Editing Animal House (section)

===Screenplay===
Kenney met ''Lampoon'' writer Ramis at the suggestion of Simmons. Ramis drew from his own fraternity experiences as a member of [[Zeta Beta Tau]] fraternity at [[Washington University in St. Louis]] and was working on a film treatment about college called "First Year", but the magazine's editors were not happy with it.<ref name="Peterson"/> The famous scene of Bruce McGill as D-Day riding a motorcycle up the stairs of the fraternity house was inspired by Belushi's antics while a student at the [[University of Wisconsin–Whitewater]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=February 25, 2015|title=Famous people of Whitewater|url=https://royalpurplenews.com/16112/lifestyle/famous-people-of-whitewater/|access-date=2020-10-01|website=Royal Purple|archive-date=May 9, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170509004437/http://royalpurplenews.com/16112/lifestyle/famous-people-of-whitewater/|url-status=live}}</ref> Kenney and Ramis started working on a new film treatment together, positing [[Charles Manson]] in a high school, calling it ''Laser Orgy Girls''.<ref name="Nashawaty"/> Simmons was cool to this idea so they changed the setting to a "[[Northeastern United States|northeastern]] college&nbsp;... Ivy League kind of school".<ref name="insidestory"/> Kenney was a fan of Miller's fraternity stories and suggested using them as a basis for a movie. Kenney, Miller, and Ramis began brainstorming ideas.<ref name="Nashawaty"/> They saw the film's 1962 setting as "the last innocent year&nbsp;... of America", and the homecoming parade that ends the film as occurring on November 21, 1963, the day before [[John F. Kennedy assassination|President Kennedy's assassination]];<ref name="insidestory"/> 1962 was also notable for being the year 1973 film ''[[American Graffiti]]'' was set in.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/thats-not-all-folks-a-brief-history-of-the-movie-epilogue-150943790.html|title=That's NOT All, Folks! A Brief History of the Movie Epilogue|publisher=Yahoo Movies|date=December 1, 2016|accessdate=September 7, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://thedissolve.com/features/movie-of-the-week/468-keynote-american-graffiti-and-george-lucas-nostalg/|title=Keynote: American Graffiti and George Lucas' nostalgia for nostalgia|first=Matt|last=Singer|publisher=The Dissolve|date=March 18, 2014|accessdate=September 7, 2024}}</ref> They agreed that Belushi should star in it and Ramis wrote the part of Bluto specifically for the comedian,{{r|neumer2003}} having been friends with him while at Chicago's [[The Second City]].<ref name="Schwartz">{{cite news |last=Schwartz |first=Tony |title=College Humor Comes Back |work=Newsweek |page=88 |date=October 23, 1978}}</ref>

Ramis, Miller, and Kenney were all new to screenwriting,<ref name="insidestory"/>{{r|neumer2003}} so their film treatment ran to 110 pages, where most treatments average 15 pages. Reitman and Simmons pitched it to every Hollywood studio. Simmons met with [[Ned Tanen]], an executive at Universal Pictures. He was encouraged by younger executives [[Sean Daniel]] and [[Thom Mount]] who were more receptive to the Lampoon type of humor;<ref name="Peterson"/> Mount had discovered the "Seven Fires" film treatment as Tanen's assistant while investigating projects left by a fired studio executive.{{r|neumer2003}} Tanen hated the idea. Ramis remembers, "We went further than I think Universal expected or wanted. I think they were shocked and appalled. Chris' fraternity had virtually been a vomiting cult. And we had a lot of scenes that were almost orgies of vomit&nbsp;... We didn't back off anything".<ref name="Nashawaty"/> The writers eventually created nine drafts of the screenplay, and the studio gradually became more receptive to the project, especially Mount, who championed it.<ref name="Medjuck">{{cite news |last=Medjuck |first=Joe |title=The Further Adventures of Ivan Reitman |work=Take One |date=July 1978}}</ref> The studio green-lighted the film and set the budget at a modest $3 million.<ref name="Peterson"/> Simmons remembers, "They just figured, 'Screw it, it's a silly little movie, and we'll make a couple of bucks if we're lucky—let them do whatever they want.'{{-"}}<ref name="Nashawaty"/>