expressing concerns that its dark subject matter and frequent arguments would not translate well on screen. Kloves conducted little research while penning the film, instead opting to write its first draft based on what he learned from spending time in hotels. Kloves recalled that he would sometimes visit hotel bars "and hear some guy play the piano ... and some of them were pretty good. The way my mind tripped off on it was that this guy's parents gave him piano lessons to improve his life and give him an opening into culture and there he was, 20 years later, at a Holiday Inn playing 'Feelings'." Since Kloves typically writes his films around its characters, he spent six months writing notes about the main characters' relationships with each other before finalizing the story. He also used index cards to indicate specific scenes and moments which he organized on a board, but found this approach was not always successful. A first draft of the screenplay was completed as early as April 1985, in which Kloves describes the titular characters as "a poor man's version of Ferrante and Teicher." The Fabulous Baker Boys was Kloves's directorial debut. Kloves's experience writing his previous film, Racing with the Moon (1984), motivated him to direct The Fabulous Baker Boys himself because the final version of the former "wasn't what I saw in my head". Although Kloves had always aspired to direct the film himself, he considered his prospects unlikely due to his young age (he was 25 years-old when he first started optioning the script to filmmakers) and lack of filmmaking experience, having only written one film prior. Fearing a different director would struggle to fulfill his vision, his determination ultimately delayed the project by several years. Kloves decided to keep the script to himself until he could secure funding that would also allow him to direct his own project. Kloves finally sold The Fabulous Baker Boys as a spec script to then-Warner Bros. worldwide production president Mark Rosenberg, after originally selling it to producers Paula Weinstein and Gareth Wigan of WW Productions. Weinstein and Wigan eventually negotiated a deal to share the film rights with Rosenberg. Kloves attempted to work on the film with director George Roy Hill, but they experienced creative differences. Following the dissolution of WW Productions, Weinstein became an executive consultant at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) under Alan Ladd, Jr., while Rosenberg eventually