So, how did the TV show South Park come about? Well, it goes back to the animated short: The Spirit of Christmas.
In, 1992, University of Colorado film students Trey Parker and Matt Stone.created the animated short; Jesus vs. Frosty - which pitted the beloved holiday character again Jesus. That set their career rolling - but there were a few hurdles on the way.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone met in film class at the University of Colorado in 1992. Though Stone was a math major and Parker was a music major, they got along great and found they had the same sense of humor.
While working on other students' films, Parker and Stone past the time by doing silly voices to amuse each other.
Said Parker: "We would always talk like these little kids and make each other laugh." They messed around with these kid characters for a full year before they ever thought to commit anything to film.
Parker first used the South Park construction cut out animation style on an earlier short called American History
American History won Parker's animated college film won a Student Academy Award.
in 1992. Parker said that students from prestigious animation schools who had produced works of a higher artistic caliber and were "fuming" that he won.
Parker's first film was in 1989 and titled Giant Beavers of Southern Sri Lanka, which was a spoof of Godzilla movies.
Always into music, Parker produced a comedy album around the same time called: Immature: A Collection of Love Ballads for the '80s Man.
In 1992, Stone and Parker, founded a production company called Avenging Conscience which was named after a D.W. Griffith film they actively disliked. The duo would shoot a film short every week (though most are now lost.
After filming the feature-length student film CannibaL: The Musical - Parker and Stone moved to Los Angeles. Though they had many fans in the film industry, they spent a couple of years struggling to get by.
Then came Jesus vs. Santa...
Fox executive, Brian Graden, cut Parker and Stone a personal check to produce a video greeting card so he could give it to Hollywood industry friends. The short was a sequel to their student short Jesus vs. Frosty. Meanwhile, someone digitized the short and posted on the Internet; making it the very first viral videos.
Because of the buzz, Parker and Stone began negotiations with both MTV and Comedy Central. Parker, though, feared MTV would turn it into a kids' show. Comedy Central executive Doug Herzog watched the short, and commissioned the development of the short into a series.
And the rest, my friends, is South Park history...