Editing Citizen Kane (section)

===Development===
[[File:George Schaefer.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Welles's 1938 radio broadcast of "[[The War of the Worlds (1938 radio drama)|The War of the Worlds]]" caught the attention of [[RKO Pictures|RKO]] studio chief [[George J. Schaefer]]]]

Hollywood had shown interest in Welles as early as 1936.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Johnston |first1=Alva |last2=Smith |first2=Fred |date=February 3, 1940 |title=How to Raise a Child (part 3) |url=http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/wp-content/flbk/How_to_Raise_a_Child_part_iii/#/1/ |journal=[[The Saturday Evening Post]] |pages=27, 28, 40, 45 |access-date=December 5, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924094616/http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/wp-content/flbk/How_to_Raise_a_Child_part_iii/#/1/ |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{Rp|40}} He turned down three scripts sent to him by [[Warner Bros.]] In 1937, he declined offers from [[David O. Selznick]], who asked him to head his film company's story department, and [[William Wyler]], who wanted him for a supporting role in ''[[Wuthering Heights (1939 film)|Wuthering Heights]]''. "Although the possibility of making huge amounts of money in Hollywood greatly attracted him," wrote biographer Frank Brady, "he was still totally, hopelessly, insanely in love with the theater, and it is there that he had every intention of remaining to make his mark."<ref name="Brady">{{cite book |last=Brady |first=Frank |author-link=Frank Brady (writer) |title=Citizen Welles: A Biography of Orson Welles |publisher=[[Charles Scribner's Sons]] |location=New York |date=1989 |isbn=0-385-26759-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/citizenwellesbio00brad}}</ref>{{Rp|118–119, 130}}

Following the 1938 "[[The War of the Worlds (1938 radio drama)|The War of the Worlds]]" broadcast of his CBS radio series ''[[The Mercury Theatre on the Air]]'', Welles was lured to Hollywood with a remarkable contract.<ref name="Carringer TMOCK">{{cite book |last=Carringer |first=Robert L. |title=The Making of Citizen Kane |url=https://archive.org/details/makingofcitizenk00carr |url-access=registration |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |location=Berkeley and Los Angeles |date=1985 |isbn=978-0-520-20567-3}}</ref>{{Rp|1–2, 153}} [[RKO Pictures]] studio head [[George J. Schaefer]] wanted to work with Welles after the notorious broadcast, believing that Welles had a gift for attracting mass attention.<ref name="Leaming OW"/>{{Rp|170}} RKO was also uncharacteristically profitable and was entering into a series of independent production contracts that would add more artistically prestigious films to its roster.<ref name="Carringer TMOCK"/>{{Rp|1–2, 153}} Throughout the spring and early summer of 1939, Schaefer constantly tried to lure the reluctant Welles to Hollywood.<ref name="Leaming OW">{{cite book |last=Leaming |first=Barbara |title=Orson Welles, A Biography |url=https://archive.org/details/orsonwellesbiogr00leam |url-access=registration |publisher=[[Viking Press]] |location=New York |date=1985 |isbn=978-0-618-15446-3}}</ref>{{Rp|170|December 2014}} Welles was in financial trouble after failure of his plays ''[[Chimes at Midnight#Five Kings (1939)|Five Kings]]'' and ''[[The Green Goddess (play)|The Green Goddess]]''. At first he simply wanted to spend three months in Hollywood and earn enough money to pay his debts and fund his next theatrical season.<ref name="Leaming OW"/>{{Rp|170|December 2014}} Welles first arrived on July 20, 1939,<ref name="Leaming OW"/>{{Rp|168|December 2014}} and on his first tour, he called the movie studio "the greatest electric train set a boy ever had".<ref name="Leaming OW"/>{{Rp|174}}

Welles signed his contract with RKO on August 21, which stipulated that Welles would act in, direct, produce and write two films. Mercury would get $100,000 for the first film by January 1, 1940, plus 20% of profits after RKO recouped $500,000, and $125,000 for a second film by January 1, 1941, plus 20% of profits after RKO recouped $500,000. The most controversial aspect of the contract was granting Welles complete artistic control of the two films so long as RKO approved both projects' stories<ref name="Leaming OW"/>{{Rp|169|December 2014}} and the budget did not exceed $500,000.<ref name="Carringer TMOCK"/>{{Rp|1–2, 153}} RKO executives would not be allowed to see any footage until Welles chose to show it to them, and no cuts could be made to either film without Welles's approval.<ref name="Leaming OW"/>{{Rp|169|December 2014}} Welles was allowed to develop the story without interference, select his own cast and crew, and have the [[final cut privilege|right of final cut]]. Granting the final cut privilege was unprecedented for a studio because it placed artistic considerations over financial investment. The contract was deeply resented in the film industry, and the Hollywood press took every opportunity to mock RKO and Welles. Schaefer remained a great supporter<ref name="Carringer TMOCK"/>{{Rp|1–2, 153}} and saw the unprecedented contract as good publicity.<ref name="Leaming OW"/>{{Rp|170|December 2014}} Film scholar Robert L. Carringer wrote: "The simple fact seems to be that Schaefer believed Welles was going to pull off something really big almost as much as Welles did himself."<ref name="Carringer TMOCK"/>{{Rp|1–2, 153}}

[[File:Orson-Home-1939.jpg|thumb|left|Orson Welles at his Hollywood home in 1939, during the long months it took to launch his first film project]]
Welles spent the first five months of his RKO contract trying to get his first project going, without success. "They are laying bets over on the RKO lot that the Orson Welles deal will end up without Orson ever doing a picture there," wrote ''[[The Hollywood Reporter]]''.<ref name="Carringer TMOCK"/>{{Rp|15}} It was agreed that Welles would film ''[[Heart of Darkness]]'', previously adapted for ''The Mercury Theatre on the Air'', which would be presented entirely through a [[Point-of-view shot|first-person camera]]. After elaborate pre-production and a day of test shooting with a hand-held camera—unheard of at the time—the project never reached production because Welles was unable to trim $50,000 from its budget.{{efn|"I did a very elaborate production for [''Heart of Darkness''], such as I've never done again—never could," Welles said. "I shot my bolt on preproduction on that picture. We designed every camera setup and everything else—did enormous research in aboriginal, Stone Age cultures in order to reproduce what the story called for. I'm sorry not to have got the chance to do it."<ref name="Welles TIOW"/>{{Rp|31}}}}{{efn| Welles later used the subjective camera in ''The Magnificent Ambersons'', in a sequence that was later all but eliminated because it did not work in that picture. "''Heart of Darkness'' is one of the few stories that it's very well adapted to, because it relies so heavily on narration," Welles said. "The camera was going to be Marlow&nbsp;... He's in the pilot house and he can see himself reflected in the glass through which you see the jungle. So it isn't that business of a hand-held camera mooching around pretending to walk like a man."<ref name="Welles TIOW"/>{{Rp|31}}}}<ref name="Welles TIOW"/>{{Rp|30–31}} Schaefer told Welles that the $500,000 budget could not be exceeded; as war loomed, revenue was declining sharply in Europe by the fall of 1939.<ref name="Brady"/>{{Rp|215–216}}

He then started work on the idea that became ''Citizen Kane''. Knowing the script would take time to prepare, Welles suggested to RKO that while that was being done—"so the year wouldn't be lost"—he make a humorous political thriller. Welles proposed ''The Smiler with a Knife'', from a novel by [[Cecil Day-Lewis]].<ref name="Welles TIOW"/>{{Rp|33–34}} When that project stalled in December 1939, Welles began brainstorming other story ideas with screenwriter [[Herman J. Mankiewicz]], who had been writing Mercury radio scripts. "Arguing, inventing, discarding, these two powerful, headstrong, dazzlingly articulate personalities thrashed toward ''Kane''", wrote biographer [[Richard Meryman]].<ref name=Meryman/>{{Rp|245–246}}