An Interview with Bill Motz & Bob Roth, the Creators/Executive Producers of ‘The Ghost and Molly McGee’

Dana Snyder and Ashly Burch as Scratch and Molly McGee in ‘The Ghost and Molly McGee’. Photo Courtesy of the Disney Channel.

Bill Motz and Bob Roth are a pair of accomplished writers and producers, who have each worked on countless animated shows. Currently they serve as the Executive Producers and Creators of The Ghost and Molly McGee on the Disney Channel and we here at NTG were able to sit down with both of them ahead of the season two premiere of the show.
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John Betancourt: Let’s talk a little bit about each of your roles in bringing this series to life. 

Bill Motz: Well, I mean, really, here's, here's the sad part of it. Bob and I are two people doing the job of one. (Laughter) You know, a lot of ways we're kind of joined at the hip, in terms of we both are creators, writers oversee, you know, all the aspects of production and design. I would say that –

Bob Roth: We’re a two-headed monster.

Bill Motz: Yeah, we're a two-headed monster. Typically, I tend to be the more optimistic one and be more outgoing. Whereas...

Bob Roth: Bill’s the “Molly.” I’m the “Scratch.” (Laughter from all.)

Bill Motz: Yeah. That’s not always the case. But that's typically the case… so, that's our differentiation, probably more than tasks.

Bob Roth: We came up with a show a long time ago, it was only once we started really developing it at Disney that we realized, “Oh, these characters are us. This will be easy.” Then it was just writing down what we talked about at lunch and making that into a script. (More laughter from all.)

John Betancourt: And now here we are, season two of The Adventures of Bill and Bob. I love that. Now speaking of creation regarding the show. What went into the decision to create a story grounded in the supernatural and even comedy?

Bob Roth: Well, you know, it just was kind of, I wish I understood how brains work. But it was sort of right there baked in from the beginning. Like, you know, we had the notion of this, this ghost who curses a girl, and then realizes the curse is on himself. That was the very nugget that we started with. So, you know, it had the supernatural and the comedy baked in right there from the beginning. You know, it was only you know, years later when we really started developing it, that, you know, Dana and Ashly, Ashly Burch and Dana Snyder came in, and they brought so much life and comedy to it, that it really started to pop and come to life. But yeah, I mean, from the from very little zygote of the idea… supernatural comedy was right there.

John Betancourt: Bill, anything to add? Or does that cover it?

Bill Motz: I think that covers the bases. Other than what I think, for me was fun. As a kid, I was really terrified of ghosts, that kind of thing. And what I loved… was the idea of… was taking the sting, taking the fear out of it all. I mean, when he curses her, he's in his most scary mode. She's like, “Fantastic performance. That was amazing.” You know, and she's just all into it. And I thought, “Okay, if I was a kid watching the show, I think I would feel a lot less scared.” That was something I want to have happen.

John Betancourt: Now since this took a little time to bring to life, what does it mean to each of you to have this story finally come to life?

Bill Motz: Well, you know, as creators, you have ideas that just bounce around in your head for a long time, and some, you know, some go away, and that's fine. And others sort of stay with you. And this is one that just kept coming back. And it's such an amazing opportunity to be able to have this thing that's been in your head come to life on the screen where people around the world can watch it and enjoy it. It's incredibly gratifying. And a little overwhelming. And when we get sort of responses from fans about how much the show means to them, or what they enjoy watching, or how they see themselves in it, it’s… it's like a dream come true. It really is.

Bob Roth: I don't have much to add to that other than you know, I grew up watching “The Wonderful World of Disney” on Sunday nights, loving Disney movies. And to get a chance to create two characters who are now part of the Disney pantheon. Mind blowing, you can't beat that.

John Betancourt: Now there are definitely some fine messages present in this story, what’s the number one message you hope audiences take away from this story?

Bob Roth: That, uh, that hope will trump cynicism. That hope will beat out cynicism. That's sort of, I think the mission statement, we kind of all keep for ourselves. But ultimately, Molly and Scratch, they're best friends but they have different points of view. Ultimately, she's right. She's, she's gonna be… and that's what kind of charms Scratch despite himself about her that like, “Oh, I'm finding being around somebody who's hopeful better than being around all these jerky ghosts who are just dismal and gloomy.” So that's sort of the mission statement I like to think the show has.

Bill Motz: Well, the first line in our Series Bible was this is a show about a ghost and the girl who brings him back to life. And we thought that that was, you know, the metaphor of a ghost, right? Somebody who is a shadow of a person of who they were, whatever, the idea that Molly's positivity and hope, brings Scratch back to life. I think that's a cool metaphor. And I think you see it in the show, and I hope it kind of… it's also seasoned… this idea of resurrection is sort of seasoned through the whole town.

Bob Roth: A dying town.

Bill Motz: Yeah, dying town that comes back to life. I think it's just all through that. And I don't know, you know, life is challenging, and is going to always throw curveballs at you. And there's always going to be struggle, but the idea that somehow… together and in community, we can face these challenges and maybe even succeed in making the world a better place. That that's all very helpful.

John Betancourt: Now I just realized, I missed a golden opportunity to ask a little more about the casting of Ashly Burch (Molly) and Dana Snyder (Scratch). So, let’s back up for a second if we could, and talk about how exactly you settled on them as the stars and what made them so perfect.

Bob Roth: Dana, we knew from the get-go. We'd worked with Dana before and we were like, “Dana is Scratch. Don't even bother auditioning anybody else. He's what we want. He's gonna give us everything we need.” Finding Molly was… was a journey. We first met Ashly as a writer. Disney brought her in to sort of, you know, consult on the pilot. And she had a lot of great funny ideas. But as she was leaving the room, the executive that brought her in said, “Oh, you know, she does voices too!” Like, “Huh. Interesting.” So, we auditioned her. And we were like, “Yep, that's it. We've got our Molly.” And then we found out another pilot that was working its way through Disney at the time had dibs on her. And we weren't allowed to use her. So, then that sent us down the… the tailspin of trying to find somebody as good as Ashly and we found a lot of actresses.

Bill Motz: Very talented people.

Bob Roth: Very talented people. None of them were Ashley.

Bill Motz: Yeah. And it was we just… kept at the end of the day… kept going like, “Man, she is Molly. Ashly is Molly, doggone-it.” It's hard to… you know.

Bob Roth: And then we heard word that other pilot crashed on the rocks and died. And we're like, “Get. Us. Ashly. Like, we're done. We want Ashly.” And as soon as we had her, it clicked. As soon as we recorded them for the first time together. It really clicked and we were like, “Yep. That's… that's the show.

John Betancourt: Last question I have today, what are you each most proud of when it comes to this show?

Bill Motz: Oh, wow. That's… there are many things. There are many things that we're proud of. I'm really proud that of how we made the show as a team. And, you know, obviously, we were all in extraordinary circumstances these last few years in the pandemic and the resilience of the team of having to pivot into what production looked like originally in studio and then to be in lockdown at home and how we had to find ways to continue our collaboration to continue our ease of inputs. And we found that, and I think it even grew strangely, and our team is really bonded. I don't think we've ever felt closer to a group of people than we do our crew. And what I'm really happy about is I feel like anyway, that everybody on the crew can point to this show and say, “That's my show. I made that.” And that their fingerprints are all over the place. And I love that.

Bob Roth: I'll say, you know, there's nothing wrong with silly cartoons. I love silly cartoons. Great stuff. But I'm proud that we've made something that is a little more than just a silly cartoon, we got plenty of silliness. Again, I love silliness. But I'm proud of the stories we've told that are a little deeper, a little more off the beaten path, a little… that catch you by surprise and make you feel some emotions that you weren't expecting when you necessarily turned on the Disney Channel. So that's what I'm proud of the depth of the storytelling and everything Bill said is absolutely true, too.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

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