BoJack Horseman, the groundbreaking Netflix series which celebrates its 10th birthday this year, has turned Raphael Bob-Waksberg into an adult animation superstar, just like the cynical character he himself created.
But that may be the only link between the horse-star and his creator, the latter being undoubtedly nicer, and —as he shows once again with the brand new animated project Long Story Short — unafraid to wander off from his comfort zone.
Premiering Aug. 22 on Netflix, Long Story Short is an animated comedy jumping through the years to bring the life of the Schwooper siblings to screen. A show about one family, over time, from childhood to adulthood and back again, chronicling the siblings’ triumphs, disappointments, joys and compromises.
With a star-studded cast and backed up by BoJack’s original team, Long Story Short unveiled its first episode in Annecy, as Bob-Waksberg held a masterclass about his career in front of a captive audience.
From this first glimpse of the 16-episode first season, Long Story Short looks to be a definite home run for Netflix, who started its own adult animation run with BoJack.
Where did this story come from, and what drove you to share it today?
I wanted to write about family. Coming from a big one myself, I was interested in those dynamics, which I hadn’t explored much on BoJack. Most of the parents in BoJack are cartoonishly bad, and I was trying to imagine the worst thing a mother could ever say or do.
Fortunately, most of us don’t have parents quite that bad, and yet all of us are walking around with traumas, insecurities and issues. I wanted to explore those small details of everyday’s existence and the ways in which we are all affected by our family, in a more grounded yet playful way.
Your show looks densely packed with dialog, how did you approach the writing process? Did it take a lot of time to find the right words?
This is a world that I felt like I knew. Not specifically these people, but once I started to understand them as characters, I feel like I heard their voices very clearly. The characters spoke through us, as writers, we just held the pen, but when you really understand the dynamics and what you’re trying to say, it does feel very natural.
Each episode is densely packed and the scripts are long, but I do think it’s easier to write a long script than a short script. The hardest part becomes tearing it down t, but at the same time this fast-pace allowed me to have characters talking over each other. So I wouldn’t have to cut as much and could move the plot more quickly.
Can you elaborate on the visual style you chose for this show?
I worked with Lisa Hanawalt and Alison Dubois, who worked on both BoJack and Tuca & Bertie. They’re both brilliant artists, and so I give them space to surprise me, make them feel supported so they could feel free to try new things. A lot of this work just came directly from them.
We didn’t want this show to look like the other shows we had made together. So we ended up with these hand-drawn designs, which Lisa had already done with BoJack characters, only for them to end “lost” as they became animation characters. Here, I really wanted to protect that rough draft look. Our characters are a little misshapen and odd, even more so than the designs, because we wanted to have this freedom, this ability to let loose in a way that we as creators weren’t always allowed on BoJack.
What were the biggest challenges you encountered during production?
To be honest, it was a pretty smooth experience. I had the benefit of working with a lot of people that I had worked with before, along with some new faces, and all that energy and excitement powered us through. I just felt understood and that we were all on the same page.
Let’s go back to the family dynamics that are key to the show’s uniqueness. How much did you draw on your own experience to bring this family to life?
I drew on some of my own experiences, but it’s not autobiographical, as many people already seem to think. There are definitely things that did not happen to my family, but I would say that this world is the world in which my family exists. There are certain rhymes of conversation, ways we interact with each other that are in some ways echoes in this family as well. It’s not my story I’m telling, it’s one of these characters.
How has this new experience made you feel compared to your previous ones, and how has it made you evolve as a creative?
Looking back, I think that I can advocate for myself better now, I’m better at picking my battles, and I have a much better work life balance. Today, I am more aware that the show I’m working on is not the only important thing in my life, and I think that has been really helpful. My sanity is definitely better than when I was working on BoJack Horseman. In the end, I think we come out of the gate more confident about what the show is, and I think you can tell better from the first episode.
Speaking about the rhythms of the show, and its beats, can you explain how you manage that aspect? Without spoiling, the ending of the first episode is when I got completely on board with your proposition.
Yes, because it’s very “dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah” and then it slows down. I think what I wanted to do with that moment was tell the audience that we were going to move around more, so they shouldn’t get too comfortable. For me, it was very important to do it in the pilot because that is where you want to grab the audience.
At the same time, I wanted this to be a fast-paced show, as I feel that’s how this family talks to each other, overlapping and constantly talking, and to be aware of that. So we could pick moments where that wasn’t happening. In live action, sometimes an actor will say: “I see this line in the script, but I think I can do it with a look.” And I wanted to find those moments.
What is animation for you as a medium?
To me, American adult animation feels still limited a bit by the perception of what our shows can or should be, and I think it is my job to push the edges a little bit. Actually, I think most of the people working in animation see that as their job – How do I make the sandbox a little bigger? That’s part of what excites me.
I don’t want it to be so off the wall that people don’t know what to make of it, but now that I’ve got your attention, I’m going to put my elbows out and maybe make the door a little wider for the next person to come through.
