Reddit AMA Recap: ‘Simpsons’ Director Mark Kirkland

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Recently, Simpsons director Matt Kirkland dropped by Reddit to do an AMA all the while promoting his new project Techtopia. During his session, he talked of some of his highlights in working on the longest running prime-time animated series in history, and we brought some of those highlights here.

On the production of  “Last Exit in Springfield”

Boy, that’s a really REALLY good question! “Last Exit to Springfield” was a great script…very surreal. And it was unusual when we got it, for that reason. It slips and slides around from past to present tense. The team that worked on it was experienced, yet youthful.

I remember adding one gag…when Lenny threatened Homer that he would punch him in the back of the head the next day, I said, “Let’s see it!” I staged it with Homer drinking a hot cup of coffee, because I thought the worst time to get punched is when you’re drinking something hot! Later, we found out the episode was too long. I called Al Jean and confessed I had added this visual joke and he said, “Keep it.” They trimmed some other spots. 🙂 Today, when you watch the episode, you’ll see Lenny punch Homer.

My brilliant Assistant Director, Susie Dietter, did the layout drawings with Mister Burns parodying The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. Amazing layout artist, Paul Wee, drew the Batman inspired dental office scene AND did the scene of Lisa playing the guitar. He is an actual guitar player and the chords she’s playing are accurate- considering Lisa only has 3 fingers and a thumb! (Matt Groening appreciated that).

I storyboarded the Yellow Submarine dream sequence. There was a lot of story jammed into that episode! Simpsons writers (Jay Kogen & Wallace Wolodarsky) and the artists were all at the top of their game.

Is it more difficult to direct the really crazy stuff or the simple down to earth stuff such as “the homer they fall” vs “mountain of madness”

Great question, thank you for your compliment. I love both those episodes and put a lot of myself into them.

High concept or small intimate episodes are equally difficult because getting the details right is so important. We do a lot of research for the high concept shows and a lot of personal digging for observational details in the more intimate episodes.

On how involved Matt Groening gets with The Simpsons these days and how directors are chosen for different episodes.

Matt still is involved with these shows; he cares very much about the series. I’m not privy to how they assign episodes. Sometimes I think it’s rotation: which script is ready and which director is ready in a line up. I think there are particular times when specific episodes are assigned for example: Al Jean told Matt that he wanted me to direct the episode where the Simpsons went to England because he knew I had gone to England with the Simpsons writers, and cast members, and had taken a lot of photographs.

On keeping The Simpsons relevant after all these years.

The brilliant writing team, my fellow crew members and our stellar cast always manage to come up with something surprising and new. Since the show is inspired by life, and culture and lifestyle are always evolving, so is our show. Matt Groening tells us to look for observational details in life.

You can read more of Matt’s Reddit AMA here and learn how you can help out his new project Techntopia here. 

About John Schwarz

John is the Chief Editor and Founder of Bubbleblabber.com. While at first a part-time project, Bubbleblabber quickly grew into a full-fledged operation and officially became a company in 2014. When John isn't running a business full-time, he likes to go to concerts with your mother.