Gracie Films

Gracie Films logo

Gracie Films is a Californian film and television production company, created by James L. Brooks in 1986. The company has produced many award-winning films and television series, including, Big, Broadcast News, Jerry Maguire, and most notably The Simpsons. The company is primarily associated with film studio and distributor Sony Pictures Entertainment, but it still has an office at the 20th Century Fox lot as The Simpsons is still produced there.

History

James L. Brooks created the production company with the help of 20th Century Fox in 1986, which was named after the comedian Gracie Allen. The company was established to "provide real writers with a vehicle to get their movies made". Through the company, Brooks gave The Simpsons free rein when it came to writing the series, as he firmly believed they were the most important part of the process. Indie, Inc described it as "James L. Brooks and Polly Platt's production company, Gracie Films, which had a relationship with Columbia."

Simpsons Confidential said that "It's important to note that in the legal battles over The Simpsons, it was Fox that was being sued, not Gracie Films".

Beyond Monopoly also said that "FOX and Gracie Films (co-producers of the series [The Simpsons] have paid to every phase of the show's international distribution". Since When Is Fran Drescher Jewish? explained: "In Italy, in particular, Gracie Films has worked in collaboration with Mediaset (the local distributor of The Simpsons) to find voices for dubbing that would match those of the original American actors as closely as possible."

Location

The company's production office is located in the Sidney Poitier Building on the Sony Pictures Studios lot in Culver City, California.

Animation

The Gracie Films animation depicts whispering and even noisy movie patrons in a theater being shushed by a woman so the company's name accompanied by music and a blue background can be seen and heard.

Some special versions of the company's animation were made to fit episodes of shows like The Simpsons, for example playing the jingle in a minor key with a pipe organ, and replacing the hush with a scream in the Treehouse of Horror anthology specials. Often, dialogue from characters can be heard during the animation, sometimes in response to the shushing.

Television shows

Title	Creator(s)	Years active	Co-Produced by
The Tracey Ullman Show	James L. Brooks, Jerry Belson, Ken Estin, Heide Perlman	1987–1990	20th Century Fox Television
The Simpsons	Matt Groening	1989–present	20th Century Fox Television, Film Roman
Sibs	Heide Perlman	1991–1992	Columbia Pictures Television
Phenom	Sam Simon, Dick Blasucci, Marc Flanagan	1993–1994	Columbia Pictures Television, ELP Communications
The Critic	Al Jean, Mike Reiss	1994–1995	Columbia Pictures Television
What About Joan?	Ed. Weinberger	2001–2002	Columbia TriStar Television

Films

Title	Director	Released	Co-Produced by
Broadcast News	James L. Brooks	December 16, 1987	20th Century Fox
Big	Penny Marshall	June 3, 1988	20th Century Fox
Say Anything...	Cameron Crowe	April 14, 1989	20th Century Fox
The War of the Roses	Danny DeVito	December 8, 1989	20th Century Fox
I'll Do Anything	James L. Brooks	February 4, 1994	Columbia Pictures
Bottle Rocket	Wes Anderson	February 21, 1996	Columbia Pictures, Indian Paintbrush
Jerry Maguire	Cameron Crowe	December 16, 1996	TriStar Pictures, Vinyl Films
As Good as It Gets	James L. Brooks	December 25, 1997	TriStar Pictures
Riding in Cars with Boys	Penny Marshall	October 19, 2001	Columbia Pictures
Spanglish	James L. Brooks	December 17, 2004	Columbia Pictures
The Simpsons Movie	David Silverman	July 27, 2007	20th Century Fox, Film Roman, Rough Draft Studios, AKOM
How Do You Know	James L. Brooks	December 17, 2010	Columbia Pictures
Besties	Kelly Fremon	September 30, 2016	STX Entertainment

External links

• Official website
• Gracie Films at the Internet Movie Database