Both of Miranda's Broadway musicals have been the subject of PBS documentaries: In The Heights: Chasing Broadway Dreams in 2009 and Hamilton's America in 2016.
Miranda cites Jonathan Larson, creator of Rent, as a formative influence, after seeing the rock musical on his 17th birthday. "Jonathan Larson connected the dots in musicals — that this thing you love can reflect the world in which you live. I loved musicals. But they never reflected the world in which I lived. It was just a separate thing I liked. He connected those dots for me, and I think I really started writing and felt like I could write a musical because of Jonathan Larson."
Miranda will be working with one of Larson's musicals soon: he's signed on to direct a film version of tick, tick . . . boom!, Larson's earlier and lesser-known off-Broadway musical.