South Park has a silent partner
Stone and Trey Parker are both listed as executive producers of South Park, and they appear jointly for most interviews about the show. But Stone hasn’t been credited with writing an episode in years. For the last eight seasons, Parker has written every episode, with Stone and a few staff writers contributing ideas but not full scripts. Parker now directs every episode as well. Most of the regular and guest characters are voiced by Parker, though Stone still handles the voices he did in the original pilot, Kyle and Kenny (who no longer gets killed every week). So while Matt Stone is still the “executive producer,” does he do much to earn that title?
Some fans insist that he doesn’t. Mocking Stone is a regular pastime among people who discuss South Park on message boards; a typical posting reads: “Trey writes every episode and then does the majority of the voices and most of the music while Matt sits around and laughs at Trey to encourage him.” And it’s obviously true that Parker is responsible for South Park as the crude, foul-mouthed work of art it is, and Stone really isn’t. But producing a TV series entails more than just the artistry. That’s where Stone comes in.
God Almighty, every writer should have an agent like this. Stone, you are among the Angels Themselves!
And you asswipes on the message boards: Shut The Fuck Up. Don’t you have lives?
