The Simpsons Funday Football: ESPN Creative Studio's Michael Spike' Szykowny Pulls Back the Curtain on Creative Process By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Monday, December 9, 2024 - 3:13 pm
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During more than 2 decades at ESPN, Michael Spike Szykowny has seen his share of innovations. However, the 10-time Emmy Award winner believes that tonight's The Simpsons Funday Football animated Monday Night Football altcast is unlike anything you've ever seen before in live sports.
The VP, edit animation graphics innovation creative production, ESPN Creative Studio sat down with SVG to provide an inside look at the monumental efforts that went into The Simpsons Funday Football, which premieres tonight on ESPN2, Disney , ESPN , and NFL (on mobile).
Michael Spike Szykowny, VP of Edit Animation Graphics Innovation Creative Production for ESPN Creative Studio,
The much anticipated, additive telecast will feature Bart as a member of the Bengals and Homer with the Cowboys, with Lisa and Marge serving as on-field sideline reporters. ESPN NFL analysts, and Simpsons enthusiasts, Mina Kimes and Dan Orlovsky will make their animated-telecast debut as they provide live in-game analysis. Drew Carter is set to provide play-by-play. The trio will call the game from ESPN's Bristol, CT, studios while simultaneously appearing as Simpsons-inspired versions of themselves within the telecast. A variety of other Simpsons characters will also be seen during the broadcast from Atoms Stadium in Springfield.
How did the idea for Simpsons Funday Football come about?
As we started looking at possibilities for our next [animated broadcast] this season, The Simpsons was at the top of our wish list, and, thankfully, [The Simpsons team] was up to do it. Part of it was dictated by the time of the game: Toy Story was early in the morning and seemed like a better time for kids, but a primetime game definitely works better for something like The Simpsons. Once we got the greenlight, we had about 3 months to put this together, but we were also working in parallel on Dunk the Halls [alternative NBA broadcast] so it has been a very busy time.
TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW: Inside the Tech That ESPN and the NFL Use To Bring Springfield to Life
PRODUCTION OPERATIONS: The Game May Be Set in Springfield, but the Production Team Is in Bristol
CREATIVE PHILOSOPHY: ESPN Creative Studio's Michael Spike' Szykowny Pulls Back the Curtain on Creative Process
TRACKING TECHNOLOGY: Sony's Beyond Sports CEO Sander Shouten Analyzes How Tracking Tech Enables Real-Time Animated Altcasts
MUSIC & THEME SONG: ESPN Records Unique Twist on Monday Night Football Theme for Animated Alternative Broadcast
What were your early conversations with the Simpsons creative team like?
Obviously, they have been doing this very successfully for 36 years, so we wanted them to take full ownership and determine the story they wanted to tell. It all started with the reason this game is happening. They came up with the idea of Homer falling asleep and the game taking place in Homer's dream. Inside Homer's dream anything can happen, so that gave us the main canvas to work with. Of course, you can't plan everything for a live game, but you can certainly plan the beginning, middle, and end, and we fill in the rest as the game is happening. I think it's also important to note that, from the start, the NFL was great about working with us and [the Simpsons team], hearing all of our ideas, and turning back very few.
What has it been like to work with such iconic property like The Simpsons?
They were wonderful partners, and they got the spirit of what we were trying to accomplish and jumped on board with how we have to work for a project like this. The Simpsons has always been edgy and not wanting to just repeat the same things. I think that [is evident] in [their] letting us work in that universe.
In every project like this, you start with a lot of people involved, and then you end up whittling it down to a core team that is going to be working on it every day. With that small group, we were able to move quickly and make decisions because you have to keep moving forward on these kinds of projects; there's no looking backward. The Simpsons [team] - especially [Executive Producer] Matt Sellman and [producer] Joel Cohen, whom we worked with closely - understood that very well. I feel like we were in sync with those folks. Of course, they're doing their show every week, and we're doing our day jobs so we all have a lot going on besides this project, but we were able to work together to get it all done.
The Simpsons is a 2D animated show, but tonight's game will feature 3D animation. How did that work?
[The Simpsons team] deserves so much credit for putting the trust and faith in us to make that [2D-to-3D] transition. They actually have done 3D in some of their Treehouse of Horror broadcasts in the past. We got models from the company that they used, and we built out a lot of it ourselves, too. We started with just the main characters - Bart, Homer, Lisa, Marge, and Maggie - and expanded the universe from there.
It's tricky because lighting for 3D is different from lighting for 2D and there are a lot of other factors that you need to account for. But, in the end, I think we pulled off. It was truly a team effort between us, The Simpsons, Gracie Films, and we also worked with our friends at Big Studios, who handled a lot of the 3D animation work. It was a true partnership, and I think that shows in the final product.
What lessons from the Toy Story Funday Football and Big City Greens Classic productions did you apply to this project?
It's interesting because they all have their own unique challenges and advantages. With Toy Sto
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The Simpsons Funday Football: ESPN Creative Studio's Michael Spike' Szykowny Pulls Back the Curtain on Creative Process By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S. 
