David Silverman (animator)

Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox writer David Silverman (born March 15, 1957) 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.

Early life and career

Silverman was born to a Jewish family on Long Island, New York. His father, Joseph Silverman, was a chemical engineering professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, for over 30 years. He grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, and attended the University of Maryland for two years, focusing on art. He then attended UCLA and majored in animation.

Early in his career with The Simpsons, he was a subject on the December 26, 1990, episode (#83) of To Tell the Truth.

The Simpsons

Silverman is largely credited with creating most of the "rules" for drawing The Simpsons. He is frequently called upon to animate difficult or especially important scenes, becoming go-to in Season 2 when he animated the first of Homer's many "rants, freak-outs, and heart attacks". He appeared during the end credits of the Simpsons episode "Goo Goo Gai Pan" giving a quick method of drawing Bart, and is a frequent participant on the Simpsons DVD audio commentaries. A cartoon rendering of him can be seen in "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show", where he is the animator who draws Poochie (along with renderings of other Simpsons staffers). He was once credited as Pound Foolish as the director of the episode "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular"

Silverman is also the director of The Simpsons Movie, which was released July 27, 2007. He originally left The Simpsons to direct additional sequences for The Road to El Dorado for DreamWorks Animation alongside Will Finn. Some of his other film work includes Monsters, Inc. for Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar, for which he was a co-director (alongside Lee Unkrich). He is currently a consulting producer and occasional director. He also worked on the animated films Ice Age, Robots, and Looney Tunes: Back in Action.

In 2012, Silverman directed the theatrical short The Longest Daycare starring Maggie Simpson, released in front of Ice Age: Continental Drift. The short was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. He also directed the follow-up theatrical short Playdate with Destiny in 2020, released in front of Onward.

Episodes directed by Silverman

• "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire"
• "Bart the Genius"
• "Bart the General"
• "Life on the Fast Lane"
• "Some Enchanted Evening" (with Kent Butterworth)
• "Bart Gets an 'F'Template:-"
• "Treehouse of Horror" ("The Raven" segment only)
• "Bart vs. Thanksgiving"
• "The Way We Was"
• "Old Money"
• "Blood Feud"
• "Black Widower"
• "Homer's Triple Bypass"
• "Krusty Gets Kancelled"
• "Treehouse of Horror IV" (as David "Dry Bones" Silverman)
• "Another Simpsons Clip Show"
• "Homie the Clown"
• "Mother Simpson"
• "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular" (as Pound Foolish)
• "Treehouse of Horror XIII"
• "Treehouse of Horror XV" (as "The Tell-Tale Silverman")
• "Treehouse of Horror XVI" (as "Godzilla vs. Silverman")
• "Treehouse of Horror XVII" (with Matthew Faughnan) (as David "Tubatron" Silverman)
• "The Man Who Came to Be Dinner"

Episodes written by Silverman

• "Lisa Gets the Blues" (with Brian Kelley)

Style

Template:BLP unreferenced section Silverman's direction and animation is known for its energy, sharp timing, adventurous use of design elements and often complex acting, involving expressions and poses which are often quixotic, emotionally specific or highly exaggerated. It frequently recalls the works of Ward Kimball, Tex Avery, Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones. His most prolific period of work on The Simpsons can be roughly categorized as beginning with the "Tracey Ullman" episodes and ending in or around season eight of the series, for which he animated Homer's psychedelic dream in "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer)". Other representative examples of Silverman's work on The Simpsons include Homer's histrionic, spasmodic heart attack in "Homer's Triple Bypass", Homer's demented hysterics over the iconic painting of poker-playing canines in "Treehouse of Horror IV" and subsequent turn as an even-more-deranged appropriation of Jack Nicholson's character from "The Shining" in "Treehouse of Horror V", and Homer's over-the-top sugar diatribe from "Lisa's Rival".

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Storyboard Artist	Animator	Other	Notes
1984	Turbo Teen	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
1987–89	The Tracey Ullman Show	Template:Partial	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No	Segment Director: "The Simpsons" Shorts
1989–1997, 2001–present	The Simpsons	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Supervising Director (seasons 1–8, 16–17), Consulting Producer, Executive Consultant (season 9), Title Designer, Character Layout Artist, Storyboards, Storyboard Consultant, Storyboard Revisions, Main Title Designer, Background Designer, Additional Voices, Song Lyrics: "Spider-Pig"
1994–95	The Critic	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Visual Design
1995	Eek! The Cat	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Partial	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes	Creator, Executive Producer, Voice of John Heap (Klutter! segment)
1997	Teen Angel	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Creative Consultant
2001	Rugrats	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2014	Family Guy	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Special Thanks (Episode: "The Simpsons Guy")
2015	House of Lies	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Himself
2017	Party Legends	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2018	Super Slackers	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No
2020–2022	Duncanville	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No
2022	Werewolf by Night	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Actor (The Flaming Tuba)

Feature films

Year	Title	Director	Story Artist	Animator	Other	Notes
1986	One Crazy Summer	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
1991	The Dark Backward	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Creator: "Blumps" concept
1993	RoboCop 3	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Director: "Johnny Rehab" commercial
2000	The Road to El Dorado	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Additional Sequences Director
2001	Monsters, Inc.	Template:Partial	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Additional Story Material, CDA
2002	Ice Age	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Story Consultant
2003	Confessions of a Burning Man	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Additional Cinematographer; Documentary
	Looney Tunes: Back in Action	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Animation Consultant
2005	Robots	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
2007	The Simpsons Movie	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No
2014	Such Good People	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Personal Thanks
2015	Love	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Grateful Thanks
2016	The Edge of Seventeen	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2021	Extinct	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Voices of Cyclops / Donut Store Clerk

Short films

Year	Title	Director	Screenwriter	Story Artist	Animator	Other	Notes
1979	Tom Waits for No One	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
1982	Luau	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Special Thanks
	The Strange Case of Mr. Donnybrook's Boredom	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Layout Artist, Ink Artist, Background Artist
1987	Propagandance	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2002	Mike's New Car	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Special Thanks
2011	Night of the Little Dead	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Tuba Player
2012	The Longest Daycare	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
2016	Bouncing Blunders	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Special Thanks
	Duhkha	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
2020	Playdate with Destiny	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
2021	The Force Awakens from Its Nap	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
	The Good, the Bart, and the Loki	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
	The Simpsons | Balenciaga	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
	Plusaversary	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
	Te Deseo Lo Mejor	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
2022	When Billie Met Lisa	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
	Welcome to the Club	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
	The Simpsons Meet the Bocellis in "Feliz Navidad"	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
2023	Rogue Not Quite One	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
2024	May the 12th Be with You	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
	The Most Wonderful Time of the Year	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No

Klutter!

Silverman worked with Savage Steve Holland to create Klutter! for Fox Kids. It was produced by Fox Kids Company, Savage Studios Ltd, and Film Roman. It was part of Eek! Stravaganza in the fourth season of the 1995–96 season where he voiced John Heap. It lasted eight episodes from September 9, 1995, to April 14, 1996.

Campus tours

Silverman has toured many college campuses, speaking about his experiences as an animator and longtime Simpsons director and producer. He describes his early experiences in the animation field, working on shows such as Turbo Teen and Mister T. He goes on to say that at the point he considered leaving animation to devote his time to cartoon illustration, he took a job animating on The Tracey Ullman Show. He has pointed out that he and his fellow animators Wes Archer and Bill Kopp first started animating ''The Simpsons'' shorts on March 23, 1987.

Silverman then elaborates on Simpsons production, the evolution of the show and its characters, and various show facts and trivia. He may show animatics, deleted scenes, and favorite scenes and sequences, while giving background information. He closes by hand-drawing character sketches before the audience.

Music

Silverman plays the tuba and has performed at events like Burning Man with the Transformational All Star Fire Conclave Marching Band and on June 23, 2006, he appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, where he played his flaming sousaphone. Silverman was a member of the UCLA Bruin Marching Band Sousaphone Section in the early 1980s. He is currently a member of Los Trancos Woods Community Marching Band. In January 2009, Silverman joined the LA band Vaud and the Villains.

Further reading

• David Silverman 2007 Video interview with InterviewingHollywood.com Template:Webarchive
• An interview with David Silverman
• The Simpsons Archive interview
• Video interview, Treehouse Of Horror XVII
• David Silverman presentation at the PICNIC07 conference in Amsterdam, September 2007
• Animator David Silverman on 8 Early and Previously Unseen Simpsons Sketches

External links

• Template:IMDb name
• David Silverman - Speaker Profile on APBSpeakers.com