22 Short Stories from Gravity Falls - Story 21: Enter the Hirsch

Summary: This is a different story to the other ones. This story is based off both real and made up events. This story follows Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch on a series of events one evening when his show gets renewed for a 2nd season. It's different, bizarre, but one story I really hope you'll enjoy.

Table of Contents for this project

Cover Art by Lucas Schneider on Tumblr.

Story 21: Enter the Hirsch

March 13th, 2013

Gravity Falls main production offices at Disney Television Animation in Glendale, California

“Guess who has two thumbs and just got picked up for a second season?”

*Tweet sent*

“Alright then, if that covers it all, then I guess we’re done.”

The room cheered with applause as the people at the meeting got up and celebrated. It was a joyous occasion indeed as Gravity Falls, Disney Channel’s newest and rapidly successful cartoon, had just been picked up for a second season.

But while many of the people at the meeting were celebrating and excited, there was one man who wasn’t as much as the others. As Alex Hirsch walked out of that meeting, the success of his creation was the last thing on his mind. Making sure it stayed true to his vision was what he really was nervous of.

“Hey Alex!” yelled someone from a desk, “You’re wanted in the writer’s room.”

“On it,” he replied.

“Alex!” yelled another member of the team as she ed by, “The Deep End is airing in like two days and S&P needs your input on some last-minute adjustments.”

Alex sighed, “Can it wait until later tonight? I’ve got a meeting with the writers right now.”

“Eleven the latest Hirsch!” she said as she left to let them know.

Alex sighed as he walked into the writer’s room where his team was waiting.

“Thanks for being here after hours again,” said Alex.

“Uh, Alex?” said Zach Paez, one of the writers, “We still have another two hours before quitting time.”

Alex facepalmed, “Sorry. I…I’m just running on barely four hours of sleep right now.” He grabbed himself a coffee, took a sip and then continued, “I’m sure you heard the exciting news. The show got picked up for a second season.”

The writers all clapped in excitement. Alex forced a smile before telling them to quiet down.

“We got a long road ahead of us. Especially since you guys…and only you guys know that this season will be the last. Now, I don’t want anyone telling that to anyone else until it’s appropriate. The last thing I need is thousands of fans begging me to rethink without knowing why it’s ending.”

The writers all nodded.

“Okay then. I asked you all to come up with ideas we may use for the second season. Lay them on me.”

The writers all stood up and took turns saying their ideas.

“How about for the season premiere, we have Dipper and Mabel discovering a major clue that will help them find the author?”

“Hmm,” said Alex, “Well, maybe we could start with a minor detail, but not something major. Given how long I feel this hiatus will be, we need to bring fans back into the action and reintroduce the characters, not throw a major hint. Though, I’d keep that for consideration.”

Another writer stood up, “How about in episode one of season two, we have the twins battle some sort of major threat which makes Stan acknowledge that he knows Gravity Falls is a weird place.”

Alex pondered as he wrote the idea onto a white board, “I like it. But what might that threat be?”

“I…I had a few ideas. Maybe a monster, or a rival group of paranormal hunters. Maybe Dipper himself does something which backfires.”

Alex wrote all the ideas on the board, “Well, I definitely see potential there. Iron those ideas out by the time of the next meeting and we can go further into it. Anyone else?”

Another writer stood up, “I was thinking that maybe in of the romance side, we need to close the Dipper loving Wendy thing, ASAP. You said it yourself that you wished we did less of it during season one. So, I was thinking that maybe we can have just one more episode dedicated to it which kills the ship.”

Alex laughed, “You guys sure do pay attention to Tumblr a lot by the looks of things?”

They all nodded.

“Don’t worry. I do too…given I wanna know the moment they’ve cracked some important plot line so we can take action. Though, right now everyone is still waiting for more episodes. Anyways…yeah, I think that’s an important thing. It needs to be natural though, not forced. It has to close it but not be a sort of fan service to people who dislike it.”

“Yeah,” said the writer, “I’ll come up with some ideas and get back to you.”

“Good,” said Alex, “Well, we’ll talk more in the morning.”

The writers all got up and began to leave. At that moment, one of the newer writers, Jeffrey Rowe looked back and noticed Alex wasn’t looking as pleased as he thought he would. He approached him.

“Uh, excuse me, Alex,” he said.

“Oh, uh, yes…Jeff?” he replied.

“I just wanted to ask if you’re good. You look a bit stressed.”

“Oh, no, I…I’m fine. It’s just…on one hand I’m really excited about this second season. I mean, the mouse liked my show enough to want more and I’m excited but…it’s just so much work! I had to sleep in my office last night as I was juggling scripts and meetings and phone calls and emails and…yeah…it’s fun, but stressful.”

Jeff gave Alex a pat on the back, “Yeah, making a show isn’t easy, especially a cartoon. What with the writing, voice acting, art, deadlines and stuff. But the end result is something magical. And I think the fans really have made all that hard work pay off.”

Alex smiled, “I know. It’s just a lot of work. But I’d rather do it all than let it fall into the wrong hands.”

“Well, don’t forget to have some fun along the way Alex,” said Jeff, “If that means taking a break, then I’d say go for it.”

The two then walked away to their offices. Alex walked to his office and as expected; his PO box was filled to the brim with letters.

“Hey Mike!” he yelled.

“Yes?!” yelled Mike Rianda from his office.

“I told you not to dump memos in my PO box anymore cause of the fan mail!”

“Well, you weren’t there when I needed to drop it off so where else was it gonna go?!”

Alex sighed as he picked the letters out of this PO box and carried them into his office. He threw them onto his desk and sat down. He turned on his computer and checked his inbox. There were multiple emails he needed to read.

“Well, there goes my chance of getting sleep tonight,” he said.

Alex looked at the pile of fan mail sitting on his desk, “Eh, maybe they’ll get me through the night.”

He opened the first letter. As he had come to expect, it was from someone who claimed to be his biggest fan. They said how much they liked the show and the episodes and maybe there was some fanart, but Alex was now used to seeing the same old stuff. He was touched by them of course, but he longed for some change. He wanted a twist on the normal and stressful life he was leading. Making a cartoon was not the prancing around Disneyland he had thought. There was a lot more work, deadlines, arguments and sleepless nights involved.

He looked over to a season 1 poster which hung on his wall, “I wish I was living your life for a day, Dipper and Mabel.”

Alex skimmed through the fan mail as quickly as he could. He was about to call up S&P and say he was coming in to review the new episode with them, when he spotted a letter sitting on the floor. He sighed as he picked it up and read the message on it.

“From you #1 fan!”

Alex chuckled, “number one fan number two hundred and eight.”

But as he opened the letter and began to read it, things changed…

Dear: Alex Hirsch,

I’m 10 years old and live in Denver Colorado. I cannot express to you how much Gravity Falls means to me. Watching it has been an absolute joy. My mom said it would be a miracle if you read this but I still wanted to try to send you a letter given your show really means so much to me.

But it means a lot more to my 8-year-old younger brother. He loves it more than you can ever imagine. You see, he’s been in and out of hospital a lot. He’s had problems and weird things that I can’t pronounce. He’s even lost all his hair. My mom tells me it’s part of the treatment that’ll make him better. But he often gets bored while resting and likes watching the TV. He especially loves Gravity Falls. We’ve watched all the episodes so far together from his hospital bed. I’ve never seen him laugh and smile as much as he’s done while watching Gravity Falls. I guess it’s cause he always compares me to Mabel and himself to Dipper. He always likes acting more mature for his age than I do. Watching Gravity Falls has helped him get by some really tough times. It always cheers him up before he heads off to his next…well, I can’t pronounce it. But it has the word therapy in it.

For example, the night before one of his last surgeries, we both watched Gravity Falls until he had to go to bed and right before he left too. The first thing he asked me when he woke up the next day after it was if we could watch it again. And we did. He’s at home now and getting better, but he still loves watching Gravity Falls over and over again. I even surprised him by telling him I was writing this letter. I also included some drawings he made while in the hospital for you to enjoy. I know you’re really busy, but I hope this puts a smile on your face. Because your show sure did put one on him.

Please never stop being awesome. I can’t wait for more episodes. My brother of course, can’t wait at all.

Love, Sarah and Andy

That letter didn’t make Alex smile. It made him tear up. As he wiped the tears away, he looked at the drawings behind the letter. They were of Dipper and Mabel, Stan, Waddles and other characters. They weren’t the best, but to him, they meant the world.

He immediately grabbed a pen and paper and began writing. He wrote a response and even included some original artwork in it. He then put it into an envelop, wrote the return address onto it, and ran off to the mail room to have it mailed out that night.

“Make sure this one gets to where it’s going,” he told the mailman.

Sitting in his office, Alex had many thoughts racing through his mind. He couldn’t understand why out of the many fan letters he’d received and read, this one stood out.

Was it the touching story? Was it the fact two siblings had grown closer thanks to seeing his show? Was it the artwork, knowing it was drawn by a child who had been seriously ill? Whatever the reason, the same response in Alex’s mind raced by.

“I have to finish this show,” he said, “Even if it kills me.”

He looked at the clock. It was getting late. He knew that if he was going to finish Gravity Falls, he needed to be in the right place of mind. And being stressed in an office with only his thoughts wasn’t going to get it done. He picked up the phone and began making phone calls.

“Look, I know it’s last minute, but please just come!” he yelled, “It’ll be fun.”

“Yes, I know about the meeting on Sunday. We’ll be back before that.”

“Well, tell S&P to review it themselves! What do they think…I’m gonna purposely scar children with bleeding animal eyes or something for fun?!”

“Okay, thanks. Talk to you later. Bye Ariel.”

----

March 14th, 2013

“MYSTERY TOUR 2013! My 4-day crew road trip to find the weirdest tourist traps in Oregon officially starts... NOW!”

*Tweet Sent*

It wasn’t easy. But Alex had managed to convince the executives to let him and his crew go on a 4-day long road trip right through the Pacific Northwest. It was not only to allow the crew to get a feel for the place in preparation for season 2, but also a way for Alex to take a break.

“Wow Alex,” said Jeffrey Rowe, “You’re looking a lot better from yesterday.”

“Thanks,” replied Alex, “I guess a good night’s sleep helped.”

“Yeah. I guess you took my advice.”

“What do you mean?”

“The sudden break and all. Not normally a thing I’d see Alex Hirsch doing.”

Alex laughed, “Well, Alex Hirsch likes mixing it up every now and then. And besides, the fans have given the show so much and love. The least I can do is finish it to the best of my ability. And…I can’t do that if I’m so overwhelmed. I want to go into season 2 with the hopes to make it the best it can be. And for that, I need a rest.”

Jeff smiled, “Well, I’m proud of you Alex. Now come on. Let’s go.”

Alex laughed, “Hey, I’m still your boss. You follow me.”

The two laughed as they climbed into the van with the rest of the crew. Before leaving, Alex took his Grunkle Stan fez off, and put it on the dashboard next to the Dipper hat. He looked back at the Disney headquarters.

“See you soon guys,” he said, as him and the Gravity Falls crew embarked on their 4-day long adventure into the world that the show they worked on was set it.

#GravityFalls

#fanfiction

#curatorreview

#fanfic

#22shortstories

#AlexHirsch