Thanks to television airings, the Universal Classic Monsters were having a resurgence of popularity in the 1960s and Filmation producer Lou Scheimer, who had grown up with the films, wanted to create a humorous animated adaptation. In 1968, Scheimer hired "Laugh-In" writers Jack Mendelsohn and Jim Milligan to begin developing a show called "Monster Inn", which would riff on the characters that Universal had popularized. Although some of their initial ideas fell by the wayside, the groundwork for "Groovie Goolies" was quickly laid, including having the monsters living together in a castle and the lead trio performing pop songs. Mendelsohn also had been raised with the Universal films, and claimed to have done most of the work on the show, while Milligan "took the money and ran."