Editing Traffic (2000 film) (section)

===Screenplay===
Soderbergh had "conceptual discussions" with Gaghan while he was shooting ''[[The Limey]]'' in October 1998; they finished the outline before he went off to shoot ''[[Erin Brockovich (film)|Erin Brockovich]]''.<ref name="Hope" /> After Soderbergh was finished with that film, Gaghan had written a first draft in six weeks that was 165 pages long.<ref name="Divine" /> After the film was approved for production, Soderbergh and Gaghan met two separate times for three days to reformat the script.<ref name="Divine" /> The draft they shot had 163 pages with 135 speaking parts and featured seven cities.<ref name="Hope" /> The film shortens the story line of the original miniseries; a significant character arc of a farmer is taken out, and the [[Pakistan]]i plotline is replaced with one set in Mexico.<ref name="Lemons" />