Editing Woman of the Year (section)

==Production==
===Writing===
The outline for the film was developed by [[Garson Kanin]], a close friend of Hepburn's. The character of Tess Harding was based on [[Dorothy Thompson]], an American journalist and radio broadcaster who was highly influential.<ref name="DTSEP">{{cite news |last1=Nilsson |first1=Jeff |title=Dorothy Thompson: The Real Woman of the Year |url=https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2011/07/woman-2/ |access-date=18 April 2024 |date=July 9, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240115034115/https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2011/07/woman-2/ |archive-date=Jan 15, 2024}}</ref><ref name="DTCM">{{cite news |last1=Baird |first1=Jonathan P. |title=Jonathan P. Baird: Early on, journalist Dorothy Thompson saw Hitler for what he was |url=https://www.concordmonitor.com/Dorothy-Thompson-and-fascism-27554979 |access-date=18 April 2024 |publisher=Concord Monitor |date=Aug 15, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190914002740/https://www.concordmonitor.com/Dorothy-Thompson-and-fascism-27554979 |archive-date=Sep 14, 2019}}</ref> Hepburn then passed the outline to [[Joseph L. Mankiewicz]] at MGM, and said the price was $250,000 – half for her, half for the script.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hepburn|first=Katharine|title=Me: Stories of My Life|url=https://archive.org/details/me00kath_0|url-access=registration|year=1991|publisher=Knopf|location=New York|isbn=0-679-40051-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/me00kath_0/page/400 400]}}</ref> He liked it and agreed to produce the movie.<ref>Hepburn (1991), p. 243.</ref> Kanin was fighting in the war at the time, so the script was written by his brother, [[Michael Kanin]], and mutual friend [[Ring Lardner Jr.]] Hepburn contributed significantly to the script – reading it, suggesting cuts and word changes, and generally providing helpful enthusiasm for the project.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kanin|first=Garson|title=Tracy and Hepburn: An Intimate Memoir|url=https://archive.org/details/tracyhepburnint00kani|url-access=registration|year=1971|publisher=Viking|location=New York|isbn=0-670-72293-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/tracyhepburnint00kani/page/81 81]}}</ref> As a part of the deal, Hepburn had the option of selecting her co-star and director (Tracy and Stevens).

===Casting===
''Woman of the Year'' was the first of nine films Hepburn and Tracy made together. They met for the first time on the shoot. In the 1993 [[Documentary film|documentary]] ''Katharine Hepburn: All About Me'', Hepburn herself says she was wearing high heels at the first meeting with Tracy and producer Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and said "I'm afraid I'm a bit tall for you, Mr. Tracy". Mankiewicz then responded, "Don't worry, Kate, he'll cut you down to size." It was during the filming of ''Woman of the Year'' that Hepburn and Tracy became romantically involved – a relationship that lasted until Tracy's death in 1967.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/27562-WOMAN-OFTHEYEAR|title=Woman of the Year|website=www.afi.com|access-date=2022-11-19}}</ref>

===Reshoots===
The film was originally shot with a different ending, but it proved unpopular at test screenings. The decision was made to change it, and the final fifteen minutes of the film were re-written and shot. In the original ending, Sam went missing after returning the child to the orphanage, while he was supposed to write an article about an upcoming boxing match. Tess decides to take over for him and visits the gym to learn about the fight. Sam, who is in a language school trying to learn French and Spanish to "be important", is shocked when he sees the article. He goes to the fight, where he encounters Tess. She insists that she did the work to be a "good wife," and states her dedication to Sam. He says that he does not want either extreme; he just wants her to be "Tess Harding Craig" (as in the released ending).<ref>{{cite journal|title=Interview with Ring Lardner, Jr|journal=On Writing|date=August 1997|volume=7|url=http://www.brisbin.net/Tracy-Hepburn/Articles/T-H/Retrospective/thumbnails/origWOTYending.pdf|access-date=September 5, 2011|publisher=The Writers Guild of America, East, Inc}}</ref>

Ring Lardner Jr. describes in Archive of America Television oral history interviews (2000) that changes made to the ending of the film were against the wishes of Katharine Hepburn, and were implemented while both screenwriters were on vacation in New York.  The changes were instigated by [[Louis B. Mayer]], producer Joseph L. Mankiewicz and director George Stevens, with the actual new ending being written by John Lee Mahin (who was uncredited). In an interview, Lardner indicated that these parties all believed that Tess Harding "had to get her comeuppance for being too strong in a man's world, so they wrote a scene where she tried to fix breakfast ... and gets everything wrong." Lardner and Kanin were given some room to rewrite the new ending on returning from New York, and in the same interview Lardner recalls "some of the worst lines we rewrote, but we couldn't fix it, we couldn't change it fundamentally".<ref>Archive of American Television - EMMY TVLEGENDS Ring Lardner interview 2000</ref>