COLLIDER: You never know how something’s going to be received.
What has it been like for you, with everyone raving about it?
I believe it’s still at 97% on Rotten Tomatoes after 40 reviews.
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JEFF TRAMMELL: It’s satisfying and gratifying.
It’s not going to live up to the expectations I have for the series.
So, it’s been really cool to see that so many people are feeling it.
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You’re now sitting here at SCAD and have a fucking awesome show on TV.
How does someone make that jump?
TRAMMELL: I wish I knew.
That was 10 years ago, so what you read was two years old.
[Laughs] No, I knew I wanted to work in animation and television.
If they pick you, you move to LA for a year and they pay you to learn.
Can I ask what it was that you submitted that got you in the top four?
TRAMMELL: I wrote a spec script forThe LeagueandBob’s Burgers, and they were both really good.
Whats It Really Like Pitching for Marvel?
It was very intimidating.
From what I understand, you pitched Marvel on something else, and then you ended up with this.
What did you pitch, and how did you end up with this?
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TRAMMELL: Youre asking good questions.
I was brought in to pitch on this showyou guys probably never heard of itcalledX-Men 97.
And they were like, Not you… Because we want you to do Spider-Man.
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That’s honestly it.
I kind of endeared myself to them for that, and then they asked me to do Spider-Man.
How nervous are you the night before you’re getting ready to pitch, and B.)
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What if I screw up everything?
I was like, Okay, cool.
Can we push to 7:30?
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So Kevin got on at, like, 7:15 and was super nice.
It was the first time Id ever met him.
I told him about myself, my history, working in the Nick writing program, and so on.
Then I pitched a version of X-Men that they all really liked.
Or, What if I don’t get it?
What if I screw up?
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I want to really know where I’m going?
And how much is it sort of season by season for you?
TRAMMELL: I came in with, I can tell four seasons of this easily.
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Now that’s evolved to however long they want to do it.
I’m ready to keep doing it.
So, just being flexible in wanting to tell those stories is a big thing, too.
I could be wrong, but I think you’re doing three confirmed seasons?
How long does it actually take now that the system is in place?
Say they say to you, We would like Season 4.
Let’s start thinking about that.
TRAMMELL: This feels like you’re trying to trick me into saying a release date.
You know whats funny?
A little bit, but I’m actually also curious.
I’m just curious about the animation process.
TRAMMELL: I’ll say this: it took us four years to make Season 1.
You’re building a world from the ground up, in 3D at that.
We have all those pieces in play.
We’re adding to it even more.
We’re going to keep pushing things, butit won’t take four years for Season 2.
You’ve mentioned that there are a lot of Easter eggs in this show.
TRAMMELL: Im in the second episode somewhere.
I’m not going to say where.
I’ll let you guys figure it out.
It’s a fun Easter egg hunt for you to go get up the numbers on Disney+.
Thats a reference to the [Sam] Raimi movies.
There are a ton of little Easter eggs in there, as well.
With great writing comes great quotability.
you’re free to make changes with the voices and animation until the very last minute.
When did you actually finish Season 1 where you were like, Okay, I’m out?
TRAMMELL: I believe we finished the final process of Season 1 around August of last year.
So, very recently, all things considered.
What do you think would surprise people to learn about the making of an animated series at Marvel?
TRAMMELL: They’re really cool.
It was never a conversation.
It was just like, Can I do this thing?
They’re really supportive.
They’re really open to me being able to make those changes.
Even in terms of things with Peters story that you guys will see later in the season.
They’ve been really open, which is really cool.
This is a different guy.
TRAMMELL: Kind of, yeah.
Here’s what the show is, and figure out the rest.
It was kind of like, We can’t do this if we want longevity.
It kind of limited what we could do.
I would say there are still certain things that probably will line up.
So, certain things like that we do kind of stick to the guidelines.
How’d you come up with this title?
Talk a little bit about how you ended up with this.
And I said, Sure.
We’re going to go withYour Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Manbecause Kevin picked it, and I was like, Great.
That is the proper answer.
You have Colman Domingo voicing Norman, which is awesome.
Talk a little bit about getting Colman.
TRAMMELL: Colman is incredible.
We were super fortunate to get him.
We can’t go to Colman.
Then we’re like, Hey, Colman, will you do this?
And he was like, Yes, yo.
And we were like, Oh, okay.
He cares so much.
The two-time nominee spooke to Collider about his most recent nod at the Oscars.
This is your first time doing a show like this and having such creative power.
What have you learned making the first season that you wish someone had told you early on?
TRAMMELL: This job ishard.
[Laughs] Its a lot, but it’s awesome.
It’s a lot of meetings, and I got into this to be a writer.
In Season 1, I did a lot of writing.
I wrote maybe half the episodes.
In Season 2, currently, we’ve expanded our team.
Whats a Day in the Office at Marvel Studios Like?
Trammell shares his day-to-day creating a television series.
I don’t know if you go to the office.
I don’t know if you work at home.
What is it like for you?
Are you starting at nine and leaving the office at seven?
TRAMMELL: We are like a work-from-home hybrid.
Honestly, each day is really different.
So, things like that.
It can get really busy.
It’s a lot of overlap.
So it’s definitely a lot of time.
I give a shot to clear out the weekends.
That’s really important to me.
So, usually I’m trying to keep it Monday through Friday.
For us, it was really early on trying to figure out that.
I love that the theme song goes back to the 60s, but it’s also modern.
Can you talk about how that happened and why that was important to you?
TRAMMELL: Very early on, I was like, Can we do the 60s theme?
And they were like, Probably not.
I was like, Okay, cool.
So once again, our classic but new kind of vibe.
Making Every Penny Count in Animation
Animation isnt cheap!
TRAMMELL: Usually, it became those big action moments.
It catches your eye.
What ended up being more expensive to do or more time-consuming than you realized when you started doing this?
TRAMMELL: Just designing characters and models, especially working in 3D.
But I think that comes with the territory.
It’s so interesting because it’s basically just like live-action.
So, all our sets are beautiful.
[Laughs]
What are you thinking about with finales?
There should be a nice ending to a season to reward a viewer.
I don’t think you should ever walk away from it, like, Okay, cool.
So, for me, I’m very much of the mind of we will conclude a story.
We’ll see to it that it feels final.
But if you are thinking, Do I want to watch Season 2?
Have you been given any sort of mandate that each episode should be 26 minutes or 24 minutes?
TRAMMELL: It’s definitely the latter.
Some may skew 23, some may run longer to 28.
But yeah, it’s deciding, Where do we need that time the most?
I was like, It’d be cool to see the Ninja Turtles, but they’re not coming.
No one quote me on that.
I mean, definitely.
There are some characters in Season 2 that I’m really excited to dig into.
I don’t want to spoil anything for you guys, so I won’t.
So how dramatically did the show change along the way?
TRAMMELL: Honestly, it’s very much what we set out to do.
Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio are coming back and voicing Daredevil and Kingpin.
TRAMMELL: I can comment on one of those, because one of those is true.
He’s been awesome to work with.
I did not know that we would get the opportunity to have him in the show.
Very early on, I was like, Can we use Daredevil?
And they were like, Yes.
I was like, Can I use Charlie?
And they were like, Yes.
I was like, Are you sure?
Because this was before even the show had been announced.
So, yeah, he’s been awesome to work with.
I haven’t had the pleasure of working with Vincent D’Onofrio…yet.
So, we’ll see.
TRAMMELL: It did not change my plans for Season 1, is what I will say.
[Laughs]
I like that.
TRAMMELL: Season 2 is calledYour Friendly Neighborhood Daredevil.
The series premieres next month.
They both work together, so they split episodes or share assets between one another.
CGCG does that, as well, so they were the perfect fit for us.
They’ve been incredible to work with.
When you start making the first season, you learn what’s easier for the company to do.
You learn how to make it.
So, how has that actually specifically been utilized for Seasons 2 or 3?
So, honestly, both of them are great.
Both teams are incredible.
How does it work in terms of designing action sequences behind the scenes when you’re writing an episode?
Are you writing the actual battle out?
Are you describing things or are you sort of like, Spider-Man and [insert character] fight?
TRAMMELL: Man, I’d be a terrible writer if I did that.
So, I do that… No, Im just kidding.
I’m getting to help build this world.
But I like to focus on the important aspects.
Or, Spider-Man listens in using his senses to hear James' speed tech boots.
I would do something like that that’s really important to the story.
Then, I want to give free rein to our board artists because I know how incredible they are.
So, I wanted to ensure that our artists had the freedom to craft the fight however they wanted.
Take a Peek Inside the Writers Room
What does a typical workweek look like?
There are a lot of people out there who want to write on animation.
What is it like for you?
Do you still get, like, How the F am I going to do this?
Take us through how you like to sit down.
As the day goes on, not as much.
But some people I know write 95.
TRAMMELL: I want to meet these people that are creative in the morning.
I’ve met a lot of people like that.
TRAMMELL: They’re better than me.
I very much like to write at night.
Sometimes, I’ll even write well after work just because I have the time.
Then, I have to venture to find the flow again.
But yeah, I would sayit’s definitely still intimidating.
It’s still weird.
Do they know that I’m not good at this?
[Laughs] And that was after following my other writers who had all done episodes that season.
So I was like, Oh man, they’re great.
I’m a writer, too.
Ive got to figure out how to do this.
But once you get into it, those muscles kick back in.
That episode I could not be more proud of, when you guys see it blank years from now.
Did you do the finale of Season 2?
TRAMMELL: I’m doing half of the finale of [Season 2].
How does it work in the writers room with you guys?
We’re ultimately going here, and these are the things that are going to happen.
We’ll each do an episode?
So everyone has an idea of what needs to happen in the episode theyre writing?
TRAMMELL: Kind of.
It’s a bit of an ensemble.
So that means instead of just, What’s this person’s arc?
What’s too much time between these two characters interacting?
So,it’s really a hard balancing act.
So it’s a lot to figure out.
It’s a lot to juggle, but I’m super pleased with it.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-ManSeason 1 is available to stream on Disney+.
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