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Read the email the creator of 'BoJack Horseman' wrote to convince his Netflix bosses to approve one of the show's most experimental episodes

Mr. Tatyana Bellamy Walker   

Read the email the creator of 'BoJack Horseman' wrote to convince his Netflix bosses to approve one of the show's most experimental episodes
bojack horseman

Netflix

The creator of "BoJack Horseman" had to convince Netflix to greenlight the famous silent episode.

  • "BoJack Horseman" premiered its last episodes on Friday. Debuting in 2014, the show documents the life of a depressed actor (who is also a horse) as he navigates Hollywood. The series has become one of the longest-running shows on Netflix.
  • In 2016, the series' creator, Raphael Bob-Waksberg, tweeted out the email he used to convince Netflix higher-ups to approve an episode that was mostly silent. Several critics have since called that chapter one of the best episodes in TV history.
  • Bob-Waksberg's email is a testament to pitching your next proposal. The creator landed a "yes" by highlighting the idea's value to his boss.
  • Click here for more BI Prime content.

Friday marked the end of the beloved Netflix series "BoJack Horseman."

Launching in 2014, the cartoon highlighted the misadventures of a depressed celebrity horse living in Hollywood. As one of the platform's longest-running shows, the series has been acclaimed as one the best animated shows of all time. Last year, the series even landed an Emmy nomination.

In 2016, show creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg tweeted out the exact email he used to convince Netflix higher-ups to greenlight one of the show's most famous episodes. Airing during season three, the episode "Fish Out of Water" followed the titular character as he reunited an infant seahorse with its parent - and it was almost completely silent.

Bob-Waksberg knew having a silent episode would be a big gamble, so he sent a pitch to his bosses detailing exactly why they should green light the project. In the email, he highlighted what he called "fun facts": successful projects such as "Shaun the Sheep" and Pixar's "Wall-E" that had nontalking protagonist or long stretches of silence. He also pointed out the overwhelmingly positive praise for these films on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes to prove that mostly-silent media could be successful.

"Sometimes when you want to do something new and challenging some people in charge might need some convincing," Bob-Waksberg wrote on his Twitter feed. "In my experience, it is always worth taking the time to convince those people."

This strategy can also lead to success in your workplace. By showing that similar projects have been profitable for competitors, you can prove to your boss that the idea has value.

With that in mind, Jocelyn Glei, author of "Unsubscribe: How to Kill Email Anxiety, Avoid Distractions, and Get Real Work Done," advises you add all the information your boss needs upfront to make a decision. Also, you want to propose solutions and potentially cover any issues that might arise from the idea, Business Insider previously reported.

Here's the full email Bob-Waksberg sent to executives in 2015, which he then tweeted out in 2016.

All of these "fun facts" eventually gave Bob-Waksberg the "yes" he hoped for.

Six seasons later, "Fish Out of Water" is still referred to as one of the greatest episodes of TV ever made.

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