A new DreamWorks Animation short focuses on a teen who visits his grandpa and discovers a passion that will strengthen their relationship. It is Oscar qualified and vying for Best Animated Short Film consideration. Co-Director Chris Copeland and producer Shabrayia Cleaver share what makes them so proud about Wednesdays with Gramps. (This Animation Scoop Q&A was edited for length and clarity.)

Jackson Murphy: Chris, you’ve been in animation for a long time as a storyboard artist and a showrunner. How does it honestly feel that you have co-directed this animated short with the legacy of DreamWorks Animation with you?

Chris Copeland: It still feels a little ridiculous. The process was so organic: “Let’s build this thing to a place we love and it feels like it’s reflecting our energy and excitement for it.” So to have done it, and then for it to have received this reception — the emails, follows, DMs and excitement, it still feels a little insane. Pretty phenomenal. Very, very exciting times.

Shabrayia Cleaver: This is the product of when you don’t give Chris and Justin [Copeland]… parameters. This is the fun, cool stuff that comes from their brain. When he says organic, he really means it. This all came together in such a beautiful way and everything — the timing was like, “Well look, this all worked out!”

JM: And Shabrayia, you’ve had special screenings at film festivals and have won awards — including in Harlem, Detroit and Palm Springs. That must be an exceptional feeling to have this play so well for film festival crowds and audiences.

SC: Totally. I think when we set out to do this, we wanted to be intentional about the audiences we got this in front of. And at the end of the day, we made something that we’re so freakin’ proud of. Every time we go to a festival we’re like, “Oh my gosh, people really like it!” (laughs) It’s been such a beautiful experience.

JM: Chris, what you and Justin have done is present the story of a teen boy and his grandfather. And that dynamic and relationship… the memories are there for everyone… and flood back. So what was it about this concept that you wanted to showcase in your short?

CC: Justin had this ridiculous concept and notion of an older dude who is an arcade master — the ridiculousness of these two dynamics. What it really is… at the core of it… is relationships, and that’s something that Justin and I value endlessly — our connection to other people. And then the wish fulfillment of this is that Justin and I never met our grandfathers, so we always had this dream of, “What if we met our grandfathers and they were like us, they were gamers or comic book collectors?” It all began to materialize as we would open up to Shabrayia and be like, “What about this thing?” And she would throw in some of her own little methodologies and ideas. Everyone brought these little elements. By the time we animated it, you’re seeing the byproduct of a lot of people dreaming these weird, funny, cool, interesting desires all reflected in the imagery of this movie, and it’s pretty cool that way.

SC: And I grew up with my grandma. I was like, “…I can tell you some stories about grandma and how she’s at Bingo currently.” (laughs) So it was a lot of fun bringing a little of her into it too.JM: And Shabrayia, you’ve got the combination of the fantastical, which we see in one sequence later on, and the grounded nature of a nursing home environment: the design, the lighting, the atmosphere… and what a teen who hasn’t fully embraced that experiences walking in and going, “Is this for me?” You capture that very well.

SC: That was one of the things to make it authentic. A lot of people on our crew had parents or grandparents who had been in nursing homes. Wanting to make sure it felt authentic but not making a joke of it or making it uncomfortable. We were really thoughtful of some of the decisions made… not making a mockery of nursing homes. That was really important to us.

JM: So we get to the arcade, Chris, and it’s fun. There’s that relatability factor, especially for kids, of “I gotta beat that high score!” Did you always know you wanted to go really… boom, zoom, to the Moon?

CC: Absolutely. Creatively, a lot of the set-up and pay-off was there from the start. Justin and I boarded it ourselves. We were literally ground to space from the start of this thing. And it was all creative desire. When you’re walking through the city, it was very important to us to have the music reflect the hip-hop we love, but also feel ‘video-game’. Shout-out to Raashi Kalmari, our composer. But also the graffiti you’re seeing on the walls and the colors of it — and the textural patterns and pixelization of everything, visually. These are all the things that from the start of this thing, we put on the table, and to have a whole team come in and get on board and be excited about building that out — that’s what you’re sensing when you’re looking at it and going, “This thing is as immersive as all Hell, right from the jump.”

JM: Shabrayia, there’s a tone — you have the fun and energy — and drama and emotion right to the end, and having that be effective. That’s not easy to do. Were there challenges in trying to pull that off?

SC: Totally. Tone was a big one — to make sure that it felt fun but realistic. If you ask anyone, the Copelands will go real nitty-gritty with things.

JM: Chris, is what speaks to you… Intimate storytelling, layered storytelling, personal stories? And do you want to continue that with more projects?

CC: Yeah. The thing Justin and I are always exploring is, “Why make the decisions, creatively, we’re gonna make?” If at the core of it, it’s not something we as humans can relate to, which is the human dynamic and relationship, then why do it? With “Wednesdays with Gramps”… you ask if there were any challenges… It was a seven-minute animated short with no dialogue. Alright, we really have to make everything that’s gonna pop… it has to pop so clearly and it has to read so clearly. And the emotive elements of it: everything has to play with each other — the visuals, the music, the sound effects, the timing and pacing of everything. At the core of it, it was pinning a love letter between people. One of my filmmaker idols, David Fincher, has a quote where he says, “With all the things we can do with a camera, the most special things that we film are two people sitting in a room with each other.” And that relational dynamic and bringing that to the forefront. Justin and I feel beholden to that. And then when you get a producer like Shabrayia who goes, “No, I buy into that” — to figure out a way together to bring that to the screen, we feel like that was our accomplishment with this short.

JM: You mentioning David Fincher and that kind of quote made me think of “Mank” — and Gary Oldman and Amanda Seyfried together.

CC: Yes. 100%. All of those moments. That’s the human thing.

SC: There’s been so many times where… we’ve talked about this being a love letter to grandparents and a love letter to ’80s / ’90s video games. But also what I realize through this journey and people coming up to me… “Oh my gosh. This really resonated with me.” It really is a love letter to humanity — and this notion that people who feel worlds apart can actually have so much more in common than we think, if we just talk to each other. That’s an important message we need to put out into the world right now.