After deciding to executive produce the film, Spielberg chose Dante as his director because of his experience with horror-comedy; Dante had previously directed "The Howling" (1981); however, in the time between "The Howling" and the offer to film "Gremlins", he had experienced a lull in his career. Dante began doing storyboard work on the film while also working as a director on "" (1983), a film which Spielberg also served as a director on. The film's producer was Michael Finnell, who had also worked on "The Howling" with Dante. Spielberg took the project to Warner Bros. and co-produced it through his own company, Amblin Entertainment.