Primetime Emmy Tally: One
How He Got the Gold: As director of The Simpsons’ episode “Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind,” named Outstanding Short-Format Animated Program in 2008
Now for the Noms: The Emmy win was for his first nomination.
Emmy Memories: “It all happened so fast. As we were sitting there, I asked our supervising director if I was supposed to go up on stage if we won. He looked at me as if I was crazy. A few minutes later, the assistant director asked me the same question, so I didn’t feel quite as clueless. Afterwards, I said to the assistant director and the animation timer, ‘Well, now we know what it’s like!’”
Inspired and Hired: “At UCLA film school, my roommate talked me into taking the Introduction to Animation class with professor Dan McLaughlin. I got really excited about telling stories through animation. There is a long list of people in animation who had the same life-changing experience by taking that course with Dan.”
Boy’s Story: “The script was great, but complex. There were scenes with more than one version of the same character (‘real’ Homer and ‘memory’ Homer). There was a minute-long bit where Homer is pushed off a bridge and his life passes before his eyes — there were many of my own drawings in that sequence. I was proud of how it turned out. Some people say it made them cry.”
Cheers for Peers: “Artists need to know when they’re doing a great job, and I’m really big on telling them when I think their work is great. Even when a scene needs a lot of work, I make sure to point out the things that went right along with calling out the things that need to be improved.”
Fave Rave: “I’m very happy that the show I directed that won an Emmy also happens to be my favorite show that I ever directed.”
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This article originally apperaed in emmy magazine, Issue No. 8, 2017
