I.A. - You're working with your brother on these shorts, could you tell me more about your creative processes?

Orrin Zucker :Jerry' starts by recording a monologue. After a couple passes at it and editing it down to about 4 minutes, he gives it to me. We purposely don't discuss it too much because I really don't want to be tied to the reality of the actual events or characters that he's interacting with. I want to visualize it for myself. It usually takes about 3 weeks for pulling clip art, taking digital photos and mashing it together in After Effects. Sometimes we contact other photographers, artists, bloggers, sound designers, friends, neighbors or relatives who fit a certain need for that episode, and they contribute their efforts to the cause. Once the animation is roughed out, Jerry will put his two cents in...well argue back and forth until we agree on something. Once that's done, the sound effects are added and Jerry records the soundtrack on the piano in his apartment (which appears in many episodes). The whole process is very low tech.

I.A. - Do you write the complete scripts before starting the episode or is there a place for improvisation?

Jerry Zucker - Scripts are really told more than they are written. It's more of an improvised storytelling process rather than a writing process. The events depicted in It's JerryTime! have actually happened to me. There is give and take if certain phrasings are incompatible with the continuity of the animation. But most of the "writing'' is improvised. Also note that the animation is similarly improvised by my brother Orrin without storyboards.

I.A. - I'm french and I don't have much American tv show culture, but watching at your short I think about Woody Allen and Seinfeld. Are your influences close to these artists? Others?

Jerry Zucker - I've always thought Woody Allen was a master, especially Annie Hall. Seinfeld's TV show is rated the best ever and it also has that quirky urban flavor. Both are great. There are so many others that I love who have done stellar work in different forms of humor: Fats Waller, B. Kliban, Mel Brooks, Joe Sedelmaier. (Orrin lists Terry Gilliam, the Fleischer Brothers and Jack Kirby.)