As a student majoring in creative media production, I’ve had my fair share of inspiration that lead me down this path. Although it’s hard to pin down just one motivating factor, I would give a large portion of the credit to Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the creators of Comedy Central’s South Park.
I had always drawn characters and made up stories as a kid, but whenever I found out that people could do it professionally, I was ecstatic. It had never occurred to me that shows and movies that I would watch as a kid were the product of an entire team of talented people working together to produce something of value on screen. Clearly my eight year old self didn’t like to dive too deep into the workplace behind the content. As I grew up, I continued to consume more and more media, just like the rest of us. It wasn’t until my sophomore year of high school that I first began to watch the second-longest running cartoon on television, South Park. It blew me away with its simple animation style and their constant need to push the envelope in every episode. Although it may not be the most appropriate at times, just knowing that the show was created by two buddies who met in college was enough inspiration for me to want to dip my toes in the same water.
Matt Stone and Trey Parker are the co-creators of the infamous South Park. Last year was officially the show’s twenty-fifth anniversary since the show premiered in the fall of 1997. According to an interview provided by Movieweb.com, Matt Stone and Trey Parker met at the University of Colorado in a film class and found that they had similar senses of humor. The two quickly bonded over their interests and later began a project for their school’s film department’s end-of-semester film screenings called The Spirit of Christmas. This is where most of the iconic characters from their future show would appear for the first time. They believed in their project enough to want to take the next step with it. Although they pitched their idea to several networks, Comedy Central eventually took a chance on the slightly vulgar boys from Colorado.
Since that day, it’s been controversy after controversy as the show loves to tackle hot topics, yet it seems as though South Park has almost become impervious to scrutiny since the show has been around for such a long time. It was this seemingly infinite creative freedom that infatuated enough to try my own luck at pursuing a career in media. What really sold me on my creative aspirations was the documentary 6 Days to Air: The Making of South Park. The camera crew documented the creative process and nearly impossible task of making an entire South Park episode in only 6 days, which is just a normal work week for them. It was incredible to get to watch an idea go from the writers room, to recording voices, then to the storyboard artists, then handed to the animators, and finally all put together wonderfully by the end of the week. You may think that an inside look at such a hectic environment would deter someone from wanting to work in that field, but for me, it shows that the stress is worth loving the work that you do.
