February 5th, 2024 
Jackson Murphy 
The legendary game becomes a new animated comedy series. Rock Paper Scissors stars anthropomorphic versions of the title three items. A sneak preview episode airs on Nickelodeon this Sunday Feb. 11 immediately following the channel’s highly-anticipated Super Bowl telecast, with the official premiere set for Monday Feb. 12 at 5:30pm. Creators Kyle Stegina and Josh Lehrman join me for this lively Animation Scoop Q&A. (This interview was edited for length and clarity.)
Jackson Murphy: I love that this show came from the Nickelodeon Intergalactic Shorts Program and became a series. Kyle, what has amazed you about the process you went on?
Kyle Stegina: Anything that ever gets on air… it’s a miracle. That’s what I’ve learned. The idea of this show was kind of sold at the end of 2019 and now the show will premiere February 12th, 2024. So over basically four and a half years, this show has been developed and made and produced. Josh and I have worked on a lot of shows. We’ve written for a lot of shows. But this is the first show we’ve run from start to finish, and you have such an appreciation for the process. Four and a half years — it’s finally on the air. It makes you look at TV a little bit differently. You’ll watch something for five minutes on TV but you’ll never think about it when you turn it off. But that show probably had years of people sweating over it. I’m very touched that it has finally come out after all this time.
JM: I’m so glad. Josh, do you have early memories of playing the game “Rock, Paper, Scissors”?
Josh Lehrman: I don’t think I played “Rock, Paper, Scissors” a lot because the stakes could be too high for a game that silly. I was not a fun kid. If someone was like, “Hey, let’s play Rock Paper Scissors for it”, I’d be like, “Maybe we talk this out logically and try to come to a good compromise for all.”
KS: Josh’s mom is a therapist, so Josh would say, “I’m sorry. What’s the emotional trauma you had that makes you feel like we should resolve this through a childish game of chance?”
JL: Kids loved me. (laughs)
JM: (laughs) Do you guys play now as you’re working on the show?
JL: If we do, I think we have to incorporate Pencil and Lou.
Kyle Stegina, Josh Lehrman and Jackson Murphy
JM: These characters come to life and are so funny. Kyle, how did you work on their distinct personalities and having them pop on the screen?
KS: The characters are the heart of the show. They need to be fully fleshed out people with hopes and dreams and flaws. We started with… Scissors could be the lovable jerk, but you need to balance him out with being very vulnerable and insecure, so he’s still likable. Paper… Josh said, “Like a college paper”. So maybe he’s smart? No — he wants to be smart. He’s like a faux intellectual. “Okay, let’s build that out.” He wants to get respect and be a famous inventor, but he’s not very smart and all of his inventions explode. Rock is this wonderful ball of joy in self-expression and he’s kind and caring. A fun career aspiration for him is, “What if he wanted to be a male model? Let’s put him on that track.” They’re fully fleshed out people that hopefully [the audience] is rooting for.
JM: You’re happy while watching these characters get into their antics. And Josh, what went into their designs?
JL: We can take zero credit for this. Two of the people we worked with on the Pilot presentation, Paul Watling and Amanda Qian Li, designed the look of the show. Amanda was our background designer, and she took an apartment in Los Angeles and put together what that would look like. And Paul drew the characters. There was something wonderful about looking at these photo collage / semi-photorealistic backgrounds with these frankly kind of dumb-looking 2D drawings on them.
KS: But we say that in the best way!
JL: We throw that term around all the time on this show. We go, “Ah, it’s really dumb.” And it’s a positive. I think [Paul] kind of nailed it immediately. I don’t think there were a ton of drafts. We just saw it and went, “Yeah, that looks great.”
KS: And that background and characters on top style… it’s beautiful, but it’s also kind of janky at the same time, which is in a perfect way representative of the tone of this show. The show doesn’t take itself too seriously. By itself it’s a little janky. It’s pleasing to look at and really matches what we’re going for.
JM: I interviewed Executive Producer Conrad Vernon in 2021 for “The Addams Family 2”. He also directed / co-directed “Shrek 2”, “Monsters vs. Aliens” and “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted”. Kyle, how was it having that comedy and animation eye with you?
KS: It was great. We had a great team the whole way through. We first met Conrad in the Intergalactic Shorts Program. He was kind of overseeing all the projects. We would talk to him from time to time. He always had great advice. It’s easy to get into a vacuum on any show you’re creating or an episode that you’re writing. It was a very collaborative experience and very positive.
JM: Nice. This show premieres February 12th, but you also have a coveted slot after the Super Bowl on Nickelodeon. It will air at 10pm Eastern. Josh, how does that feel? That’s gonna be an epic Nickelodeon Super Bowl telecast.
JL: Amazing! Especially because Nickelodeon is showing two episodes that were not necessarily early episodes, that are great episodes. “The Fart Joke Debate” — the combination of smart comedy, dumb comedy and heart that we love. And in the second one you get to meet Lou, who’s one of the most enjoyable characters in the show. If you watch those two episodes and you’re not a fan, then we got nothing for you! Those are high quality episodes.
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