The Spirit of Christmas was the 1995 animated short film that launched South Park. In 1992, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, then students at the University of Colorado, made Jesus vs. Frosty (also known as The Spirit of Christmas), in which four young boys make a snowman which comes to life and begins to kill them off. Parker and Stone animated the film using only construction paper, glue, and a very old camera, and premiered the film at the December 1992 student film screening.

In 1995, having taken an interest in Parker and Stone's film Cannibal! The Musical after its appearance at the Sundance Film Festival, Fox Network television executive Brian Graden paid them $2000 to make another animated short as a video Christmas card he could send to friends. In turn, the duo created The Spirit of Christmas, where Jesus and Santa Claus square off over the true meaning of the holiday, only to be reconciled by Brian Boitano and the four boys who would later be the stars of South Park. The film reportedly had a budget of $750, with Parker and Stone keeping the rest of their commission.

Graden initially distributed the video to 80 friends in December 1995. After months of being passed around on bootleg video and the Internet, the film caught the attention of cable television network Comedy Central. The network hired the pair to develop South Park, which premiered in the USA on August 13, 1997.

External links

• South Park Studios: How it all Began
• South Park Studios: Creator Bios
• Spirit of Christmas Official Distribution Site, including transcript