Editing Arrested Development (section)

=== Conception ===
Discussion that led to the creation of the series began in the summer of 2002. [[Ron Howard]] had the original idea to create a [[television comedy|comedy series]] in the style of handheld cameras and reality television, but with an elaborate, highly comical script resulting from repeated rewritings and rehearsals. Howard met with [[David Nevins (television producer)|David Nevins]], the president of [[Imagine Television]], Katie O'Connell, a senior vice president, and two writers, including [[Mitchell Hurwitz]]. In light of recent [[accounting scandals|corporate accounting scandals]], such as [[Enron Corporation|Enron]] and [[Adelphia Communications Corporation|Adelphia]], Hurwitz suggested a story about a "riches to rags" family. Howard and Imagine were interested in using this idea, and signed Hurwitz to write the show. The idea was pitched and sold in Q3 2002. There was a bidding war for the show between Fox and NBC, with the show ultimately selling to Fox as a [[put pilot]] with a six-figure penalty.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lotz |first=Amanda |title=The Television Will Be Revolutionized |year=2007 |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=978-0-8147-5232-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/televisionwillbe0000lotz/page/231 231] |url=https://archive.org/details/televisionwillbe0000lotz|url-access=registration }}</ref>

Over the next few months, Hurwitz developed the characters and plot for the series. The script of the [[Pilot (Arrested Development)|pilot episode]] was submitted in January 2003 and filmed in March 2003. It was submitted in late April to [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] and was added to the network's fall schedule that May.<ref name="O'Connell">{{cite web |url=http://the-op.com/view/article.php?sect=2900&a=37 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604010723/http://the-op.com/view/article.php?sect=2900&a=37 |archive-date=June 4, 2011 |title=Interview: Katie O'Connell |publisher=Balboa Observer-Picayune |date=November 24, 2005 |url-status=usurped |access-date=June 15, 2012}}</ref>