Crystal Bell of MTV talks with La La Land songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul:

The songwriting duo, who met as undergrads in the University of Michigan’s musical theater program, have a knack for putting life’s messy, uncomfortable moments to song. In La La Land, Pasek and Paul capture a kind of buoyant melancholia only artists could truly understand, as the complicated lives of jazz pianist Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) and struggling actress Mia (Emma Stone) romantically intertwine. Chazelle’s ode to dreamers is a lush cinematic experience bathed in brazen technicolor and Stone’s effervescent charisma, but its music is wonderfully simple.

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that J.J. Abrams is working on a new hourlong space drama for HBO called Glare.

Javier Gullón will pen the script and executive produce the drama, which stems from a blind script deal the Enemy scribe had with Bad Robot. The drama hails from Warner Bros. Television, where Abrams is under a rich overall deal. Ben Stephenson, former BBC head of drama-turned-Bad Robot head of development, will exec produce alongside Abrams and Gullón. Gullón is repped by CAA, Pacific View Management.