Raphael Bob-Waksberg
One thing I think about a lot is that one of my favorite pieces of narrative art as a child was 'Calvin and Hobbes.' I really saw myself in the character of Calvin. I was rambunctious, I didn't always follow the rules, I had a wild imagination.Collection: Imagination
For a long time in my adolescence, comedy was the only tool I had for communication and dealing with the world and dealing with people - I didn't know any other lens in which to do it.Collection: Communication
I would like to see BoJack find some sort of peace. I don't know if happiness is the right word; I don't know if he deserves that... But I would like to think even a soul as lost as BoJack can somehow crawl his way toward redemption.
When I first moved to Los Angeles, I was staying with a friend of a friend of a friend up in the Hollywood Hills. I was in this tiny little closest paying $400 a month in this beautiful house.
A lot of Christmas episodes feel like stories in quotation marks. Uh, a homeless guy comes to live with them and they all learn a lesson. That didn't come from an organic place.
I named him Todd Chavez after a guy I went to middle school with, whose last name was Chavez and who I always liked. He had a good energy, and something about his spirit felt Todd-appropriate.
I think you need to think of yourself as a flawed human being with aspirations for goodness and never start to think, 'Oh, I am a good guy. These other people are bad guys. They're dumb, I am smart.'
I'd like to think that 'Bojack,' in some ways, pushes the edges of what some people think an adult animated show can be. That was an intention of mine while making the show.
Saying someone's a fan of animation is as silly as saying someone's a fan of live action. That can mean anything.
When we started on 'BoJack,' it was understood that the Netflix model was to give shows time to find an audience, and to build that audience, and I remember being told, 'We expect the biggest day 'BoJack' Season 1 is going to have is when we launch 'BoJack' Season 2.'
I've written six seasons of a TV show with great help from an incredible staff of writers and other collaborators, but I still feel like I don't know what I'm doing. I've kind of freed myself of the expectation that I ever will.
Part of being a writer is just getting it in your bones, getting the muscle memory down, just doing it.
I think we're so often, as writers, afraid of writing something that is less than perfect, and that fear paralyzes us. I'm a big fan of writing less than perfect things.
I don't believe there is any line bad enough that a good actor can't save.
I am really excited by the form of short fiction.
I have a short attention span.
What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky' by Lesley Nneka Arimah blew my mind.
I don't know how everyone writes a novel; that sounds exhausting.
I'm very interested in telling darker stories that maybe you are not used to seeing in animation. Especially because in animation you don't see those kind of stories.
If you are stuck on a problem, go for a walk and think about something else for a little bit. Going for a walk is very helpful for a writer because if you are staring at a blank page of a computer screen there is all this pressure.
It is so easy now to never get bored because we have our phones with us all the time and we are always looking at stuff. I think when we get bored we are the most creative.
I don't know if I have writing habits. Writing is impossible and every time I have to do it I kind of forget how.
I'm excited when any Netflix show comes out. I'm like, 'Yeah, Netflix! Doin' great! We're all on the same side.'
I would love to just watch episodes of 'Horsin' Around' if I could.
This whole idea of too much TV, I think is really gross. Because I feel like it's mostly white men who are saying it. And it's like, 'Yeah, man, there's too much TV for you, but by nature of there being so much TV, there are other voices being represented.' Isn't that a wonderful thing?
I have a lot of affection for those old shows. You can put on an episode of 'Full House' or 'Family Matters' or 'Growing Pains' now and I'll watch it. And I'll totally enjoy it.
I always loved 'The Critic' and how specifically 'New York' it was.
My work is my work and my life is my life.
So many cartoons are about real fun, happy-go-lucky simpletons.
I thought it would be fun to make a cartoon about this sad, misanthropic horse.
Netflix is looking for interesting ideas from interesting creators. They really want to help me make the show I want to make.
One of the things that set us apart early on, as opposed to other animated shows, was the fact that 'Bojack' was continuous and serialized.
I think we're all trying our hardest, and a lot of times we do bad things and need to do more good things. We need to be more caring, more forgiving, more loving.
Our better angels get clouded and we're more selfish than we should be, more anxious or neurotic or desperate or self-sabotaging. Crueler, even. But I do think there's hope for everyone... I think redemption is possible for anybody.
I don't believe in good people and bad people.
I don't know if animation is a style. It's a format.
I am doing what I can to expand the tent and bring up other people and make sure we are telling different kinds of stories.
You're going to get different kinds of animation for different kinds of audiences. Traditionally, adult animation has been for the young male audience. There's no reason why that should be.
I moved out to L.A. from New York... and I remember feeling, kind of like anyone does when they first move, so very lonely and isolated.
Netflix really trusts us. We don't get a lot of network notes. They're not coming back all the time like, 'Oh, this is too sad,' or 'This is too weird.'
I've been in rooms where the creator has sold a show and then felt like the network didn't buy the show they wanted. They bought a show they thought they could craft into the show they wanted.
Humor was a big part of my childhood. My family was full of comedians. We'd sit around the dinner table and try to one-up each other. It sometimes ended in tears, but usually in laughter.
I had ADD as a kid and often acted as the class clown. My teachers used to tell my mom, 'Raphael thinks he's a real comedian.'
There was a warm and encouraging environment at home. My self-loathing and neuroticism are not because of my upbringing.
I was very moved by shows that combined things that were funny and sad. I remember liking 'Simpsons' episodes in which emotions were central.
My general feeling about award shows that I've been to in the past was always that when you win, it's a great time. What a joy. You're celebrating there. And when you lose, the whole thing feels very stupid and why does anyone care about any of this. This is boring. I want to go home.
I think life doesn't necessarily have an endgame.
If you try to guess what people are gonna think, you're chasing the wrong thing.
I think Netflix have a bit of a reputation for being totally hands-off, which is not quite fair. They are very active and vested, but in a really good way.
I am a big fan of 'Rick and Morty.'