Michael Cusack and Zach Hadel reveal! Learn how “boring” YouTube videos become the lifeblood of Smiling Friends.
“We Don’t Watch Cartoons at All!”
If you think that Michael Cusack and Zach Hadel, creators of ‘Smiling Friends,’ watch animated shows day and night, you’re absolutely wrong.
In a recent interview, they revealed that their real inspiration isn’t cartoons, but those weird YouTube videos your dad might watch!
Hadel says, “Our source of inspiration is old debates from the ’60s and ’70s.
A clip of Milton Friedman where someone says ‘oodles and oodles’… all of these things come into our show.”
They Deliberately Create ‘Bad’ Animation
Cusack believes that their carefree attitude toward cartoons adds to the show’s charm. “We don’t consider this medium to be so sacred.
That’s why we can easily play with different styles. Sometimes we intentionally create ‘bad’ animation if it’s funny.”
Will there be a Smiling Friends movie?
Both creators want the show to be adapted as a movie. Hadel says, “Watch the Halloween episode from Season 1 or the Mr. Frog episode… it’ll have that flavor.
The pacing will be the same, but it won’t be 10 episodes of 10 minutes each. We want even those who haven’t seen the show to be able to enjoy the movie.”
“This show is our lucky strike”
What does this show mean to them after three seasons? For Cusack, “It’s a sandbox that I’m very proud of working on with Zach.
I’m embarrassed to see things I create alone. But Smiling Friends is something I can enjoy even by making it myself.”
Hadel considers it “luck.” “We were filled with stress and frustration while making it… we just wanted to make something.
Now, sometimes watching episodes like the Halloween episode, it feels like we never made it. It’s a strange, but beautiful feeling.”
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