Reddit AMA Recap: Alex Hirsch creator of ‘Gravity Falls’

 

So with the first season of Gravity Falls now in the bag and with the second one in production, Alex Hirsch has a lot to do. Granted, he doesn’t have to work on Fish Hooks anymore, but he still has to find a way to muster 26 episodes of a season 2 of Gravity Falls, a show where the first season already is having the franchise being spoken as one of the biggest animated franchises of all time. Recently, Alex had a chance to catch up with his fans in a Reddit AMA session, and what I liked about his is that right away he told us that ‘Bill’ from Season 1 is coming back in Season 2 (which probably won’t start for another year according to Alex), but the other thing I really liked was that he posted a whole bunch of rules about posting questions on Reddit AMA. I think this was a swell idea, as I’v e done a bunch of these recaps and time and time again I see like oceans of unanswered questions usually wondering why. Well, Alex at the forefront of his deal said, ‘These are the questions that I like to answer’ so it gave people a good framework for a higher probability of success for getting their questions answered.

Very seldom does a show creator/head writer come on the AMA and give a rather detailed take on how Gravity Falls gets written. Evidently there are 10 commandments in the writer’s room and Alex listed six of them:

1) The kids LIKE each other. No matter how much they get on each other’s nerves, this never changes.

2) Mabel’s not stupid. She’s a ham! There’s a big difference. Mabel’s love of goofing off is a natural force of her personality, but she can still understand when people she cares about need help or are in danger. Don’t just make her a catchphrase machine. She really cares about the people around her. (Secret: Mabel’s secretly jealous that her brothers better academically than she is)

3) Dipper’s smart but he’s not a “WALKING CALCULATOR” There’s a lot of kids shows featuring a character who is “the brains.” You know the guy. Thick glasses, nasal voice, often starts every sentence with “According to my calculations!! SNORT!” Pretty much every kids show stereotype can be traced back to the BK Kids club. This one would be IQ:

http://i.imgur.com/RAhYsI7.jpg

The point is, Dipper is better academically than Mabel, but he’s also able to laugh at himself. He’s a real kid. He has insecurities. He has things that he loves. I try not to pigeonhole these characters into “ONE TYPE” They lose their humanity if you do that. (Secret: Dipper’s secretly jealous that Mabel’s better socially than he is)

4) They’ve known each other forever. They should occasionally finish each other sentences, they should recognize when one of them is about to do something they always do, they should reference past inside jokes, they should get instantly angry at each other and then instantly make up, the way people who’ve known each other forever do.

5) They get more close in unfamiliar situations (because they need each other) and less close in familiar situations (because they dont as much) The entire summer is an unfamiliar situation, and its helping them bond.

6) Dipper wants to grow up too fast. Mabel doesn’t.

 

I think maybe my favorite note of the whole Q & A was Alex’s battle with the censors. Let me tell you kids at home. I work with EVERY television network to bring you the news here on Bubbleblabber, and by FAR Disney is the absolute worst. Serious, they are the least helpful of any of the nets whom typically laud our work. So I kinda feel Alex’s pain when he mentions what its like working with the house that Mickey built:

Trying to make a comedy on a kids network can sometimes feel like trying to paint a picture while a chimp constantly hits you in the head with a wiffle bat. In this metaphor, the “chimp” is a “network censor” and the “bat” is “arbitrary concerns which justify their job position.” I will say that there is a slow castrating effect which happens to your creative spirit when you have to censor yourself so much in your work over the course of multiple years.

The best way to combat this is to wear a wiffle-bat-resistant helmet (a methaphor for “stubborn-ness”) to keep painting the best thing you can.

Earlier I mentioned how Alex noted that Gravity Falls season 2 probably won’t start for like a year or two. BUT, Alex was quick to note that we could be getting more Gravity Falls merch on the way as well as some new shorts which could be released around the October time frame.

Time for some real talk guys. Its gonna be a LONG FREAKING TIME for season 2. Like in the ballpark of a year dudes. I KNOW! I know.

Hopefully y’all will love it and agree it was worth the wait. I wish I could give it to you sooner but these things take time man! Such is the cost of quality. Animation is slow.

The good news is that in the meantime I expect Disney to start the merch train up a little bit. Also we made some Gravity Falls SHORTS which will be airing on the channel sprinkled here and there across the break. I think they’ll start somewhere in October.

I know it sucks dudes. I hate to be the bearer of bad news. But I’d rather y’all hear it from me than go insane waiting forever without knowing, cause the never announce this stuff in any official way on networks.

But, could Gravity Falls be a three season and done series?? Alex has an interesting and refreshing take. You see, there are a LOT of selfish people that make TV shows, and at the end of the day they all like money.  That’s why I thought it was pretty cool when Alex was being quite frank about how long he thinks the series could last:

Originally I thought three. That may be too many though. Perhaps 2 and a movie. Im more interested in quality than quantity. But I suppose anything can happen

There’s a whole bunch more Alex talks about in the Reddit AMA and I gotta say I think of all the AMA’s we’ve recapped, this is one of the best ones by like a lot. Check back in as we get closer to the release of the new Gravity Falls DVD set to hit stores this Fall.