Editing Mulholland Drive (film) (section)

===Development===
Originally conceived as a television series, ''Mulholland Drive'' began as a 90-minute pilot produced for [[Touchstone Television]] and intended for the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] television network. [[Tony Krantz]], the agent who was responsible for the development of ''[[Twin Peaks]]'', was "fired up" about doing another television series. Lynch sold the idea to ABC executives based only on the story of Rita emerging from the car accident with her purse containing $125,000 in cash and the blue key, and Betty trying to help her figure out who she is. An ABC executive recalled, "I remember the creepiness of this woman in this horrible, horrible crash, and David teasing us with the notion that people are chasing her. She's not just 'in' trouble—she ''is'' trouble. Obviously, we asked, 'What happens next?' And David said, 'You have to buy the pitch for me to tell you.{{' "}} Lynch showed ABC a rough cut of the pilot. The person who saw it, according to Lynch, was watching it at six in the morning and was having coffee and standing up. He hated the pilot, and ABC immediately cancelled it. Pierre Edelman, Lynch's friend from Paris, came to visit and started talking to him about the film being a feature. Edelman went back to Paris. Canal+ wanted to give Lynch money to make it into a feature and it took a year to negotiate.{{sfn|Woods|2000|p=206}}<ref>{{Cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGd6lnYTTY8&t=1905s | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211114/jGd6lnYTTY8| archive-date=2021-11-14 | url-status=live|title=David Lynch In Conversation |minutes=34:22–36:07 |work=Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art|date=June 15, 2015|via=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Lynch described the attractiveness of the idea of a pilot, despite the knowledge that the medium of television would be constricting: "I'm a sucker for a continuing story&nbsp;... Theoretically, you can get a very deep story and you can go so deep and open the world so beautifully, but it takes time to do that."<ref name="divine">{{cite journal |last=Divine |first=Christine |date=November 2001 |title=David Lynch |journal=Creative Screenwriting |issue=8 |volume=6 |pages=8–12}}</ref> The story included [[surrealist cinema|surreal]] elements, much like Lynch's earlier series ''Twin Peaks''. Groundwork was laid for [[story arc]]s, such as the mystery of Rita's identity, Betty's career and Adam Kesher's film project.{{sfn|Woods|2000|pp=205–214}}

Actress [[Sherilyn Fenn]] stated in a 2014 interview that the original idea came during the filming of ''Twin Peaks'', as a [[spin-off (media)|spin-off]] film for her character of [[Audrey Horne]].<ref name="Sherilyn Fenn AV Club Interview">{{cite web |url=https://www.avclub.com/article/sherilyn-fenn-talks-david-lynch-and-how-twin-peaks-200898 |title=Sherilyn Fenn talks David Lynch and how ''Twin Peaks'' should have ended |date=January 22, 2014 |first=Will |last=Harris |work=[[The A.V. Club]] |access-date=January 22, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140122074412/http://www.avclub.com/article/sherilyn-fenn-talks-david-lynch-and-how-twin-peaks-200898 |archive-date=January 22, 2014}}</ref>