to having a black Cinderella. People were clearly still thinking, 'Multicultural is one thing, but do we have to have two black leads?" Robert Iscove was enlisted as the film's director, with Chris Montan and Mike Moder producing alongside Zadan and Meron. Houston was retained as an executive producer, alongside Chase. The film was co-produced by Walt Disney Telefilms, Storyline Entertainment and Houston's own production company BrownHouse Productions, becoming the latter's first project and Houston's executive producing debut. The film has a total of five executive producers: Houston, Chase, Zadan, Meron and David R. Ginsburg. Houston remained heavily involved in the film's production aspects, despite being relegated to a supporting acting role, retaining final approval over all creative decisions, particularly its multiracial cast. In addition to developing a good relationship with each other, the producers established a strong rapport with Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization President Ted Chapin. Although they were originally concerned that the organization would dismiss the idea of a multi-cultural cast, they were surprised when the company did not protest whatsoever. Mary Rodgers and James Hammerstein, relatives of the original composers, also approved this casting decision, with Mary maintaining that the production remains "true to the original" despite contemporary modifications to its cast and score, and James describing the film as "a total scrambled gene pool" and "one of the nicest fantasies one can imagine.'' James also believes Hammerstein would have approved of the color-blind casting, claiming he would have asked why the process took as long as it did. Meron believes that the organization was so open due to Houston's involvement, explaining, "Whitney was so huge at that time; to a lot of executives she was popular entertainment as opposed to being defined by her race." Writing Television writer Robert L. Freedman became involved with the project as early as 1993. Although he had not written a musical before, Freedman was fond of Warren's version and drawn to the opportunity to work with Zadan and Meron, whose plans to remake Cinderella he had first read about in a Variety article. Aware that the film could potentially be groundbreaking, Freedman, Zadan and Meron collaborated on several new ideas for the remake, among them ensuring that Cinderella "was defined by more than falling in love", providing her with her own story arc that is beyond simply finding a love interest. The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization allowed the filmmakers an