Attached to Phineas and Ferb from the start, Jill Daniels already knew the show’s creators. She had worked with Dan Povenmire on developing two pilots at Disney and with Jeff “Swampy” Marsh on King of the Hill.
Daniels explains that the look of the show’s signature characters came from Povenmire’s drawing style. “Dan really, really loved where I took all the different shapes that he created for the characters, like triangles or circles, and infused them into the backgrounds,” she says. Both creators resonated with the shape-based look that she gave them in her development pass, and from there they moved forward as a team.
Custom brushes were created in Photoshop, providing a base from which “you could launch into all the fantasy worlds that we created for Phineas and Ferb,” says Daniels. It was a thrill for her whenever the show left the characters’ hometown of Danville. She recalls that one episode was made to look “like they were on Chinese rice paper in ancient China,” and in another, “they go to the moon and make ice cream.” There was never a dull moment on what she calls “an amazingly creative journey.”
“I’d say the unexpected cool thing about winning an Emmy is that it has a huge amount of joy attached to it, whether receiving it or giving it.”
One of Daniels’ highlights was getting to write an episode. She was having lunch with some storyboard friends who were struggling to get Perry the Platypus down to his lair one more time—a recurring gag of the show. Inspired by her love of the movie Memento, “I went to Dan and Swampy and pitched the idea of having an episode that went backwards,” Daniels says. They liked the concept and let her go for it.
As with every production, there were also challenges. Daniels says that board-driven shows, which historically had not done well at Disney, are hard to do “because they involve constant reboarding and rewriting. I’m so grateful we had such a super talented crew.” The fact that every show had a song in it also presented its own set of obstacles to overcome, and Daniels had to do a lot of improvising on how to convey all of the show’s information to the four overseas studios that worked on it at any given time. She says that “a continual stream of Art Direction sheets and creating motion graphics in Photoshop were helpful assets to give to the various overseas teams set up all around the world.”
When asked how Phineas and Ferb stands out from other animation series, Daniels notes the sparkling vitality of the show: “I think it just had this amazing heart about it, and a relatability. Everybody who was a part of the show, we all were just really giving a hundred percent on it … It was a labor of love.”
Daniels believes the show’s legacy goes beyond animation. “I think it actually contributes to society,” she says, recalling how people who embraced the show found it to be a source of joy. The production received lots of fan art, emails, and letters from people who were excited and delighted with the way that the show portrayed creativity as something to be valued. Parents wrote to share that the show had revolutionized their child’s life and inspired them to be imaginative.
Of winning two Emmys for Individual Achievement, Daniels says, “It was such a huge blessing and gift” to be given that recognition by her peers. “My heart exploded with gratitude for that.” Afterwards, she became involved with the Television Academy, serving as the organization’s Governor for animation. She is still on the Peer Group Executive Committee. “It means so much to be able to help boost animation within the whole entertainment community,” she says.
Another fun aspect of being a governor was that she got to call people and let them know they’d won an Emmy. In one instance, when she announced the news to a recipient, all she heard was a thump. She wasn’t sure if he had fainted or dropped the phone. “I’d say the unexpected cool thing about winning an Emmy is that it has a huge amount of joy attached to it, whether receiving it or giving it,” she says. “I really, really love the work that I’ve been able to do with the Academy, being that conduit of joy and helping to raise up my peer group.”
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