Editing Jurassic Park (film) (section)

====New writers====
Crichton had agreed only to write a preliminary version of the film: "I told Steven, 'I'll do a draft for you and cut it down to budgetable size; but then you're going to want somebody else to polish the characters.' I think that sort of surprised him, because writers never say, 'Get somebody else.'"{{sfn|Shay & Duncan|1993|p=9}} Crichton finished his draft as Spielberg was filming ''Hook'', the latter co-written by [[Malia Scotch Marmo]] and produced by Kennedy. While on the set of ''Hook'', Scotch Marmo was reading the ''Jurassic Park'' novel and learned from Kennedy about the film adaptation, accepting an offer to work on its screenplay. Scotch Marmo began writing ''Jurassic Park'' in October 1991. She chose to start from scratch, with the novel as her basis, although she did read Crichton's screenplay and consulted with him. Spielberg also agreed to provide her with his own copy of the novel, which contained highlighted aspects of the book that he enjoyed. In addition, she looked at the numerous storyboards produced up to that point.{{sfn|Shay & Duncan|1993|p=39–40}}

Scotch Marmo focused on building up the characters "to give them more life and more purpose" than in Crichton's novel and screenplay. She removed Malcolm from the story and tried to incorporate his characteristics into Grant, whom she found to be underdeveloped. She also sought to emphasis the major themes of the novel, specifically the "fatal flaw of trying to control nature," for instance by showing jungle vegetation creeping into the park's unfinished visitor center: "The idea was that nature was always in the way, always pushing hard against the intrusion."{{sfn|Shay & Duncan|1993|p=40–42}} In the novel, Hammond is killed by a group of ''[[Procompsognathus]]''. Crichton's draft had also included a death scene, with Hammond killed by a ''[[Velociraptor]]'' at the visitor center.<ref>{{cite web |last=Crichton |first=Michael |title=Jurassic Park (revised first draft) |url=https://controlroom.jurassicoutpost.com/app/uploads/2016/06/JURASSIC-PARK-01-19-1991-Crichton-Scanned.pdf |website=JurassicOutpost |access-date=February 5, 2025 |pages=98–99 |date=January 19, 1991}}</ref> In Scotch Marmo's draft, Hammond would choose to stay behind on [[Isla Nublar]], and the other characters would escape after surviving a ''[[T. rex]]'' attack on their helicopter.<ref>{{cite web |last=Scotch Marmo |first=Malia |title=Jurassic Park script |url=https://controlroom.jurassicoutpost.com/app/uploads/2016/05/JurassicPark-FirstDraft.txt |website=JurassicOutpost |access-date=February 5, 2025 |date=March 14, 1992}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Anderton |first=Ethan |title=Unused 'Jurassic Park' Storyboards Reveal A Deleted Alternate Ending |url=https://www.slashfilm.com/548967/jurassic-park-alternate-ending/ |website=/Film |access-date=February 5, 2025 |date=January 30, 2017}}</ref>

Scotch Marmo spent five months writing her draft and worked closely with Spielberg, noting that their collaboration was unlike most films in which writers "get an assignment, go home, write it and turn it in." She would send him 15 pages at a time, and then would rework them to his liking, sending the revised pages back along with the next 15.{{sfn|Shay & Duncan|1993|p=41}} She completed her draft in March 1992; Spielberg read it twice and was dissatisfied. She recalled later, "As a writer, that's a terrible feeling. The natural urge is to say: 'Give me another week. I can work it out. I know I can.' But the truth is, sometimes you do hit and sometimes you miss. It's just a shame that it takes so long to find out."{{sfn|Shay & Duncan|1993|p=53–54}}

[[File:DK 2022 photo 2.jpg|thumb|upright|The final drafts of ''Jurassic Park'' were written by [[David Koepp]], seen in 2022]]
Spielberg immediately began searching for a new writer,{{sfn|Shay & Duncan|1993|p=54}} and Universal president [[Casey Silver]] recommended [[David Koepp]], who co-wrote ''Death Becomes Her''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Backstory 5: Interviews with Screenwriters of the 1990s |author=McGilligan, Patrick |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-520-25105-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Butler |first=Tom |title='Jurassic Park' screenwriter David Koepp reveals the origin of the film's most quoted line |url=https://uk.movies.yahoo.com/movies/jurassic-park-screenwriter-david-koepp-hold-on-to-your-butts-samule-l-jackson-121034173.html |website=Yahoo |access-date=February 3, 2025 |date=September 6, 2019}}</ref> Koepp had not read the novel, but quickly obtained a copy, and later discussed the book with Spielberg. Koepp disliked doing rewrites because "it's very hard to get into the mind of somebody else and try to follow what they were doing." Spielberg told Koepp he could start from scratch, allowing his own ideas to fully develop. He read through the novel four times before he began writing the screenplay, and chose not to read the earlier drafts until he finished his own. Two sequences from the novel were mandated: the ''T. rex'' attack on a tour vehicle, and the raptors in the kitchen. Otherwise, Koepp was generally allowed to make his own creative choices.{{sfn|Shay & Duncan|1993|p=54–55}}

Koepp found it difficult to condense the novel's scientific exposition, especially the dialogue that explains how the dinosaurs were created. Spielberg devised an idea to easily convey the cloning process through a short, animated film shown to the park visitors. Koepp named the film's cartoon narrator "[[Mr. DNA]]", after Spielberg jokingly referred to the character as such.{{sfn|Shay & Duncan|1993|p=56}} Like Scotch Marmo, Koepp also sought to flesh out the characters of the novel while merging Malcolm's traits into Grant,{{sfn|Shay & Duncan|1993|p=56}}{{sfn|Mottram|2021|p=60}} finding the former character too difficult to write: "I told Steven before I started, 'That guy's gotta go. [...] He's just talking for pages at a time about esoteric scientific concepts'."<ref name=Koepp2023/>

After Koepp finished his first draft, Spielberg sent it to Scotch Marmo for her opinion, and she replied with 12 pages of input; these were forwarded to Koepp, who found them helpful. He continued to work closely with Spielberg and with additional feedback from Scotch Marmo.{{sfn|Shay & Duncan|1993|p=62}} Malcolm was written in at Spielberg's insistence, after [[Jeff Goldblum]] auditioned for the film and was deemed perfect for the role.<ref name=Koepp2023>{{cite web |last=Lund |first=Anthony |title=Jurassic Park Writer Originally Left Jeff Goldblum's Ian Malcolm Out of the Movie |url=https://movieweb.com/jurassic-park-writer-cut-jeff-goldblum-ian-malcolm-out/ |website=MovieWeb |access-date=February 9, 2025 |date=June 17, 2023}}</ref> Koepp tried to make the characters interesting, with moments such as Malcolm flirting with Sattler, leading to Grant's jealousy.<ref name=dawn/> He also tried to avoid excessive character detail because "whenever they started talking about their personal lives, you couldn't care less."<ref>{{cite magazine |title=A World Apart |author=Biskind, Peter |magazine=[[Premiere (magazine)|Premiere]] |date=May 1997}}</ref> Spielberg suggested modifying a scene so that the ''T. rex'' pursues characters in a Jeep; originally, it only depicted them driving away after hearing the dinosaur's footsteps.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.avclub.com/article/david-koepp-13615 |title=David Koepp: Writer's block |date=September 8, 1999 |website=[[The A.V. Club]] |access-date=January 7, 2014 |archive-date=January 7, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107150215/http://www.avclub.com/article/david-koepp-13615 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Rewrites continued until just before the start of filming.{{sfn|Shay & Duncan|1993|p=62}} Crichton noted that the final draft differed drastically from his earlier script, but praised the changes and said the new screenplay "seems very compatible with my way of thinking—it fits in my mind."{{sfn|Shay & Duncan|1993|p=65}} Scotch Marmo did not receive credit for her work.<ref name=McBride/>