Paul Germain

Writer/director/producer Paul Germain makes character-driven family comedies that are popular worldwide and across generations. A native Angeleno, Paul started out at Gracie Films with James L. Brooks, working as a PA on "Terms of Endearment" and associate producer on the film "Say Anything" and the variety series "The Tracey Ullman Show." Collaborating with producer Jeffrey Townsend, Paul developed and cast the one-minute cartoons that became "The Simpsons." Paul co-wrote the shorts with Matt Groening, directed the voice actors, hired Klasky-Csupo Studios to execute the animation, and produced all the original short cartoons, supervising every aspect of production. When "The Simpsons" went to series, Paul co-produced the first few episodes before moving to Klasky-Csupo himself. While working on "The Simpsons," Paul pioneered the radio-play approach in TV animation. Where standard cartoon productions would record line readings from one actor at a time in isolation, Paul's innovation was to bring the cast together in the booth to perform and record interactively. He'd then edit the voice tracks into a "radio show" before animation began, a method that emphasizes the actors' performances over visual gags, and creates liveliness and immediacy. This approach calls for flexibility from animators, who draw and time their visual world to the preexisting voices. All of Paul's productions are designed around this story-based animation process. At K-C studios Paul created "Rugrats" with Arlene Klasky and Gabor Csupo when his own first child, Tommy, was a year old. In addition to creating the characters, writing and producing the pilot, and casting and directing the actors, Paul oversaw all scripts, storyboards and soundtracks and was creative producer and show runner for the original 65 half-hours of the classic series. "Rugrats" earned Paul three Emmys. It still airs on Nickelodeon and remains one of the most popular shows of all time. After "Rugrats," Paul and partner Joe Ansolabehere moved to Disney, where they created "Recess" for ABC. After its 1997 premier, "Recess" quickly became the network's most popular Saturday-morning show. Paul and Joe wrote, directed, and executive-produced 65 half hours of "Recess," to this day a mainstay on The Disney Channel and Disney outlets around the world. Seeing the success of the series, Disney asked for a feature and "RECESS: SCHOOL'S OUT" was released in theaters in 2001. Some of Paul's other shows include "Lloyd In Space" (ABC and The Disney Channel,) and "Beethoven" (CBS.) Paul and Joe wrote the 2010 "Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue" for Disney, and a "Shrek" Halloween special for Dreamworks. Next the two executive-produced the new "Pound Puppies" series, writing and developing original characters for Hasbro Studios and The HUB. The series enjoyed a successful run through 2014, and was recently picked as "a kids show worth streaming" by The New Yorker for its smart appeal to both kids and parents. As of Spring 2018, Paul is executive producer on a major animated series not yet announced, and Paul and Joe are signed to exec-produce the adaptation of a subversive coming-of-age novel as a live action multi-season series.