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The exec sent the video out at Christmas 1995 to 80 people, who promptly made it their card as well. And so on. "By February, we were hearing about it from every state, friends of friends in New York were telling us 'Metallica saw your video and they loved it.' We'd never bothered to put our name on it, so the whole thing came full circle when a friend from Ohio sent us a copy and said, 'You've got to see this.' "
Though their career as live-action filmmakers had already started (their "Cannibal the Musical" was a Sundance midnight show that was picked up by Troma), this short put them into orbit. "First everyone was trying to figure out who we were, and then there was like a little bidding war going on, studios offering three-picture deals." The team sold Comedy Central a series called "South Park," based on the shopping mall world "Christmas" takes place in, and they're about to go into production with a full-length animated feature. The budget: $1.5 million. "Pretty amazing," Parker says, and who's going to argue?
Spirit Of Christmas Script
History
It started when a Fox executive that Trey Parker and Matt Stone had met through contacts made at Sundance Film Festival gave them $2,000 to make a video he could send as a Christmas card. "I did the animation using construction paper cutouts," Parker says, "and we both improvised the dialogue, screaming obscenities at each other in my basement while my mom was baking fudge upstairs. It cost $750 and we pocketed the rest."