Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Film and television animation production |
Predecessor | John Charles Walters Company |
Founded | 1986 |
Founder | James L. Brooks |
Headquarters | FOX Studios lot, 10201 West Pico Boulevard Bldg 41/42, Los Angeles CA 90064 [1] , United States |
Key people | Richard Sakai (President) [2] |
Products | The Simpsons |
Website | graciefilms.com |
Gracie Films is an American film and television production company founded by James L. Brooks in 1986. The company is primarily responsible for producing its long-running flagship animated series The Simpsons .
The company's headquarters is located on the Fox Studios lot at 10201 West Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles. [3]
James L. Brooks, who had previously founded John Charles Walters Company, founded Gracie Films at 20th Century Fox in 1986, with Polly Platt as executive vice president. Named for comedian Gracie Allen, the company was established to "provide real writers with a vehicle to get their movies made". [4] Its primary distributor is currently Sony Pictures Entertainment, though it continues to produce The Simpsons at Fox's studio in Century City, Los Angeles.
According to Simpsons Confidential, Brooks gave The Simpsons' writing staff free rein, as he firmly believed they were the most important part of the process, [5] and "in the legal battles over The Simpsons, it was Fox that was being sued, not Gracie Films". [6] The company also coordinates international distribution and dubbing for The Simpsons, [7] "[finding] voices for dubbing that would match those of the original American actors as closely as possible." [8] Gracie Films’ main production office is at the Sidney Poitier building on the Sony Pictures Studios lot in Culver City, California. In 1989, Gracie Films had struck a deal with ABC. [9]
Gracie Films' production logo depicts noisy patrons in a movie theatre (which were the voices of then-CEO of Fox Garth Ancier and music composer Jeffrey Townsend double-tracked to sound like there were more people) being shushed by a woman in the back row (with the shush sound being done by Tracey Ullman). The company's name appears on the screen, accompanied by a brief passage played on keyboard. Audio variations exist on The Simpsons, often with dialogue from the episode or characters such as Homer responding to the shush. The most common audio variation is on the Treehouse of Horror episodes (excluding "Treehouse of Horror" which used the original logo audio and "Treehouse of Horror II" and "Treehouse of Horror III" which has the organ theme only), where the shushing sound was replaced by a woman screaming and the logo's music is played in a minor key on a synth-emulated pipe organ. Originally, the Roland D-50 PN-D50-01 Pipe Organ preset was used for that particular variant and was composed by Danny Elfman. The music was composed by Jeffrey Townsend and Alf Clausen on a tiny Korg synth rack using a custom programmed preset. Starting from Treehouse of Horror XXVIII, the music was rearranged by Bleeding Fingers Music.
Years active | Title | Creator(s) | Co-production company(s) | Network(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1987–1990 | The Tracey Ullman Show | James L. Brooks Jerry Belson Ken Estin Heide Perlman | Klasky Csupo (animation production) 20th Television | Fox |
1989–present | The Simpsons | Matt Groening | 20th Television (1989–2021) 20th Television Animation (2021–present) [10] | |
1991–1992 | Sibs | Heide Perlman | Columbia Pictures Television | ABC |
1993–1994 | Phenom | Sam Simon Dick Blasucci Marc Flanagan | Columbia Pictures Television ELP Communications | |
1994–1995 2000–2001 (revival) | The Critic | Al Jean Mike Reiss | Columbia Pictures Television | ABC (1994) Fox (1995) AtomFilms/Shockwave.com (revival) |
2001 | What About Joan? | Ed. Weinberger | Columbia TriStar Television | ABC |
2014 | "The Simpsons Guy" | Seth MacFarlane | Fuzzy Door Productions | Fox |
Year | Title | Director | Co-production company(s) | Distributor(s) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2008 | The Simpsons Ride | Mike B. Anderson and John Rice | Blur Studio Film Roman Reel FX Creative Studios | Universal Creative | Located in Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood. |
Year | Title | Director | Co-production company(s) | Distributor(s) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2012 | The Longest Daycare | David Silverman | 20th Century Fox Animation AKOM Film Roman | 20th Century Fox | Shown with Ice Age: Continental Drift . |
2020 | Playdate with Destiny | 20th Century Animation AKOM | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | Shown with Onward . | |
2021 | The Force Awakens from Its Nap | 20th Television | Disney+ | Exclusive Disney+ short film. | |
The Good, the Bart, and the Loki | 20th Television Animation AKOM | ||||
Plusaversary | |||||
2022 | When Billie Met Lisa | 20th Television Animation | |||
Welcome to the Club | |||||
The Simpsons Meet the Bocellis in "Feliz Navidad" | |||||
2023 | Rogue Not Quite One | Walt Disney Pictures (logo only) / 20th Television Animation |
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. Set in the fictional town of Springfield, it caricatures society, Western culture, television and the human condition, and is still in current release.
David Mirkin is an American feature film and television director, writer and producer. Mirkin grew up in Philadelphia and intended to become an electrical engineer, but abandoned this career path in favor of studying film at Loyola Marymount University. After graduating, he became a stand-up comedian, and then moved into television writing. He wrote for the sitcoms Three's Company, It's Garry Shandling's Show and The Larry Sanders Show and served as showrunner on the series Newhart. After an unsuccessful attempt to remake the British series The Young Ones, Mirkin created Get a Life in 1990. The series starred comedian Chris Elliott and ran for two seasons, despite a lack of support from many Fox network executives, who disliked the show's dark and surreal humor. He moved on to create the sketch show The Edge starring his then-partner, actress Julie Brown.
Klasky-Csupo, Inc. is an American animation studio located in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1982 by producer Arlene Klasky and her then-husband, Hungarian animator Gábor Csupó in a spare room of their apartment and grew to 550 artists, creative workers and staff in an animation facility in Hollywood.
Songs in the Key of Springfield is a soundtrack/novelty album from The Simpsons compiling many of the musical numbers from the series. The album was released in the United States on March 18, 1997, and in the United Kingdom in June 1997. This was the second album released in association with the Simpsons television series; however, the previous release, The Simpsons Sing the Blues, contained original recordings as opposed to songs featured in episodes of the series.
"Treehouse of Horror", or "The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror", is the third episode of the second season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on October 25, 1990. The episode was inspired by 1950s horror comics, and begins with a disclaimer that it may be too scary for children. It is the first Treehouse of Horror episode. These episodes do not obey the show's rule of realism and are not treated as canon. The opening disclaimer and a panning shot through a cemetery with humorous tombstones were features that were used sporadically in the Treehouse of Horror series and eventually dropped. This is also the first episode to have the music composed by Alf Clausen.
David Silverman is an American animator who has directed numerous episodes of the animated television series The Simpsons, as well as its 2007 film adaptation. Silverman was involved with the series from the very beginning, animating all of the original short Simpsons cartoons that aired on The Tracey Ullman Show. He went on to serve as director of animation for several years. He also did the animation for the 2016 film The Edge of Seventeen, which was produced by Gracie Films.
"Treehouse of Horror XII", titled onscreen as "The Simpsons Halloween Special XII", is the first episode of the thirteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. Because of Fox's contract with Major League Baseball's World Series, the episode first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 6, 2001, nearly one week after Halloween. It is the twelfth annual Treehouse of Horror episode, consisting of three self-contained segments. In the first segment, "Hex and the City", a gypsy puts a curse on Homer, which puts everybody he cares about in danger. In the second segment, "House of Whacks", a parody on both 2001: A Space Odyssey and Demon Seed, the Simpson family buys a new house, who falls in love with Marge and attempts to kill Homer. In the third and final segment, "Wiz Kids", which lampoons the Harry Potter franchise, Lord Montymort attempts to capture Lisa, a skilled magician, in order to drain her magic powers.
Gábor Csupó is a Hungarian animator, writer, director, producer and graphic designer. He is co-founder of the animation studio Klasky Csupo, which produced the first three years of The Simpsons, as well as episodes of Rugrats, The Wild Thornberries, Duckman, Stressed Eric, Rocket Power, As Told by Ginger, and Aaahh!!! Real Monsters.
Michael L. Reiss is an American television comedy writer. He served as a showrunner, writer, and producer for the animated series The Simpsons and co-created the animated series The Critic. He created and wrote the webtoon Queer Duck; he has also written screenplays including: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, The Simpsons Movie and My Life in Ruins.
Samuel Michael Simon was an American television producer and animal rights activist who co-developed the animated sitcom The Simpsons.
Kang and Kodos Johnson are a duo of fictional recurring characters in the animated television series The Simpsons. Kang is voiced by Harry Shearer and Kodos by Dan Castellaneta. They are green, perpetually drooling, octopus-like aliens from the fictional planet Rigel VII and appear almost exclusively in the "Treehouse of Horror" episodes. The duo has appeared in at least one segment of all thirty-five Treehouse of Horror episodes. Sometimes, their appearance is the focus of a plot. Other times, it is a brief cameo. Kang and Kodos are often bent on the conquest of Earth and are usually seen working on sinister plans to invade and subjugate humanity.
The first season of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons aired on Fox from December 17, 1989 to May 13, 1990. The series premiered with the Christmas special "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". The executive producers for the first production season were Matt Groening, James L. Brooks, and Sam Simon. It was produced by Gracie Films and 20th Century Fox Television.
The tenth season of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons aired on Fox from August 23, 1998 to May 16, 1999. It contains twenty-three episodes, starting with "Lard of the Dance". The Simpsons is a satire of a middle-class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie. Set in the fictional city of Springfield, the show lampoons American culture, society, television, and many aspects of the human condition.
The sixth season of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons aired on Fox from September 4, 1994 to May 21, 1995. The Simpsons is an animated series about a working class family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. The show is set in the fictional city of Springfield, and lampoons American culture, society, television and many aspects of the human condition.
The fourth season of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons aired on Fox from September 24, 1992 to May 13, 1993. It premiered with "Kamp Krusty". The showrunners for the fourth production season were Al Jean and Mike Reiss, with the season being produced by Gracie Films and 20th Century Fox Television. The aired season contained two episodes which were hold-over episodes from season three, which Jean and Reiss also ran. Following the end of the production of the season, Jean, Reiss and most of the original writing staff left the show. The season was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards and Dan Castellaneta would win one for his performance as Homer in "Mr. Plow". The fourth season was released on DVD in Region 1 on June 15, 2004, Region 2 on August 2, 2004, and in Region 4 on August 25, 2004.
Treehouse of Horror is a series of annual Halloween-themed anthology episodes of the American animated sitcom and spin-off of The Simpsons. Also known as The Simpsons Halloween Specials, each episode typically consists of three separate, self-contained segments. Each segment involves the Simpson family in some comical horror, science fiction, or supernatural setting; plot elements operate beyond the show's normal continuity, with segments exaggeratedly more morbid and violent than a typical Simpsons episode. With 35 episodes as of 2024, each Treehouse of Horror episode is numbered in Roman numerals, one less than the respective season it is in.
The Simpsons is an American animated television sitcom starring the animated Simpson family, which was created by Matt Groening. He conceived of the characters in the lobby of James L. Brooks's office and named them after his own family members, substituting "Bart" for his own name. The family debuted as shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987. After a three-season run, the sketch was developed into a half-hour prime time show called The Simpsons, which debuted on December 17, 1989. The show was an early hit for Fox, becoming the first Fox series to land in the top 30 ratings in a season (1990).
The Simpsons is an American animated comedy franchise whose eponymous family consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. The Simpsons were created by cartoonist Matt Groening for a series of animated shorts that debuted on The Tracey Ullman Show on Fox on April 19, 1987. After a three-season run, the sketch was developed into The Simpsons, a half-hour prime time show that was an early hit for Fox, becoming the first Fox series to land in the Top 30 ratings in a season (1989–1990). The popularity of The Simpsons has made it a billion-dollar merchandising and media franchise. Alongside the television series, the characters of the show have been featured in a variety of media, including books, comic books, a magazine, musical releases, and video games.
The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History is a non-fiction book about the American animated television series The Simpsons. It was written by John Ortved, and first published in October 2009 by Faber and Faber. In the United Kingdom, the book is called Simpsons Confidential: The uncensored, totally unauthorised history of the world's greatest TV show by the people that made it. The book is an oral history of the show, and concentrates particularly on the writers and producers of the show. The book includes entire chapters devoted to key figures such as creator Matt Groening and James L. Brooks and Sam Simon, who helped develop the series. According to National Public Radio reviewer Linda Holmes, "Ortved's thesis, essentially, is that lots of people are responsible for the success of The Simpsons, and their creator, Matt Groening, has too often been viewed as the sole source to the detriment of others who also deserve to be praised."
"Treehouse of Horror XXII" is the third episode of the twenty-third season and the twenty-second Halloween episode of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 30, 2011. The episode is part of the Treehouse of Horror series, which is an episode divided into three separate stories and an opening that is a parody of scary or Halloween themed stories. This episode's stories were primarily spoofs of the French film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, the television series Dexter, and the American film Avatar. The opening was a parody of the autobiographical film 127 Hours, in which the subject Aron Ralston loses an arm.