Summer 2004 - BMI.com

AIM FOR THE HIGHEST COM-
MON DENOMINATOR WITH
YOUR COLLABORATOR . We
decided early on that we would
only keep things that we both like.
That way, neither of us ever has to
feel “I hate that part, but he liked
it, ugh, I still hate it.” We both trust
that if one of us doesn’t like something,
it’s probably not as strong as
something that both of us do like.
It also ensures that we’re both
100% pleased with the result.
Instead of being upset that we had
to cut something because the other
guy didn’t like it, we actually are
glad there are two of us to edit. It
makes what we write together better
than what either of us could
write alone.
HOW WE SPLIT THINGS UP.
We don’t. We don’t do any work
unless we’re together in the same
room, at the same time. That way
neither of us has the inevitable
emotional disappointment that
comes from working on something
for six hours and having the other
guy hear it once and go, “Eh, I
don’t love it.” If one of us doesn’t
like the direction something is
going in, we can cut it off at the
pass, and go down another road
together. Then we both feel ownership
over the whole thing and
there are no hurt feelings from
someone having his work jettisoned.
BE FLEXIBLE: We’d never have
made it to Broadway if we hadn’t
been flexible and open to the random
events that occur during the
development of a project:
We started out wanting to write
musical theatre that would solidly
connect with a mainstream audience
—not just people who already
appreciate musicals. We decided
that the way we would accomplish
that was to (1) be funny, and (2)
have puppets sing (instead of
humans breaking out into song
and spooking “normal” people
out). So we started writing a Muppet
Movie on spec. When we were
invited to perform one of the
songs in the BMI Showcase/Smoker,
we decided it might be a good
time to try and get a real Muppeteer
to perform the song.
Through friends, we found Rick
Lyon, who came in and blew
everyone away, performing with a
Kermit the Frog puppet. Meeting
Rick and witnessing his amazing
talents, we became determined to
work with him again. So after
much brainstorming, we came up
with the idea of Avenue Q, but as a
TV show. When we put up a reading,
asking everyone we knew to
put us in touch with any contacts
they had in television, theater producers
(producers of Rent, and
others) came up to us and asked if
we’d be interested in adapting
what we had into a musical for the
stage instead of TV. Without more
than three second’s delay, we said
sure. We were also co-writing the
book, with a bookwriter who’s no
longer with the project. Saying
goodbye to him and working with
another co-bookwriter required
almost more flexibility than we
had. But we did it. And then when
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