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Back in July of 1971, Charles M. Schulz introduced a sweet, unassuming, book-loving character named Marcie (she was never given a surname!) to his popular comic strip, Peanuts. Now, 52 years later, Peppermint Patty’s sidekick gets her own animated special as Apple TV+ premieres Snoopy Presents: One-of-a-Kind Marcie on August 18.
Viewers get the chance to see how the introverted Marcie makes a huge difference behind the scenes in this special, in which she is unexpectedly elected as class president. Produced for Apple TV+ by Peanuts and WildBrain, the special is directed by Emmy winner Raymond S. Persi (The Simpsons, Wreck-It Ralph), written by Betsy Walters (The Snoopy Show, Snoopy in Space) and executive produced by Craig Schulz, Bryan Schulz, Cornelius Uliano, Paige Braddock, Josh Scherba, Stephanie Betts and Logan McPherson.
Recently, we had the chance to speak with Raymond S. Persi and Craig Schulz about this inspiring new production. Here is what they told us about it:
Animation Magazine: First up, congrats on delivering yet another charming and entertaining new animated special featuring our favorite characters from the Peanuts world. Can you tell us a bit about this fifth Peanuts Apple/WildBrain special?
Craig Schulz: Well, the series and the specials were all greenlit together. My son Bryan and Cornelius Uliano and I were brainstorming about who and what the next special was going to focus on. This one. we were thinking about people in the background who are never recognized. You think about all the celebrities who get all the accolades, and you look behind the curtain and you have dozens of people who make them look great. So, we thought, what better metaphor than having Marcie represent all the people in the world who put in all the hard work but never get the accolades? And a caddy also is one of those people who does all the work and the player gets all the recognition.
Raymond, what do you love about Marcie?
Raymond S. Persi: She is such a great character! I love the fact that she’s a bit subversive: She’s not just a little, quiet pushover — she’s got an edge and sharpness to her. What attracted me and a lot of the artists on the show to this special is just kind of what Craig mentioned before. We are people who just like to make things and share them with the world. We don’t necessarily want to be in spotlight like movie actors. I think in this country in this day and age, people are told that to be important, you have to be front and center. You have to be the star and that’s the only way to make a difference. That’s simply not true. This special shows that if you can still make big changes in the world without being in the spotlight.
Is the team that worked on the special the same as team behind The Snoopy Show series?
Raymond: It’s a different team, but the animation is done by the same studio (WildBrain), and the animators are specifically working on these specials. We have animators working on the show all over the world. We have them in Vancouver, the U.S. and Brazil. For the specials, we have a little more time, so the animators are given the opportunity put more nuance into the acting and emotions.
Which tools are used to create the 2D animation, which is a throwback to the classic specials?
Raymond: They use Toon Boom Harmony. We do things like add line boils and stuff, because we want to capture the hand-made feel so we can emotionally connect with them characters more. A lot of work was done by our technical crew to give the impression that this is a very handmade project.
What would you say was the toughest part of the job?
Raymond: All of these Snoopy Presents specials are difficult in the best possible way, because everybody has one goal and that’s to make them as good as they can be. What’s great is that sometimes we have different opinions in what that may be, and there’s so much discussion and back so we can find a place where we’re all happy. One of the things that has been great about working with Craig and Bryan is that sometimes maybe they have something in the script that I don’t quite understand, so we’ll have conversations about it until everything we are on the same page.
Technically, we are always pushing to get our visuals to sell the story. We work very closely with our production designer, Pascal Campion. We talk to him about what we’re trying to say visually and emotionally? Is it more abstract, should we simplify or change the colors. Do everything possible to support the emotions all the time.
Craig: As we plan these shows, when you go back to the comic strips, it’s almost like you have various pieces of the puzzle. You have to take these pieces and really try to find the character. You need to stay true to the Peanuts universe and to keep the fans happy. Yet, we also try to go the edges of the envelope to tell the best possible we can, and that may present a challenge depending on the character you’re working with. In Marcie’s case, not many people know her unless they’ve read a lot of the strips. Many may not realize what a force she is because she’s in the background and has supported Peppermint Patty along the way, but in her own right, she’s a force. That’s what we liked about her and it makes her an interesting character to delve into.
What were the TV shows or movies that left a big impression on you as you were growing up?
Raymond: For me, it really goes back to something like Snow White and the Seve Dwarfs. That movie was able to capture a mood so beautifully. I just love the fact that it takes you somewhere else completely. I think that’s why it connects with what’re doing here: They are both about using emotions to tell the stories.
Craig: I grew up with comic strips and artists my whole life. That’s why I really like comic-strips like Peanuts or B.C., which were drawn very simply and were pleasing to look at. It was something my dad spoke to as I heard later on in his interviews. This was reflected not only in the drawings but also in the backgrounds which were also simplified and the visual language was very simple. There were pure to the point and you always had a nice joke in the end. When you look back at some of the Disney movies, they seemed very dark. From a young kid’s perspective, there was a lot of scary dark stuff going on in a movie like Bambi.
Can you tell us about your favorite memory from your childhood and of your father?
Craig: It’s playing baseball with my dad. One of the nice things about having a cartoonist as your dad is that it seemed to all of us that he didn’t really have a job. We didn’t even know what he did when were kids. We knew he would sit down and draw pictures. The nice thing was that he was always able to play with us. We’d have friends come over any time in the day and he’d put his pen down, come out and play games with us.
One last question for you both: What do you hope young audiences will get out of the new Marcie special?
Craig: My hope is that when the show ends, parents sit down and have a discussion with their kids and ask them, “What did learn from the show?” or “Are you a Marcie or Peppermint Patty?” We hope the show generates conversations and sends out a message to people and continues to inspire them.
Raymond: I want people to get the message that you don’t need to be the person up in the front to be able to make a difference in the world. I hope people behind the scenes, people are like Marcie, feel like they have been seen and heard.
We’ll have more of these Peanuts specials coming our way, right?
Raymond: Yes, they have already announced that a special about Franklin (Snoopy Presents Welcome Home, Franklin) will debut on Apple TV+ next year.
Any more movies coming up, Craig?
Craig: [Laughing] Oh, you never know!
Snoopy Presents: One-of-a-Kind Marcie premieres on Apple TV+ on Friday, August 18.
