Editing Jaws (film) (section)

===Development===
[[File:Steven Spielberg Keren.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|alt=Steven Spielberg in 2018|Director [[Steven Spielberg]] in 2018]]
[[Richard D. Zanuck]] and [[David Brown (producer)|David Brown]], producers at [[Universal Pictures]], independently heard about Peter Benchley's novel ''[[Jaws (novel)|Jaws]]''. Brown came across it in the literature section of lifestyle magazine ''[[Cosmopolitan (magazine)|Cosmopolitan]]'', then edited by his wife, [[Helen Gurley Brown]]. A small card written by the magazine's book editor gave a detailed description of the plot, concluding with the comment "might make a good movie".<ref name="Priggé6">{{harvnb|Priggé|2004|p=6}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Scanlon|2009|p=197}}</ref> The producers each read the book over the course of a single night and agreed the next morning that it was "the most exciting thing that they had ever read" and that they wanted to produce a film version, although they were unsure how it would be accomplished.<ref name=jawschap1>{{cite video|first=Laurent|last=Bouzereau|title=A Look Inside Jaws|type=''Jaws'': 30th Anniversary Edition DVD (2005)|year=1995|publisher=Universal Home Video|trans-title="From Novel to Script"}}</ref> They purchased the film rights in 1973, before the book's publication, for approximately $175,000 ({{Inflation|US|175000|1973|fmt=eq|r=-4}}).<ref name="Brode 50">{{harvnb|Brode|1995|p=50}}</ref> Brown claimed that had they read the book twice, they would never have made the film because they would have realized how difficult it would be to execute certain sequences.<ref name="McBride 231">{{harvnb|McBride|1999|p=231}}</ref>

To direct, Zanuck and Brown first considered veteran filmmaker [[John Sturges]]—whose résumé included another maritime adventure, ''{{film year|The Old Man and the Sea|1958}}''—before offering the job to [[Dick Richards]], whose directorial debut, ''[[The Culpepper Cattle Co.]]'', had come out the previous year.<ref name="McBride232">{{harvnb|McBride|1999|p=232}}</ref> They soon grew irritated by Richards's habit of describing the shark as a whale and dropped him from the project.<ref name="McBride232"/> Meanwhile, [[Steven Spielberg]] very much wanted the job. The 26-year-old had just directed his first theatrical film, ''[[The Sugarland Express]]'', for Zanuck and Brown. At the end of a meeting in their office, Spielberg noticed their copy of the still-unpublished Benchley novel, and after reading it was immediately captivated.<ref name="Brode 50"/> He later observed that it was similar to his 1971 television film ''{{film year|Duel|1971}}'' in that both deal with "these leviathans targeting [[everyman|everymen]]".<ref name=jawschap1/> He also revealed in "The Making of ''Jaws''" documentary on the 2012 DVD release that he directly referenced ''Duel'' by repurposing the sound of the truck being destroyed as the death roar of the shark. After Richards's departure, the producers signed Spielberg to direct in June 1973, before the release of ''The Sugarland Express''.<ref name="McBride232"/>

Before production began, Spielberg grew reluctant to continue with ''Jaws'', in fear of becoming typecast as the "truck and shark director".<ref name=biskind264/> He wanted to move over to [[20th Century Fox]]'s ''[[Lucky Lady]]'' instead, but Universal exercised its right under its contract with the director to veto his departure.<ref name="McBride240">{{harvnb|McBride|1999|p=240}}</ref> Brown helped convince Spielberg to stick with the project, saying that "after [''Jaws''], you can make all the films you want".<ref name=biskind264/> The film was given an estimated budget of $3.5&nbsp;million and a shooting schedule of 55&nbsp;days. [[Principal photography]] was set to begin in May 1974. Universal wanted the shoot to finish by the end of June, when the major studios' contract with the [[Screen Actors Guild]] was due to expire, to avoid any disruptions due to a potential strike.<ref>{{harvnb|Gottlieb|2005|p=52}}</ref>