Smiling Friends Spec Script:

Prior to college, I was pulled towards the possibility of animation and how it brings storytelling to a place impossible to see within live action mediums. It wasn’t until I discovered the Adult Swim original show Smiling Friends that I learned that animation can be cartoonish yet grounded in realism. So after studying the show’s structure, tone, and themes, I began creating an episode that would feel at home in the series. This spec script begins with our overgenerous protagonist, Pim, who faces the challenge of offering kindness in a world that will not always return it. This moral dilemma gets thrown for a loop when both he and his partner, Charlie, are assigned to cheer up a convicted criminal on death row. Leaving Pim to face the question, “Do criminals deserve happiness too?”