Damien Chazelle.
Right now, most Americans have never heard that name. He's just another Harvard student, still wet behind the ears.
The guy dreams of directing movies and lives for jazz drumming, but so far he hasn't nailed either one.
While he's been in college, he's written a stack of screenplays in his spare time. He figures maybe one day he'll sell them, or if nobody buys, he'll just direct them himself.
He's got a pile of scripts gathering dust. Nobody wants them. The only paying gigs he can land are cheap horror flicks.
Among those rejected screenplays? One that, in 2017, will get nominated for 14 Oscars and walk away with four big ones: the musical La La Land.
Right now, though, none of his future classics (La La Land, Whiplash, you name it) have found a single fan.
So he took matters into his own hands and shot a low-budget black-and-white musical called Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench. It's basically the baby version of La La Land, but money kept running out, so filming was start-and-stop chaos.
Damien Chazelle.
That name was looping nonstop in Joy's head.
She had to find him.
She wanted to bring the musical that would one day blow America away onto a Broadway stage.
In her opinion, this gorgeous, exquisite script would absolutely kill under theater lights.
She tracked him down under a huge camphor tree that smelled like fresh greenery.
Damien was sitting there with his best buddy (future Hollywood jazz-scoring legend Justin Hurwitz), hashing out the soundtrack for their DIY movie.
Joy was in a hurry to get this show rolling, so she skipped the small talk, got straight to the point, and told them she'd heard about his script La La Land from some investors. She was obsessed. She wanted to adapt it into a stage musical and buy the stage rights.
She also wanted Justin Hurwitz himself to write the score; she knew he'd already composed most of it.
Years from now, when La La Land sweeps Hollywood, the biggest hero will be this guy's music. It's a full-on song-and-dance movie; actors sing and dance live. Justin used his insane jazz talent to straight-up conquer every audience.
Joy knew Damien was a once-in-a-generation genius (youngest guy ever to win Best Director at the Oscars), and she hoped he'd help adapt the script for the stage.
The two college kids practically had a heart attack when Joy showed up. Broadway wanted La La Land? They couldn't believe it.
And the person standing in front of them was Joy Grant!
Their idol!
The genius director wanted his script!
How could he possibly say no? His idol just asked!
Damien Chazelle happily sold the stage rights for a flat $300,000. He was over the moon. A total nobody, and his script was headed to Broadway?
He thought Broadway only did adaptations of famous novels or classic movies.
A random unknown writer like him? On Broadway?
It felt like winning the lottery.
He also agreed to help adapt the script. Joy knew Damien was one of those rare freaks who's good at everything he touches; the guy's talent, work ethic, and obsession are off the charts. Whatever he hands her will be gold, so she trusted him completely.
Deal done. Contracts signed a few days later.
Now it was time to break the news to the cast.
She got back to the theater, waited until everyone was there, and dropped the bomb: new show, new script, coming soon.
The actors all looked at each other, totally confused.
"A new script already? You bought the rights?"
"Is it based on some classic old movie or a famous book?"
Totally normal questions. On Broadway, the big hits (Phantom, Les Mis, Hairspray, Spring Awakening, Chicago) are almost always adapted from something with a built-in fan base.
So when Joy smiled and said, "No source material. It's an original script called La La Land,"
the room went:
"La La what? Never heard of it. Who wrote it?"
Joy kept smiling. "Not a famous playwright. A Harvard student."
"WTF? Are you kidding us right now?"
"You're seriously using us as guinea pigs?"
"You're messing with us, right? You want us to pour blood, sweat, and tears into some college kid's first script? Do you even understand that the book is the soul of a musical? Some random rookie can write something stage-worthy?"
"Exactly! This is Broadway, not your personal workshop! Yeah, we're between gigs, but we're not that desperate!"
Joy tried to calm the riot. "I know it's a tough sell, but trust me, this script is incredible and perfect for the stage."
"That's not for you to decide, Miss I've-Never-Directed-a-Stage-Show-Before."
"Okay, but who's doing the music?"
Joy stayed ice-calm. "Also a Harvard student. A jazz genius."
Cue the place exploding.
"JAZZ?!"
"WTF!"
"Are you out of your mind? The whole score is jazz?"
Joy didn't argue; she just laid out the facts. "Yes. 100% jazz."
"You think you're doing Chicago 2.0 or something? In all of Broadway history, name one jazz musical besides Chicago and West Side Story that actually blew up. Go ahead, we'll wait."
"Exactly! Jazz works better in those light European operettas. On Broadway it's always felt imported and half the audience doesn't even get it."
It's not that they hate jazz; it's that Broadway has proven over and over that most theatergoers just don't connect with it. When people think "jazz musical," they think Chicago and… that's it.
But Chicago had a once-in-a-lifetime genius director.
Joy's a total rookie on stage who thinks she can transplant her Hollywood tricks to Broadway and survive?
Good luck with that.
They weren't about to tank their careers riding shotgun on her crash-and-burn.
A script by a college kid, score by a college kid; this was insane.
Did she honestly think her taste was some kind of X-ray vision that never misses?
Talk about overconfident.
Every single actor was glaring at her like they were two seconds from throwing hands.
Joy knew if she didn't shut this down fast, she was about to have a full-on cast mutiny.
She looked them dead in the eye, ice cold. "Decision's made. Contracts are signed. If any of you want out, the door's right there; no hard feelings. But let's be real: most of you already have day jobs. This little off-the-grid theater is the only place that'll take you right now. Every other company wants full-time pros. You leave, good luck finding another gig."
She kept going. "All I'm asking is that you trust me. This is a chance we're giving each other."
Dead silence. They still looked ready to riot.
One of them finally spoke up. "Director, we're begging you; reconsider the show, the script, the whole jazz thing. Otherwise we can't do this."
Joy didn't push for an answer right then. "My vision isn't changing. Sleep on it. Whoever's in, show up tomorrow ready to work. You chose this theater; now I'm asking you to trust its choice, and mine."
She turned, opened the dressing-room door, and walked out.
The second the door shut, the place erupted with screaming and cursing.
"We're marching straight to Gaultier's office and filing a complaint!"
"I'm so done with this woman. What does she even do besides act like she's above everyone?"
"All she does is pretend she's hot stuff! She knows nothing about musicals! Nothing about Broadway! You guys Google her past? Total trainwreck; drugs, booze, party girl trash. This chick is a walking disaster!"