Writing the musical in 1977, Recht and Yotvat had 17 demos recorded before the first draft was even submitted to a company. It was originally planned by Recht and Yotvat to be a Hebrew stage production, but the show "was so expensive that nobody could really raise it up for the stage," Recht explained. He was then informed by a friend that filmmaker Menahem Golan was having a brief visit in Israel. Recht had known Golan since he was nine, performing in shows at a Israel-based children's theater where Golan directed. Recht called Golan on a Friday for a face-to-face meeting about "The Apple", which involved Golan spending four hours listening to demos of songs from the musical. Golan finally decided to direct and produce a film version of "The Apple", instructing Recht to be in Los Angeles immediately. Yotvat said, "That was marvelous. That was just fantastic to think that it was going to be a movie all of the sudden. It was just amazing."