Editing Dawson's Creek (section)

===Conception===
Following the selling of his [[spec script]] for [[Wes Craven]]-directed ''[[Scream (1996 film)|Scream]]'' (1996), film assistant [[Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)|Kevin Williamson]] was taking several meetings with film and television producers before the [[slasher film]] began production.<ref name="thr">{{cite web|first=Lesley|last=Goldberg |title='Dawson's Creek' Turns 20: Kevin Williamson Reveals the Teen Drama's Deepest Secrets | website=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/dawsons-creek-turns-20-kevin-williamson-reveals-teen-dramas-deepest-secrets-1075834|date=January 19, 2018|access-date=January 25, 2018}}</ref> In what would be his first television meeting, Williamson met executive [[Paul Stupin]]; when asked if he had ideas for a television production, Williamson came up with the idea of a [[teen series]] based on his youth growing up near a [[North Carolina]] creek as an aspiring filmmaker who admired director [[Steven Spielberg]].<ref name="thr"/> Stupin liked his idea and asked him to come back the next day and pitch it to [[Columbia TriStar Television]], prompting Williamson to write a 20-page outline for ''Dawson's Creek'' that night.<ref name="thr"/> Williamson pitched the show "as ''[[Some Kind of Wonderful (film)|Some Kind of Wonderful]]'', meets ''[[Pump Up the Volume (film)|Pump Up the Volume]]'', meets ''[[James at 15]]'', meets ''[[My So-Called Life]]'', meets ''[[Little House on the Prairie (TV series)|Little House on the Prairie]]''",<ref>{{Cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KCm8TUemxkcC&q=%22I+pitched+it+as+Some+Kind+of+Wonderful%2C+meets+Pump+Up+the+Volume%22&pg=PT71| title=Joshua Jackson: An Unauthorized Biography| isbn=9781466813250| last1=Furman| first1=Elina| date=October 15, 1999| publisher=St. Martin's Publishing| access-date=September 3, 2018| archive-date=October 8, 2020| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201008160022/https://books.google.com/books?id=KCm8TUemxkcC&lpg=PT71&dq=%22I+pitched+it+as+Some+Kind+of+Wonderful,+meets+Pump+Up+the+Volume%22&pg=PT71&hl=en#v=onepage&q=%22I%20pitched%20it%20as%20Some%20Kind%20of%20Wonderful,%20meets%20Pump%20Up%20the%20Volume%22&f=false| url-status=live}}</ref> also taking inspiration from teen drama ''[[Beverly Hills, 90210]]'' as he "wanted it to speak to the teenage audience of the day".<ref name="thr"/>

When Columbia TriStar Television requested him to relocate the show to [[Boston, Massachusetts]], he settled with fictional Capeside, and pitched it to [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]].<ref name="thr"/> However, commissioned amid the struggling of ''[[Party of Five]]'', Fox wondered if they needed another teen drama, and while they were supportive of Williamson's scripts, they eventually passed on it.<ref name="thr"/> Left unused, Columbia TriStar Television sent his scripts to newly founded [[The WB]] network who was looking for fresh ideas for their programme after launching supernatural drama series ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''.<ref name="thr"/> Williamson went for a meeting with then-chief programmer [[Garth Ancier]] and entertainment president [[Susanne Daniels]] who loved his script and picked it up for The WB's new Tuesday night lineup.<ref name="thr"/> [[Procter & Gamble Productions]] joined in as an original co-producer of the series, but sold its interest in the show three months before the premiere when printed stories surfaced about the racy dialogue and risqué plot lines.<ref name="P&G end">{{cite web|last=Paeth|first=Greg|title=P&G Cuts Its Links with Steamy Teen Series|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-67852900.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130508002425/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-67852900.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 8, 2013|website=[[The Cincinnati Post]]|access-date=April 7, 2012|date=October 23, 1997}}</ref>