Gracie Films

James L. Brooks, who had previously founded John Charles Walters Company, founded Gracie Films at 20th Century Fox on January 4, 1986, with Polly Platt as executive vice president. Named for comedian Gracie Allen, the company was established to "provide real writers with a vehicle to get their movies made".^[3] Its primary distributor is currently Sony Pictures Entertainment, though it continues to produce The Simpsons at Fox's studio in Century City, Los Angeles.

According to Simpsons Confidential, Brooks gave The Simpsons' writing staff free rein, as he firmly believed they were the most important part of the process,^[4] and "in the legal battles over The Simpsons, it was Fox that was being sued, not Gracie Films".^[5] The company also coordinates international distribution and dubbing for The Simpsons,^[6] "[finding] voices for dubbing that would match those of the original American actors as closely as possible."^[7] Gracie Films’ main production office is at the Sidney Poitier building on the Sony Pictures Studios lot in Culver City, California. In 1989, Gracie Films had struck a deal with ABC.^[8]

Gracie Films' production logo depicts noisy patrons in a movie theatre being shushed by a woman in the back row, while the theatre lights dim out and the company logo appears on a projector. This is occasionally changed or parodied in episodes of The Simpsons,^[9] particularly in the annual Treehouse of Horror Halloween episodes.^{[10][better source needed]}