The Peanuts/Apple partnership continues to flourish. New 40-minute special Snoopy Presents: One-of-a-Kind Marcie premieres this Friday August 18th on AppleTV+. Executive Producer Craig Schulz (son of “Peanuts” creator Charles Schulz) and Director Raymond S. Persi (who also voiced Flash the Sloth in Zootopia) discuss the impact of Marcie, her new special and the entire “Peanuts” brand. (This Animation Scoop Q&A was edited for length and clarity.)

Jackson Murphy: Craig, I want to [first] ask you about the relationship between the Peanuts brand and Apple over the last few years. From your perspective, how has it been?

Craig Schulz: We’ve put a lot of content out there, between “The Snoopy Show”, “Snoopy in Space” and the co-view specials, which goes under the heading “Snoopy Presents”. “Marcie” is No. 5 in our series. I think we’ve done a lot of great things, and Apple has put a lot of content out there for the world to see. This stuff shows in over 100 countries, so it’s pretty impressive.

JM: Amazing. The quality of the content is really high. This special is very sweet. Raymond, Marcie is one of a kind. She always has been, with so much depth and layers. What were your goals with this character for this special?

Raymond S. Persi: We were really excited with this script because I think a lot of people really really love Marcie. I think they love her because even though she seems kind of quiet, she’s got kind of a sharp edge to her that comes out. She’s a very full-rounded character. With this special particularly, when Craig and the guys presented this idea, I think a lot of artists can relate to this. We like to put out work, but we don’t necessarily need the spotlight. That’s who Marcie is in this. It’s an important story to tell. You don’t have to be the leader. Not everybody wants to be the leader. Some people are very happy to help in a less visual way.

JM: There are a lot of great themes that come through in this special, and the story [involves] running for Student Body President. Craig, [Marcie’s] honesty in saying dialogue like, “I don’t think I’d ever have a moment of peace if I was President” or “I have to make decisions so quickly without being able to formulate my own thoughts”… that’s really good dialogue.

CS: Thank you. We worked really hard on that. The impetus for the idea came from the movie “Hidden Figures”, which I watched years ago. When we started crafting the story I thought, “Who better to represent that to the world than Marcie?” 99% of us are really the hidden figures in the background and there’s that one person who gets the spotlight shown on him. So it was a fun project to do based upon that.

JM: And the element of golf is a lot of fun. Raymond, how did you want to blend that with the Student Body President element?

RSP: That’s all Craig. Craig’s the golfer. I’m new to golf. I’ve learned about. I feel like I know all the rules even though I haven’t played yet. (laughs) I remember when we were talking about this, Craig, it was really important for you that we were accurate.

CS: Yeah. They did an amazing job with the animation — the characters swinging the clubs and the balls flying. I was very happy with the representation of golf. I just started playing golf 10 years ago. My dad played it his whole life. We thought, “What better representation for people to understand that the poor caddy gets unrecognized and the golfer gets all the money and recognition. The caddy does all the work in the background.” Marcie is the caddy.

RSP: And we were lucky that a lot of people on the team were big golf fans. They made sure that people were holding the right clubs and that the form was correct.

JM: Marcie is so helpful to Peppermint Patty — which clubs, where to go and what to do on the course. Marcie is so there for others, and in this special Carlin is there for Marcie. Craig, what do you like so much about Carlin?

CS: Marcie was really a friend of mine and a friend of my sister’s, and my dad used her name in the comic strip as Marcie. And as we were crafting this story… I thought, “Wouldn’t it be clever to use the real Marcie’s last name, which is Carlin.” When she sees this special, she’s gonna call me up and say, “Craig, that’s really cool. You used my full name.” (laughs) After Raymond’s team did the animation on the character, she’s so adorable and so cute. People are going to love her.

RSP: I like when we were talking about her, you said that Peppermint Patty has a Marcie, so you wanted Carlin to be Marcie to Marcie.

CS: (laughs) Yep.

JM: You absolutely see that. And I really like a scene that comes a little later in the special, which is Marcie and Charlie Brown together. Raymond, I feel like that has to be one of the most pivotal and important scenes to put together — all about discovering that you should be yourself. And just having the two of them together in this quiet moment.

RSP: Yeah, we realized that was a really important scene. Our production designer, Pascal Campion, is so talented. We talked to him about what this scene needed to mean. It had to be a quiet moment. Marcie is this character who’s more of an observer. We could find those Miyazaki moments where it’s just sitting in the environment for a little bit. We felt like this was an extension of, in the Peanuts strips, where the characters sit at the wall. We flushed it out and had this area for them to be in. And you’re right… This is a moment for her to hear what she knew she needed to do for herself, not what other people were telling her to do. He’s such a great sounding board for those moments.

JM: There’s a moment in one of the vision sequences where it’s a Marcie balloon in a parade, with Snoopy and Woodstock as the commentators. Obviously the Peanuts gang being a part of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade over the years has been so incredible. Seeing a moment like that… is it surreal for you?

CS: It just goes to show you how far and wide the Peanuts brand goes. I’m a pilot and my friends are pilots, and they always come back… They can be in the most obscure place on the planet and they come back and say, “You can’t believe it. I found a Peanuts thing here in the middle of nowhere! You guys are everywhere in the world.” And we are. We’re everywhere in the world and people love the brand. That’s what makes me the happiest: when people tune-in to these specials, they set their kids down and they know what they’re gonna see is safe. They’re not scared that their kids are gonna see something really offensive and they’re gonna have to close their eyes or cover their ears. It’s a nice place to go. And that’s what my dad also liked. He liked the innocence of Peanuts.

JM: It’s the humor, heart and characters that you depend on. You know that you’re coming to a Peanuts special for quality, for joy and for learning a lot. And this special is a lot about having thoughts, ideas and suggestions — and being able to share them. Raymond, what does that theme mean to you, as far as putting a special like this together, with so many people collaborating and sharing their ideas?

RSP: I love it. I love the experience of this. We do things in the feature storytelling style. We work with Craig [and the others] and hear their ideas. They tell us what feelings they want to show. And then I’m working with my story crew. What I always try to do is explain really personal moments where I’ve felt a certain thing. It’s so that I’m hoping the story artists working on the scene will tap into something — an experience they had that was like that, so that when they’re boarding these moments, they’ll come from a real place. With one like this that was so introspective, we had a lot of those conversations, especially with the designers. For example: Marcie’s room… we kind of wanted it to feel like a protective space. We use shadows a lot in this special, too — to show where Marcie can go to feel safe and away from people. So it’s not where she’s hiding, it’s where she’s comfortable. You’ll see a lot of moments where it’s about her having to step out into the light.

JM: Yes. When she goes into her room in the latter portion of the special, the lighting absolutely creates a certain environment that’s different than when she’s on the course or at school. That’s very well done. Craig, this might be a big question but, when did you know that what your father had created was one of a kind?

CS: Probably at the height of it, around 1968. I was a freshman in high school in L.A. The Apollo Program was going on. My dad was dealing with NASA. There was “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown” on Broadway. And there were the [thousands] of comic strips being read around the world, in over 2,600 newspapers. He was always such a down to Earth kind of person and very humble. Very accessible. People would walk up and talk to him, and he’d sign autographs. He typically had that real, midwestern, Minnesota ethics, which seems to be rare these days. (laughs)

JM: Amazing. The legacy continues with all of these specials. I think this special shows how smart these kids are, running for Student Body President and just kind of owning and running the elementary school. I have the “Snoopy For President 2020” ornament, which I love. Raymond, if these kids ran the country, I think they would do really well and put our country in good shape. What about you?

RSP: I agree! I think they would get everyone to talk to each other and find common ground. (laughs)