Milli Vanilli
Written and Produced by Jason Goodman
Milli Vanilli started it all – it was the first pilot of Behind The Music. I got the gig because I had done a show called Bill Clinton – Rock ‘n Roll President for MTV, and they referred me. For me, the show was a true moment of kismet – combining my story telling skills with my lifelong love for music.
When I started telling my friends about doing Milli Vanilli, most thought I was going to brutalize them – and frankly, that would have probably been an easier way to go. But right from the outset, I wanted Behind The Music to have heart and compassion, to take the viewers on the inside and give them a different perspective on the story they thought they knew. It turned out to be a formula for a hit series.
Click here to watch my favorite act. Click here to watch the whole show.
Behind The Music: Milli Vanilli • Written and Produced by Jason Goodman
The original version of Behind The Music: Milli Vanilli debuted in the fall of 1997. After Rob’s suicide in the spring of 1998, we went back in and revised the show in light of his death. I don’t know that anyone connected to Milli Vanilli was surprised at the turn of events – Rob had made it pretty clear he felt death was preferable to the way he was living – but it still was kind of shocking to have to tear up the original show and modify it to the harsh new reality.
This act – the story of how their two-year deception ultimately unraveled – stayed pretty much the same. My idea was to give it the Rashomon approach – to let all the players tell what happened from their perspectives, and to see where the viewer’s sympathies ultimately would fall. I’ve always been proud of the way this story got told – think it did justice to what I came to see, as Downtown Julie Brown said, was a great injustice.
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[watch the whole show].
Behind The Music: Milli Vanilli • Written and Produced by Jason Goodman
Rob was a funny and fascinating guy. While his mood swings were volatile, he was always honest – sometimes brutally so. He helped me understand what it would feel like to have the world in your hands, and then what it would feel like to not only lose that success, but to become a laughing stock in the process. And the truth is – he could have and should have survived that. When we were shooting his b-roll on the beach, his star power was still very much evident. But his fall from the heights was so steep that he never had the chance to reorient himself and see the world of possibilities he had in front of him. And that’s a great shame – he had the potential for a great second act.
