'Josie and the Pussycats' directors had never written a single song before they teamed up with Babyface to create the cult film's soundtrack

• "Josie and the Pussycats" directors hadn't written music before collaborating on songs for the film.
• Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan ended up cowriting several of the movie's signature songs.
• But it was a first for the filmmakers, who also worked with industry all-stars for the soundtrack.

Fans may recall the iconic "Josie and the Pussycats" soundtrack as one of their favorite parts of the movie, but the filmmakers behind the comedy had never written music before they collaborated on songs for the cult classic.

Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont cowrote and codirected the 2001 film, which follows struggling rock band the Pussycats as they're discovered by a nefarious record executive with an ulterior motive.

The Pussycats' music, of course, features prominently in the film, and a whole group of artists (including Kaplan and Elfont) assembled to write, produce, and perform the soundtrack.

Legendary musician Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds led the charge as the executive producer, and teamed up with Gigolo Aunts' Dave Gibbs on half of the songs. Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger produced and wrote tracks as well. And Counting Crows' Adam Duritz, the Go-Go's Jane Wiedlin, and others also contributed to the film's iconic soundtrack.

But there was definitely a learning curve for Kaplan and Elfont, who first met as students at film school and worked on several songs for the movie.

"I've always been slightly musical, but it was a whole other deal going in and working with professional songwriters," Elfont told Insider. "It boosted our confidence to the point that we thought we could write songs."

The filmmaking duo ended up cowriting some of the more memorable songs featured in "Josie and the Pussycats," including "Three Small Words," "Come On," "DuJour Around the World," and "Backdoor Lover."

Also a part of the soundtrack were several songs performed by the fictional boy-band DuJour, who mysteriously disappear at the beginning of the movie.

DuJour's songs, Kaplan said, were some of the most entertaining to write because they contain numerous double entendres. The subversive catchy hit "Backdoor Lover," for example, is quite clearly about sex.

"That was a blast. To get away with that and not have anyone say, 'No, sorry you can't make a song about butt stuff,'" Kaplan joked.