Glee

In her audition for the role, Lea Michele sang "On My Own" from Les Miserables. However, the pianist cut the second verse without telling her. She stopped singing and told him "We have to go back and do the verse!" The writers laughed, and later said she definitely had the Rachel role down.

The character of Kurt was written for Chris Colfer after he originally auditioned for the role of Artie. The writers told him that he looked like one of the Von Trapp kids, and Chris told them he actually just starred in The Sound of Music, playing Kurt Von Trapp. This obviously stuck in the writers' mind, as they called his character Kurt Hummel (the surname after the cherubic figurines).

The original idea of Glee was inspired by Ian Brennan's own experience as a member of Prospect High School's show choir. It was supposed to be a film instead of a television series. Brennan wrote the first draft in August 2005, and completed it in the same year. The script, however, did not receive any interest from producers at that time. Michael Novick, a friend of Brennan's and a television producer, later gave Ryan Murphy a copy of Brennan's script, as they are members of the same gym centre. Murphy himself joined show choir when he was young, and thus related to the script. Murphy and Brad Falchuk suggested that Glee should be produced as a television show. Therefore, the three joined together and rewrote the script. The rewritten script was sent to FOX, and picked up immediately. The three decided to write all of the episodes by themselves. Murphy and Falchuk became executive producers and directors of the show, while Brennan is a co-executive producer. Novick also became a producer of Glee.