Page "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" Paragraph 22

Filming Raiders of the Lost Ark in Tunisia left Spielberg bored, and memories of his childhood creation resurfaced.

He told screenwriter Melissa Mathison about Night Skies, and developed a subplot from the failed project, in which Buddy, the only friendly alien, befriends an autistic child.

Buddy's abandonment on Earth in the script's final scene inspired the E. T.

concept.

Mathison wrote a first draft titled E. T.

and Me in eight weeks, which Spielberg considered perfect.

The script went through two more drafts, which deleted an " Eddie Haskell "- esque friend of Elliott.

The chase sequence was also created, and Spielberg also suggested having the scene where E. T.

got drunk.

Columbia Pictures, which had been producing Night Skies, met Spielberg to discuss the script.

The studio passed on it, calling it " a wimpy Walt Disney movie ", so Spielberg approached the more receptive Sid Sheinberg, president of MCA.