01x06 - Robert Lopez & The Art of Songwriting

[bunniefuu]

[MUSIC PLAYING]

JOE QUESADA: I worked at Marvel for almost two decades.

But before I was editor and chief,

and even before I was working in comics, I was a musician.

It wasn't comics, but it paid the bills.

And music and comics, they have a ton in common.

They both need a tempo, strong bridges,

and build to crescendos before the very last note or page.

I'm, Joe Quesada, and I tell stories for a living.

Welcome to Marvel Storyboards.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Meet Robert Lopez

I'm in New York City's Times Square, no stranger

to the pages of Marvel comics.

Today I'm meeting with songwriter, Robert Lopez,

to share our love of music and storytelling.

What are the chances of two New Yorkers actually

meeting in Times Square? - Are you from New York?

I'm from New York. We never come here, right?

Right.

Oh, you come here for work.

You might not know Bobby by name,

but you definitely know his work.

He co-created Book of Mormon, Avenue Q,

and wrote the music for Frozen.

There isn't a single New Yorker here by the way.

Except for the people in the costumes.

Those are New Yorkers.

JOE QUESADA: Yes.

And they're here, and they're hustling for money.

Oh, look at that. Hey, Spider-Man.

How are you?

How's it going?

Pleasure to meet you.

One, two, three.

Thanks, buddy.

Appreciate it.

So I was there on opening night for Frozen.

I didn't realize that, and I wish that I had met you then.

I'd seen you from afar, but I'm like, he's an EGOT winner.

Is that why no one talks to me?

Pretty much.

Bobby is in an exclusive club.

He's an EGOT winner.

That's people who've won an Emmy,

a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony.

And Bobby is the only person to do it twice,

usually with his frequent collaborator and wife,

Kristen Anderson- Lopez.

What are your earliest memories of Broadway?

What was your first play?

Chorus Line, which is not appropriate for kids.

It's got all kinds of language. JOE QUESADA: Yeah.

ROBERT LOPEZ: It's just all, yeah,

I had no idea what I was watching.

But we're from New York.

I'm just slightly older than you.

It was a very different Times Square.

The new Amsterdam Theater, right there,

had some awesome kungfu movies.

Everything else, not so awesome.

I have dim memories of it because my dad

would bring me to an arcade--

- Playland! - Playland, yeah.

- Playland! - Was that here?

There was a Playland right over there.

ROBERT LOPEZ: Do you remember just how

loud the subway used to be-- JOE QUESADA: Yes.

ROBERT LOPEZ: --and how-- JOE QUESADA: Graffiti covered?

ROBERT LOPEZ: Graffiti covered. Yeah.

That was kind of cool.

JOE QUESADA: That was one of the most dangerous

times in New York City.

There is no place like that in America anymore.

JOE QUESADA: Yeah. I kind of miss it.

Yeah.

I really do kind of miss it.

Tell me about your experiences growing up in New York.

Where did you grow up exactly?

We lived in a place called, Washington Square Village,

which is almost like two skyscrapers across the way

from each other, and a little playground in the middle.

And that's where I was Spider-Man and the Hulk

and all those guys.

JOE QUESADA: I grew up in Jackson Heights Queens,

10 minutes way from where Peter Parker lived.

And from the minute I knew that this Manhattan thing existed,

all I wanted to do was get out of Jackson Heights Queens.

So I spent the majority of my wayward youth,

dreaming about living there.

There you were!

That was a mecca for bands and music

and some of the greatest clubs, rock clubs, of all time

were there.

Did you experience any of that stuff in your youth?

None of it. JOE QUESADA: None of it.

I was totally, totally square and a musical theater kid

growing up.

So you missed out on the whole scene.

I did.

I was there, in my parents house,

playing some probably show tunes.

Oh, my god.

We would never have run into each other then.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Have you ever done a pedicab?

Not in New York.

Want to do a pedicab?

Yeah.

You do?

[MUSIC PLAYING]

ROBERT LOPEZ: There's just not a lot between you and the cars.

JOE QUESADA: No, this is about as al fresco as you can get.

ROBERT LOPEZ: It's death defying.

Oh, my god.

Look out for the truck.

This guys gutsy though.

Scaring the hell out of me.

JOE QUESADA: Right?

Working at Marvel over the years,

I've collaborated with tons of incredibly diverse talents.

From pencilers, anchors, colorists,

and of course writers.

So I'm curious to get another storytellers take on talent

and what it takes to make.

True or false, true talent does not go undiscovered.

True talent goes undiscovered a lot,

but that the true talent doesn't ever develop

without the persistence.

JOE QUESADA: You know I've had the privilege of discovering

talent in my lifetime.

And they come from all walks of life,

in all parts of the world.

And I just-- there's that one similar driving force, which

is that need to have your voice heard,

that need to have their talents seen at any cost.

For me, the challenge was really

learning how to collaborate.

That's what I love doing now more than anything.

I love opening up to that person,

letting them tell me what it is--

Go write music!

See?

Because you've got to be able to work with people that just say,

dude that-- that really-- that sucks.

I used to be the worst, yeah.

Oh, really?

That was tough for you?

I used to be defensive.

But then I turned a corner recently,

and I was like, you know what?

People are more important than this stuff.

If we treat each other with humanity,

then we come out with better stuff.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

JOE QUESADA: Now, this is the place you're

more comfortable with, correct?

MAN: For sure.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Interview

ROBERT LOPEZ: Nice.

JOE QUESADA: Let's grab a seat.

It's perfect.

ROBERT LOPEZ: Cheers.

I have a question for you?

JOE QUESADA: Yes?

ROBERT LOPEZ: Do you feel your stories

are being shaped by society, and then shaping society in return?

JOE QUESADA: Marvel's had a history

of always being as diverse as possible during times.

There were books like X-Men that came out,

which spoke in metaphor about diversity

and about being the minority and ostracized by society.

We can't help but reflect the world outside our window, not--

I think, to our audience, it would

be false and untrue and really not Marvel-like at all.

ROBERT LOPEZ: Yeah.

Musicals have been, so far, in the rear view of the culture

for so long, that what I like about them is that there's so

few stories-- there are still so many stories

to tell that haven't been tried, and now the handcuffs are off.

When you have to start that new composition,

that first composition, do to suffer writer's block?

Do you go through-- or do you not believe in writer's block?

You just plow through?

I used to suffer from it.

I think everyone does when they're starting out because I

think it's basically just hating everything

that you start to come up with.

And you have to let ideas come up,

and don't judge them right away.

And that's part of--

it becomes part of your habit.

And also working with someone that understands that too.

Someone that doesn't see a little small green

sh**t coming out of the ground and then stomp it.

JOE QUESADA: Right.

You want to work with people who are encouraging,

encouraging, let's throw all the ideas in the works.

But just be willing to k*ll your little darlings, right?

And then eventually. Oh, my gosh.

Yeah, that's the hardest part.

When you start to fall in love with your own creation

and then for some reason, usually in musicals

because the story changes, the song needs to go.

And you're like, oh, I've got to put it in the drawer.

So sad.

I've got to bury it.

Nobody loved it. ROBERT LOPEZ: Nobody loved it.

JOE QUESADA: That's perhaps, one of the interesting things, I

think, for young creators to learn.

You'll write something, and it may

not make the cut of the movie.

Failure is part of the creative process.

Failure is part-- for every great--

for every great piece, whether it's art, whether it's music,

whether it's performance-- there's a garbage

can filled with rejected ideas.

Bad songs.

Actually, it feels like 99% of what we do is failure,

and then there's 1% that's success.

And we're lucky when the world gets to see that 1%.

And also, if that one success happens to be a mega success.

Then it makes it all go down a lot easier.

So what's the first song you remember writing?

Oh, I wrote a song very early.

I had this piano teacher who was very different from most piano

teachers, in that I was seven years old

and yet he said, go home and write a short piece.

And I wrote a little song called, Oy They What a Day.

JOE QUESADA: Can we hear that?

Absolutely.

Let It Go

Oy, they, what a day.

The crops have not been fed.

Oh, they, what day, it's already time for bed.

Fantastic!

Thank you.

Seven years old?

I think it's like a kibbutz or something?

I'm not sure exactly what it's about.

I do want to talk to you a little bit

about your writing style and the thought you put into it.

Let It Go is your biggest hit.

Lyrically and structurally and musicality,

I think, it's just a perfect piece.

Thank you.

It really, really is.

You're starting in a minor key, correct?

So it starts in minor.

It starts in E-minor.

Very sad.

We knew that Idina Menzel, when she

sings in the low part of her range,

has a real frail vulnerability.

Yeah.

So when we wrote the song, we were

thinking of her as the villain.

So we wanted to write a song that took her

from a real disappointment to exaltation, freedom,

and then also left the idea open that maybe she

was a little off kilter, a little bit

coming outside the moral compass of a protagonist.

OK.

ROBERT LOPEZ: I think that's what people like about it too.

Don't let them, don't let them see--

et cetera.

Yeah.

But this major chord is just prepping us

for the chord we're getting to.

For the big one.

And we haven't played this chord yet.

Yep.

And so, that chord was very important.

That-- when it finally gets there,

you've been waiting for it the whole time.

It's the release.

It's the release, yeah.

This song has too wide of range for anyone to sing.

Yeah.

We tried to compress the range at one point,

and I suggested doing this.

Don't let them, don't let them see,

da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da.

Well, now they know.

Let it go, let it go.

And they were like, no!

Same thing.

No!

Don't let them in, don't let them see,

be the good girl you always have to be.

Conceal don't feel, don't let them know.

Well, now they know.

Let it go, let it go.

Can't hold it back anymore.

Let it go, let it go.

Turn away and slam the door.

I don't care what they're going to say.

Let the storm rage on.

The cold never bothered me anyway.

[APPLAUSE]

That's the line that always gets me.

The cold never bothered me anyway.

SpiderMan Show

What you got?

How much time we got guys? MAN: 15 minutes.

JOE QUESADA: 15 minutes? OK.

It's still enough time to write a Spider-Man song.

ROBERT LOPEZ: OK.

Let's see.

If she-- if she knew who I was.

Maybe he likes this girl, but she

only knows him as Spider-Man.

If I was Spider-Man would you--

if I was Spider-Man would it help our love grow.

If I was Elsa, promise not to let me go.

That's good.

Right?

JOE QUESADA: I see you every day.

Won't you take your picture.

Take a selfie.

Walk on my way.

I'll be anybody you want me to be.

Be-- oh, look at that.

Yeah.

That's a probably, chord.

Yeah, yeah.

You're milking the hell out of this.

Do, do, dun, dun, dun.

Take a selfie with me.

Walk on my way.

I'll be anybody you want me to be.

If I could be Spider-Man.

ROBERT LOPEZ: I think we're good.

Yeah.

Thanks for indulging me, man.

Are you kidding?

This has been a dream come true.

Thanks, man.

And as a native New Yorker, eh. Thanks.

Eh, eh.

Forget about it.

JOE QUESADA: Even though Bobby and I work

from different worlds, and I'm a couple of EGOTS

away from catching up, I'd say we make a pretty good team.

It also reminded me, sometimes the best stories

don't come from just one solitary person but from people

working together.

[MUSIC PLAYING]