with Loran Bouchard, the creator and show runner of “Bob’s Burgers.” After faxing her resumes and consistently calling, she landed the job. “Being persistent, but not annoying” is the key to success according to Schlesinger, “maybe a little annoying.”
The two moved on to discuss “Bob’s Burgers” and the tone they aim for writing the show. “We think it’s a really sweet show. It’s a family show where they all love each other,” said Schlesinger. They go on to explain that at its core the show is about the Belcher family and how at the end of the day, however crazy it was, they still love one another. “Sometimes we’ll even cut a joke even if it’s really funny, because it’s mean and it’s more important to protect the family.”
The panel then went on to give us a behind the scenes look at the writing process of an episode of “Bob’s Burgers.” In its six seasons the show went from using beat sheets a visual outline with large pads and notes stuck to a board in the writing room. From there, an outline that includes dozens of “Alts” is written. “Alts” are alternative jokes which all writers contribute to the script. This gives the actors, the director and the studio in general more options in case some jokes are untrue to the character, too inappropriate or just fall flat. The duo then guided the audience through the process of two upcoming episodes (“Wag the Hog” and “The Horse Rider-er”) showing writer notes, a table read recording and rough animation reels before they were fully animated and colored.
Finally a discussion and a Q&A revealing “Bob’s Burgers” takes place on the East Coast, but not clarifying precisely where. “You could say New Jersey,” said Smith “but then there’ll be things that look and have the colors of San Francisco.” They then went on to finally reveal and confirm the name of the Belcher family’s home town as Seymour’s Bay, named after the show’s editor Mark Seymour. The two joked about the editing room being called Seymour’s Bay mocking a frequent conversation in the writer’s room. “Are you gonna be in Seymour’s Bay?” and going on about how it’s a “comfy place” where Schlesinger reveals they are guilty of “leaving garbage and food.”
Season Six of Bob’s Burgers is airing now on FOX every Sunday at 7:30/6:30c. Copies of the beat sheets, notes and scripts can also be found at The Writers Guild Foundation’s Scribble to Screen exhibit at the SCAD Museum along with many other shows and movies.
