MEET ADAM PAVA,
CREATOR OF VAST FOOD NATION
How did you end up doing what you do?
Well, I've always wanted to be a comedy writer, since I was a little kid who watched too much TV. So I studied writing in college and graduate school, and interned at a few TV shows (Friends and Malcolm in the Middle), where I saw how the writing process was done in television. I wrote some scripts, got an agent, then got really lucky -- my first job was on an animated show called “Clone High”, which was exactly my sense of humor, and the kind of project I had always wanted to work on. Having that show on my resume helped me get other work in animation; I spent about three years at Cartoon Network writing on a bunch of programs, and now I'm writing on a primetime show created by Michael Eisner that'll be on next year.
What do you love about it?
Writing animation is the best job ever, because you get to let your imagination run wild, and aren't limited by what's possible in the real world. Also, you can get away with a pace and style of comedy that sometimes feels wrong in live- action.
How did "Vast Food Nation" come about?
Pretty randomly! During the Writers Guild strike last year, I had a lot of free time on my hands, obviously. So I kept coming up with ideas that I'd like to someday try to write as a sketch, or a show, or just use as a joke somewhere. One of those many ideas was “Vast Food Nation”, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized how full of possibilities it was. So I wrote a simple one-page treatment. A few months later, after the strike, my manager sent aniBoom the idea, he was contacted by them, and the next thing I knew I was writing and directing a six episode web series!
What is your working process like for an episode?
With "Vast Food Nation," I tried to think of the six webisodes as one continuous overarching story, so I wrote it like I would a sitcom -- just with twice as many act breaks. After it was written, I hired a couple artist/animators who I worked with at Cartoon Network, Casey Leonard and Dave Stone, to head up the character designs, storyboards, and Flash animation. They're really talented, so I basically let them have creative freedom and do it how they wanted. They did an amazing job, getting a lot done in a very short amount of time and a very small crew. As far as the voice actors, I hired people I had worked with before on previous shows, and a bunch of my funny friends. We recorded the dialog for all six webisodes in one day. Then I edited it myself on my computer, and sent it to Casey and Dave to animate. Vast Food Nation was especially fun because it was a small project that I could work on with my friends, instead of a big network that likes using all their own people.
Who/What are your influences?
Well, like most people my age, I grew up watching “The Simpsons”. I remember when it debuted, I was in junior high school, and it totally changed what animation could be. Basically, all primetime animation that's come after it – “Family Guy”, “South Park”, whatever -- owe a big debt to it. Of course, they each have their own comedic voice, and I love those shows as well. I'm also a big fan of the Adult Swim shows like “Brak” and “Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law” (I was lucky enough to write an episode of Birdman). But generally, I just love any shows that push the boundaries of comedy, challenging the audience – “Arrested Development”, “Freaks and Geeks”, “The Office”, “TV Funhouse”, etc...
What would be your dream project?
I would love to create an animated show for Fox or Comedy Central, or another network with a sophisticated adult audience. I co-created a show on Cartoon Network last year (“Out Of Jimmy's Head”) that was for kids, and therefore very silly... and while it was a great learning experience, and I worked with a lot of amazing people, it ultimately wasn't what I wanted to do creatively. It would be wonderful to work on a show like Vast Food Nation -- where I basically hand-picked my friends for the cast and crew, and wrote something that we found funny -- on a bigger television scale. Because at this point, artistic creativity and working with people I enjoy hanging out with is the most important thing for me.