SpongebobSquarepants_MagSeven 5/3/12 7:39 PM Page 3
From Paradise Valley to
PINEAPPLE UNDER THE SEA By Lynette Carrington
Former Arizona resident DEREK IVERSEN writes it like he remembers it for SpongeBob SquarePants OHHHHH … WHO LIVES IN A PINEAPPLE UNDER THE SEA? SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS! Go ahead, sing the rest of the song, because now it will be stuck in your brain for the rest of the day. Nickelodeon Animation Studios continues to enjoy stellar ratings for the absorbent and porous yellow underdog with the help of Sponge Bob Writer, Derek Iversen. From the age of 3 to 18, Derek Iversen lived in Paradise Valley and attended Cherokee grade school and Chaparral High School. At age twelve he had it pegged that he wanted to be a writer. He cites Road Runner as one of his favorite cartoons. “It was really simplistic, but I loved it!” said Derek Iversen. He also grew up loving Tom and Jerry, Bugs Bunny and The Super Friends. Throw all of those in to a massive cartoon salad, add a couple slices of childhood memories and sprinkle it with a U of A education in Creative Writing, and you get the genius of what Derek Iversen does for a living. Iversen began with SpongeBob in its first season as a production assistant and has worked his way up to overseeing the writing. “We’re working on season nine right now,” he explained. Being at any job that long is an accomplishment. But to keep up the insanely fun, relevant and wacky writing style that is uniquely SpongeBob, is an aquatic accolade unto itself. “I’m the kicker,” Iversen explained of his job as a writer, “I’m the guy who’s kicking the ball to start the game.” Continuously turning out high-larious underwater high jinks of SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, Sandy, Mr. Krabs, Pearl and Mrs. Poppy Puff, Iversen is quick to explain the collaborative effort. Each season features fifty-two episodes of watery wackiness that begin with Iversen writing up the initial ideas which then take aquatic shape and are then presented to Executive Producer, Paul Tibbitt who might love it or not. It then goes on to a network executive and the ideas are tossed around a bit more. The concepts wash back up on to Iversen’s desk where he writes the episode outline. It then moves through a series of storyboard directors, storyboard artists, revisionists and an animation director. From there, it goes to a team in Korea for the rough draft of the animation. Around fifty people have their hands in the SpongeBob process before it is ready to make its splash on Nickelodeon TV.