Celebrity Byte

Jerry at the Bee Movie Premiere in New York City.

What was it like to bring Barry B. Benson to life for the big screen and the video game?

I felt like I really attempted to create nothing but what I've always done, which is kind of to do another version of myself. People always ask me what was it like acting in the movie and I'm like, "What are you talking about? I'm not acting."

At which point did you decide to discover the inner bee in you?

When they told me I was making this movie. That's when I discovered the inner bee.

How did you evolve as a writer moving from television to film?

I realized while making this movie why all of those Marx Brothers movies had musical numbers and long chase scenes. It's very hard to sustain comedy throughout a full-length movie and that's why they came up with those things back in those days. We could all sit here and think about comedies that we loved in the first half, and then what happened? It's a pitfall of the form itself. I just didn't want it to be one of those movies where people would say, I liked it, but then it just ran out of gas.

Were you able to apply lessons learned from "Seinfeld" to this project?

I have learned a few tricks over the years. I certainly couldn't have done this movie without that background. The show taught me how to write stories and scenes and when to have characters enter and exit and blocking and how to have people move.

Was it easy for you to write comedy for a broad, family audience?

For me it was because I don't have any inclinations towards sexual comedic tones or profanity or things like that. I was writing the way I always write and I was very comfortable with it.

I don't have any inclinations towards sexual comedic tones or profanity or things like that. I was writing the way I always write and I was very comfortable with it.

In both the Bee Movie Game and the film, everything is virtual. What's it like working in this new CGI medium?

This whole thing is a gigantic puppet show. That's all it is. They're puppets. These things don't do anything. You have to move them and turn their heads and move their eyes. It's a marionette show.

How involved were you with this project?

I did it all. I sat with every animator for every single shot for over 1,400 different shots from beginning to end. I did every single one.

What are the challenges of making a CGI movie work for a large audience from both a comedic and story perspective?

Comedy and the plot are a wedding. If you just make jokes, which I can do forever...and I did in some versions of this script, it gets so boring after a while. But if you just have plot, and no one's making jokes, it gets boring after a while. It becomes a dance between the two...forward action and funny dialogue, forward action and funny dialogue. That's the thing I had to learn a little differently in this form from sitcom in how to work that.

Jerry performing at the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation's 12th Grand Slam for Children.

What was the process of fine-tuning like?

It's just hit and miss. Trial and error. We'd do endless versions. We'd say this isn't funny enough and this feels like you're just talking and nothing is happening. You get one of those two feelings, and they're both bad. And then you had to do it again.

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