Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio

Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio are American screenwriters, collaborating on the screenplays for animated films including the Despicable Me franchise, Horton Hears a Who, The Lorax and The Secret Life of Pets. The duo also served as the co-creators of the 2021 Apple TV+ musical comedy series Schmigadoon!, with Paul also serving as the series songwriter and executive producer.

Paul
Paul was named after Cinco de Mayo, a celebration held on his birthday. After graduating from Yale University, Paul served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Tokyo. Shortly after returning from his mission he married his girlfriend whom he had met at Yale and to whom he was engaged just before leaving on his mission. He then won a short film competition and received a fellowship at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, where he graduated in 1993 from the Graduate Screenwriting Program. The following year, he sold his first screenplay to Columbia Pictures.

Daurio
Daurio started making films with a Super 8 camera at age 9. After high school, he began directing music videos and directed more than 100 videos.

Collaboration
Paul and Daurio have been collaborating since 1999. They met when Paul wrote a musical for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' 150-year celebration of the pioneers' arrival in Utah, in which Daurio had one of the leads.

Hitting it off, having similar senses of humor, they formed a band called the Otter Pops, playing at local outdoor malls. Within a year they sold their first script, and a year later their second script, Bubble Boy, was made into a film, which was a critical and commercial failure. To get noticed, they used to sing story pitches to film producers. Although not always successful, this strategy resulted in several produced films, including Bubble Boy and College Road Trip (2008).

They were personally chosen by Audrey Geisel, the widow of Dr. Seuss, to write the screenplay for the film Horton Hears a Who!, an animated adaptation of the children's book Horton Hears a Who!, for Blue Sky Studios via 20th Century Fox Animation, led by Chris Meledandri. In 2007, when Meledandri founded a film production company named Illumination Entertainment, Paul and Daurio followed him.

At Illumination, they wrote screenplays for the highly-successful animated film Despicable Me and its sequels, Despicable Me 2 and Despicable Me 3. They also wrote for Illumination's other films, the live action/animated Easter-themed Hop and adapted another Dr. Seuss book turned into an animated film, The Lorax.

When Paul and Daurio were screenwriting partners, they preferred to work independently. They divided up scenes and read pages to each other, trying to make each other laugh. Paul, having an education in screenwriting, generally worked on scenes that contain emotion and require the three-act structure, while Daurio, being a more visually oriented person, usually did scenes with action, sight gags and physical comedy. Both being members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, their beliefs have had significant impact on their careers. They prefer "to write movies that are uplifting, optimistic and for everybody," while avoiding being "preachy."

The pair adapted Bubble Boy into a stage musical featuring original songs, for which an original cast recording was released on Sh-K-Boom Records in 2017 produced by Paul, Justin Goldner & Kurt Deutsch.

On January 29, 2018, Paul and Daurio were hired to write a film adaptation of Birthright for Universal Pictures and Skybound Entertainment.

Split
In 2019, Paul and Daurio sold their TV pitch for Schmigadoon! to Apple TV+, but before the writers room started, Daurio decided he didn't want to continue with the show, uncomfortable with the more adult PG-rated content of the series and the responsibilities of showrunning. Paul continued as showrunner on his own as he finished writing and producing season one of the series, then was also the sole showrunner for season two. The two haven't worked together since, although the split was amicable and they remain good friends. They host a podcast together called "Make Him Watch It," in which they make each other watch films they haven't seen.

Daurio post-split
After leaving Schmigadoon!, Daurio went back to working for Illumination, providing additional writing for Migration and co-writing Despicable Me 4.

Paul post-split
Paul continued as showrunner and composer for both seasons of Schmigadoon!, winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music and Lyrics in 2022 for his song "Corn Puddin'."

In 2021, he published the rhyming children's book Clayton Parker Really Really Really Has to Pee, illustrated by Gladys Jose.

Paul has also written the original musical A.D. 16 with playwright Bekah Brunstetter; it revolves around a teenage Mary Magdalene developing a crush on teenage Jesus Christ. The musical was produced in early 2022 by the Olney Theatre Center in Olney, Maryland, receiving a rave review from the Washington Post. It won the Edgerton Foundation New Play Award and a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Choreography in a Musical.

In early 2022, it was announced that Paul was attached as a writer and director to the hybrid live-action and stop-motion animation film Winter Wonderland, also writing original songs for the project.

Filmography

 * Bubble Boy (2001) - screenwriters
 * The Santa Clause 2 (2002) - screenplay
 * Horton Hears a Who! (2008) - screenwriters
 * College Road Trip (2008) - screenwriters
 * Despicable Me (2010) - screenplay
 * Hop (2011) - story and screenplay
 * The Lorax (2012) - screenwriters, executive producers, and songwriter (Paul only)
 * Despicable Me 2 (2013) - screenwriters
 * The Secret Life of Pets (2016) - screenwriters
 * Weenie (2016) - directors and writers
 * Despicable Me 3 (2017) - screenwriters
 * Schmigadoon! (2021–2023) - creators, writers, songwriter (Paul only), and executive producer (Paul only)
 * Migration (2023) - additional writing (Daurio only)
 * Despicable Me 4 (2024) - screenwriter (Daurio only)