How long have you worked on the show and what is your background?
I’ve been on the show for the last four seasons. I was lucky enough to join the writer’s room back in 2015 as the writer’s assistant for Season 3, and have been there ever since. (We’re currently in the middle of writing in a virtual room.) Prior to that, I worked for eight seasons and almost 100 episodes on the digital team at South Park. So, yeah, animation is my jam.
What was your favorite part of working on this episode?
“Vat of Acid” was one of those rare episodes that we broke super quick. Basically in one day, which never happens. It was born out of pure joy, talking about Batman and how absurdly common all those vats of toxic waste were in ’80s movies. Then we paired that with a “videogame save device” idea we’d talked about for years, but hadn’t been able to crack. And it just clicked. It was one of those amazing days where, creatively, everything worked. (And of course Jeff Loveness and Albro Lundy wrote a killer script to bring it home, and the artists absolutely crushed it.)
Did you face any creative challenges on this episode? If so, how did you address them?
Every episode of our show is its own animal. Typically, our animatics go way over time and have to be trimmed down because the scripts are just jam-packed, but this one was the opposite—since the story is so dialed in on Rick and Morty’s relationship, the script was leaner than usual. It came up short on time. So the director, Jacob Hair, added that extended “plane crash” sequence in the montage. Morty falling in love, sacrificing almost everything to keep it. That wasn’t in the script at all. When we saw that, we were floored. It was so, so good. Across the board, this was just such a collaborative episode.
Why do you think this particular episode resonated with viewers?
I think people loved this one because it’s all Rick and Morty. The whole time. It’s got a great emotional core about partnership and pettiness. It’s really just a creative spat—Morty wants his ideas included, Rick is willing to go to insane lengths to prove him wrong and get that “I told you so”. The whole thing is about their relationship. Any time we can tap into a new emotional story between those two, it’s really fun to watch. And of course, this episode does what Rick and Morty does best: starts in a super dumb place and goes very dark and very sci-fi.
What are your top highlights from working on the show (not specific to this episode)?
This has been a dream job for me. I love the show and the people on it. Everyone elevates each other’s work constantly. There’s been a lot of highlights, but creatively, my episode “Rattlestar Ricklactica” (aka “space snakes”) is definitely up there. Snake jazz and the extended sequence that’s 100% snake hisses is one of my favorite things ever. When I was writing that, I was like, “We can’t actually do this, can we?” It was so fun to see that come to life. Also, on a more macro level, it’s been really cool to see the show go from this indie thing to what it is now. Seeing “Pickle Rick” win an Emmy last season was something I’ll never forget, and I’m very excited for “Vat” to be in the running this year! It’s been a wild ride working on this for the last five years. I’m just grateful to be a part of something that people love.
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