Background: On April 30, 2021, SpongeBob writer Dani Michaeli did a Q&A with The Art of SpongeBob Discord server (link here). The questions as well as Michaeli's answers have been replicated here for posterity.

Doofus asks: Dani, what was your favorite episode that you've worked on?

DM: I have a lot of favorites and sometimes it changes. Lately it's been PICTURE DAY because that one is inspired by something that happened to my daughter.

A bad picture day at preschool

Vonny: your daughter was in a peanut butter taco

Deleted User asks: What was your job exactly in yout tenure at Spongebob? Did you write dialogue for episodes or did you mainly just focus on writing story outlines for then the storyboarders to draw out?

DM: When I was on SpongeBob there were two kinds of writers, outline writers (that was me) and storyboard writers

So I wrote premises that were under a page in length and when they were approved, expanded them to outlines

I was also part of the writing room so would make suggestions on other stories too.

When I was there, the storyboard writers (known either as artists or directors) did most of the dialogue writing

Now SpongeBob is a scripted show so the current writers write full scripts and I did one as a freelancer

PickleMan: so lost and found was a freelance gig?

DM: Yes

It's kind of funny because the only script I wrote for the show was written AFTER i was no longer on staff

PickleMan: comparing your older scripts to lost and found, how different was the writing timeline?

did you prefer writing outlines or the full scripts?

DM: The timeline was lengthier naturally because there were two weeks added to write the script

There's advantages and disadvantages to both

I like having the control over the dialogue and details that you get when you write a script

On the other hand, the board artists and directors on SpongeBob are and were GREAT writers so they always made me look good being associated with those episodes

And if you're on an outline show, time wise you can often contribute to more episodes

ndog asks: You once mentioned that the infamous toenail scene in "House Fancy" was based off an actual event. To what extent did real life inspire you in your writing?

DM: I would pull from real life as often as possible since you get more unique stuff

House Fancy was also inspired by my wife's love of HGTV for example

Also real life is often funnier than anything I could come up with

PickleMan: to elaborate on that question and to get it out of the way early, what IS the context behind the inspiration for the toenail scene? how did it happen to you

DM: We were moving a couch in a fellow crewmember's office and our timing and coordination was off and what you saw in the cartoon is close to what actually happened

PickleMan: ouch

DM: Since it made us laugh (except for the person it happened to at the time) we decided to put in the episode

I know that gag has disturbed a lot of people and that wasn't our intention

Gross out humor has long been a part of cartoons and comedy in general and when you are pushing the line, you don't always know whether or not you are going over the line, if that makes sens

sense

To be "edgy", you have to get close to the edge and sometimes it pays off and other times, maybe you have done something tasteless

Smeary asks: How did you get the gig on SpongeBob?

DM: I was on South Park and a friend from South Park introduced me to Paul Tibbitt. When I was let go from South Park, I reached out to Paul and asked if I could get on SpongeBob

They had a writing retreat (a meeting that took place off the Nickelodeon campus) and they invited me and I pitched ideas. They liked the ideas enough that eventually I was asked to join the staff

Ene-Chan asks: Dani what was it like working on 2 eps with legendary guest stars not with us anymore? (R lee Ermey and David Bowie)

DM: I wish I had been in the room with either one so unfortunately I don't have any stories

Typically writers weren't in the recording booth

PickleMan: did you know that they were going to be playing the characters while the episodes were written, or were they cast afterwards?

DM: I do recall that with the R Lee Ermey episode, Chris Reccardi, who was board writing, imagined him in the roll and the writing really took off after that

Bowie was cast afterwards although there is an homage to him in the character design if anyone can spot it

I remember we all thought he would just be Bowie and then he came in and did a real character voice and we were all delighted

OldManWalker asks: What is the relationship like between the writers, the supervising director and storyboard artists? Is there a lot of back and forth giving input to each other or do you mostly report to your separate teams?

DM: When I was there, I always made sure to check in with the board teams, but I was also careful not to interfere. It was a real hand off and the board teams were expected to take ownership of the stories so I just made a point of communicating that I was available and happy to pitch jokes or ideas if they wanted

Supervising directors would usually take over after the first pass on the board and worked very closely with Paul Tibbitt and Vincent Waller, perfecting the episodes, sometimes rewriting if neccessary. A lot of that happens typically in the animatic process with the animatic editor

spingebill asks: How did you get your freelance job on Lost and Found?

DM: I can't recall if I asked or if they reached out. Probably I asked.

I was working on Harvey Beaks at the time and the two productions shared a floor at Nickelodeon so I would hang out with the SpongeBob crew frequently since we are all still buddies

I love those guys!

Luke Vaughn asks: Are there any SpongeBob episode concepts that you guys came up with that never ended up happening?

DM: Yes that happens all the time. You have to come up with a lot of ideas and eliminate most of them to figure out what will work

I always wanted to do one with Larry having a juice bar, if I recall correctly

PickleMan: any other specific ideas you can recall?

DM: No, but if any spring to mind, I will mention

I got to write for SpongeBob Comics too so I really did get to try out a lot of my ideas

Oh yes, I did want to do an episode that would be like Sideways, the Paul Giamatti movie, where SpongeBob and Plankton would tour the ocean, trying different patties to see if they could discover anything as good as the Krabby Patty

And I had a time travel idea that was based on a VHS cassette playing over and over, which would make SpongeBob and Patrick FEEL like they were in a time loop, even though it was just the tape

I don't think I told anyone that one though

PickleMan: that sounds like a really cool concept, actually

DM: Thank you!

Vonny (banned) asks: if you had the opportunity to go back and rewrite any of your past episodes, would you change anything?

DM: Haha! I think many writers feel like they would love to keep rewriting their old stuff

Deadlines have been a real blessing for me. Before I got into TV, with the strict deadlines and demanding pipeline, I worked on a lot of stuff that I never finished because I was always trying to make it better

Mostly I have no regrets about SpongeBob since the board writers' work is so strong

Luke Vaughn asks: Aside from picture day, what other episodes did you come up with the premises for?

DM: About 50 or 60

Some other favorites are BUMMER VACATON, DEAR VIKINGS...

PickleMan: ooh i love bummer vacation; is there any specific inspiration for that one?

DM: That was the first episode I wrote that was approved by Nickelodeon executives. It was based on SpongeBob's character, how he loved working so much that he would never take a day off it it was up to him

So that made needing to take a day off a clear obstacle

We decided it could be a union rule

Krabs would never give up a chance to exploit his worker, so it couldn't have come from him

When I was at the writing retreat (before I got hired) I pitched the gag about the Krusty Krab playset and having a smaller Krusty Krab playset inside and the room seemed to really like that idea. I was later told that was a big reason I got offered the staff job

PickleMan: so the whole episode idea came from the retreat or just the gag?

DM: The episode idea was pitched at the retreat too

It was one that developed pretty organically as a group discussion

patrick? asks: Hi, Dani! Thanks for doing this Q&A. I'm sorry that this question's a bit long.

The premier of the new SpongeBob spinoff series Kamp Koral prompted some conversations about the nature of timelines, canon and alternate realities in the series.

The concept is something that's been toyed with in the past in the series. You worked on Back to the Past, where time travel and alternate timelines is an important story element. Your comic strip, Bikini Bottom 2, also tapped into some unique sci-fi concepts with alternate dimensions, etc.

Have these concepts ever helped shape the way you looked at some of the series' Episodes, either ones you worked on, or ones you've watched? Is it something that you or the team ever liked to think about, even if that wasn't related with the direction an episode took? Have you ever written an episode that you thought of as being 'removed' from the main series for the sake of unique storytelling?

DM: I think we always saw issues of timeline as pretty flexible since the show is more episodic based vs. based on story arcs

We were always focused on the characters being consistent, i.e. that Krabs must behave like Krabs, etc. but I don't recall too many discussions about continuity

If something was established in previous episodes, we would try to keep it consistent though. I don't want to misrepresent and give the impression that we didn't care about continuity

I hope that answers the question

Deleted User asks: What was the process behind designing some setpieces in Atlantis Squarepantis? It had a lot of neat visual elements (things like the bus and it's CG interior, the dr. mario sequence, etc.)

Since it was a special that the network took particular interest in, there was a lot of attention given to the designs in Atlantis SquarePantis

As a writer, I can't speak to it too much, but I know for example, that Robertryan Cory used graph paper and hand animated the video game sequence

Nickelodeon has (or had) a CG department that would have been collaborating on the bus

That special represents months and months of design work

MednaTheFox asks: favorite character to write for?

DM: It's hard to choose but I love Patrick

Patrick's great because you can plumb new depths of dumb

No dumb is too dumb and he's still lovable

Also writing for Bill Fagerbaake is such a treat because he can pull off anything as an actor -- incredibly talented -- and also one of the nicest and warmest men I have ever met.

TheLemonaise asks: It’s interesting that one of the few things South Park hasn’t really touched is SpongeBob. Considering you’ve worked on both, do you know if  Matt and Trey like the little yellow guy?

DM: I'm not sure how aware they are of SpongeBob. I did hear Trey note that it looked like it took a lot of inspiration from Ren and Stimpy, which is true.

SpongeBob also shared some key crew members with Ren and Stimpy like Vincent Waller, Chris Reccardi and much later Lynne Naylor-Reccardi

I'm no fan of John K.'s but he assembled an AMAZING group of mega star artists

Richard Pursel and Robertryan Cory also had previously worked at Spumco

I'm sure others that I'm not remembering

QTVNickBro asks: If you had the chance then would you return to the SpongeBob team?

DM: I'm working on THE MIGHTY ONES for Hulu now and I love it. I also worked on HARVEY BEAKS and LITTLE BIG AWESOME and wouldn't give up those experiences for anything. I think they're all great shows and I've been so lucky to work on shows like those

That said, I would welcome any opportunity to work on SPONGEBOB again or with that crew if I was available

ThePixarlampDude asks: How was your experience with C.H. Greenblatt when you worked on Harvey Beaks?

DM: In person, C.H. is known as Carl and he is one of my favorite people. He also assembled a crew of mega stars. Working on that show was a special experience, one of the best of my life.

Carl is warm, supportive, but mostly one of the funniest people I know. I am so excited for JELLYSTONE. I can't wait

He really encouraged a very collaborative process on HARVEY BEAKS. Everyone's input was valued

I've never seen a show runner be so open to discussion and even criticism. Carl has such a healthy sense of self that he's never threatened if someone has a different idea about how to handle something

And yet he's still the most creative person in the room with the best ideas

And man, can that guy draw

Luke Vaughn asks: What was the inspiration behind the idea for the episode "Krusty Dogs"? (Ik there's someone in this server who always asks about this ep so you're welcome.)

DM: That one came from thinking about the elements of the show and the characters and wondering what was possible

So I figured that Krabs is always looking to make more with less

Also I was surprised to discover we had never done anything with hot dogs

Somehow I realized it would take half the "meat" to make a single hot dog so it followed that if someone (SpongeBob) accidentally discovered that, it would be very interesting to Mr. Krabs

SpongeBob innocently shares his discover with Krabs, but once Krabs realizes he could charge the same price two time for the same resources, he wouldn't look back

SpongeBob meanwhile loves making KRABBY PATTIES so all the fun of the job would be taken away from this "innovation"

There's probably a commentary about capitalism in there somewhere subconsciously. There often is

Writing for 11 minute cartoons is often about trying to find a very simple, easy to grasp conflict that will drive the main character of the story to try anything to overcome this new situation

Naturally SpongeBob would do anything to get the Krusty Krab to resume making Krabby Patties so it was a viable story for us

I guess also hot dogs are funny looking

Deleted User asks: What was your relationship with the musicians (jeremy wakefield, sage guyton, nick carr) when working on musical themed episodes, and what was it like working with them?

DM: Unfortunately I had no working interactions since music was always added later in the process. I met those guys at the crew Christmas parties and they were always super nice

Firesanti (kind of) asks: what was your first writing job?

DM: I did some writing on reality TV shows and got paid by film school friends and others to write screenplays, but since those scripts were never picked up by studios, the money was never enough to do it full time

The reality TV was always as part of another job (either researcher or associate producing) so the first full time writing gig was South Park

Actually I also did a little bit of internet journalism for a website called Creative Planet, which reported on media technology

hydratedmate asks: Which was your favorite episode of south park you worked on?

DM: Woodland Critter Christmas

On South Park, I was a writing consultant, so I didn't do any actual typing. I was just in the writing room pitching ideas

It was an amazing first job and I learned a lot but probably had little right to be there

I was really green

I also loved Douche and Turd

Those guys are amazing geniuses

MednaTheFox asks: Are there any specific cut scenes you remember?

DM: Nothing springs to mind

Usually cuts would be made at the board process or in animatics, which is different from shooting live action. Often most of what gets animated makes it into the final cartoon

owenwhaley asks: What was it like to go from writing for South Park to SpongeBob? I'd imagine it was quite the adjustment!

DM: It was a big adjustment but I was so green that I didn't even know!

I was only pitching ideas and jokes on South Park and I had to hit the ground typing out stories on SpongeBob so that was actually the biggest difference

Also it took a little getting used to figuring out what was okay for kids TV. That

is something that I'm still learning!

One thing that was surprising is that the senses of humor of everyone working on both shows was actually very similar

Kids show crews are just as ribald behind the scenes, they just have to reign it in a little for their audiences

Oswarudo asks: Is there any jokes you wanted to include in an episode but couldn't ?

DM: Probably many jokes. I can only remember that I wanted to have some more ventriloquist specific jokes in SQUID WOOD, but it's probably better that they weren't included because kids wouldn't necessarily get ventriloquist references.

Thank you @ThePickleMan This was very fun! Thanks very much everyone! I should probably get back to work but if anyone has more questions, please feel free to hit me up on Twitter: @danimichaeli1

I really appreciate the opportunity to babble about my experiences!

PickleMan: thanks for answering our questions! we appreciate it