I saw the video of the Robot Chicken Comic-Con panel recently.  In it, there appears to be a fight as to who wrote the popular Star Wars emperor phone call sketch.  If you haven’t seen the sketch yet, watch it — it’s pretty damn funny.  It’s the one where Darth Vader calls the Emperor to tell him that the Death Star blew up.

Here’s the debate.  Douglas Goldstein and Breckin Meyer both claim they wrote the sketch.  Doug is one of the two Head Writers of Robot Chicken (along with Tom Root) and Breckin is a writer and actor on the show as well (and you may also know him as the star of such major motion pictures as Garfield and Herbie Fully Loaded).

Now I was also a staff writer on Robot Chicken at the time the sketch was written, so I think that qualifies me to speak about the situation.  Here’s the broad strokes of how it went down, at least from my own recollections.  Doug got the idea for the sketch and wrote a couple drafts of it.  However, it just wasn’t popping enough.  The sketch was passed to Breckin to punch it up and he did a great job punching it up.  Each of us then added our own punch up as well.

So who wrote the sketch?  Was it Doug, or was it Breckin, as Breckin claims?  Now if Breckin had claimed that he co-wrote the sketch, I think he would have a possible case there.  However, he seems to be claiming that he was the sole writer, and that just seems ludicrous to me.  Doug was the first writer — he was the one who had the idea and he was the one who wrote the first draft.  The first writer is always given strong weight, and rightfully so, because he’s the one who created something from nothing.  When credits are considered, later writers only get added when they make significant contributions, but even when new names are added, that doesn’t mean the first writer’s name is taken off.  So there’s no question in my mind that Doug’s name belongs there as a writer of the sketch, and the question then becomes should he still be considered sole writer or should he be co-writer together with Breckin?

I honestly don’t know how it would be ruled if it ever went to some kind of arbitration (and actually it’s a moot point since Robot Chicken isn’t covered by the Writers Guild).  Doug’s idea for the sketch and the broad written structure of the sketch remained unchanged throughout.  However, Breckin did a truly fine job at punching up the dialogue, making the sketch flow a lot smoother, and adding in some new funny bits along the way.  In fact, in my very brief time working with Breckin, there were two things that came across to me more than anything: 1. He’s an excellent punch-up person.  2. He almost certainly has ADHD.  I have a feeling the two are related.

So, yeah, I absolutely believe Breckin earned the right to be mentioned in regard to who wrote the emperor phone call sketch.  Either officially as a co-writer, or more likely unofficially as a punch-up person.  But certainly NOT as the sole writer.  That’s ridiculous.

I guess, as is the case with all aspects of life, it is easy to focus on your own contributions and downplay the contributions of others.  Of course, since I wrote the emperor’s bleeped swearing part, as well as the “I love you too” ending of the sketch — and the end of a sketch is arguably the most important aspect of a sketch — then I guess the real answer to the question of who wrote the Star Wars emperor phone call sketch is… ME.  :-)

Case closed.