Woolverton's Love of Writing

Her first assignment for Disney was to write a feature script for a "Winnie The Pooh" movie. The script was never filmed, but Disney executives were happy with her work. Her next assignment was another project that, at the time, was undertaken with little fanfare.

"Beauty and the Beast"

Woolverton spent the next four years on "Beauty", which wasn’t even a musical when she got the assignment.

Six months and many drafts after she began, she was introduced to a man who would significantly impact her life.

"The greatest thing Disney ever did for me was introduce me to Howard Ashman," says Woolverton of the "Little Mermaid" lyricist with whom she would work for the next year and a half, until his death from AIDS at age 40. Ashman, who collaborated with composer Alan Menken on the songs for "Little Shop of Horrors", "The Little Mermaid", "Beauty and the Beast" and "Aladdin", taught Woolverton how to create a musical.

"Howard read my script and said, 'who's gonna sing the songs?' Because my objects (teapot, candelabra, et al) didn’t talk." The pair made many changes, and Woolverton jokes that she "laid on tables again" to further the creative process. Part of their challenge was to define the characters, and in the process, they made some historic choices.

"Once we really got into it, Howard and I, we wanted to create a Disney heroine who wasn’t a victim," says Woolverton. "We wanted a proactive, feminist Disney heroine. He and I felt that this was an important thing to do. In all our creative conversations, it became clear that she wasn’t going to be waiting for her prince to come."

Belle was a stark departure from traditional animated heroines. "To this day, that was phenomenally groundbreaking," says Woolverton. "It began the whole 'strong feminine hero' model. She was an intellectual. It was all about using your brain."

Ashman, whom Woolverton describes as "a visionary," gave Woolverton the equivalent of a second master's degree in musical theater. Unfortunately, he passed away before the script was completed, leaving Woolverton to continue their work.

"He had a huge impact on my life," she says, choking up at the thought. "He taught me about character, and the emotionality of every single scene, and he taught me how to defend my point of view."

"Beauty and the Beast" was eventually nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture - an event Woolverton describes as "bittersweet" due to Ashman’s absence - and won the Best Picture award at the Golden Globes

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