Editing Death to Smoochy (section)

===Preproduction===
In November or December 2000, screenwriter [[Adam Resnick]] wrote the screenplay for the film, while art designers sketched designs for the characters. In the original screenplay, the Smoochy costume was orange. The final film used a pink costume instead.{{citation needed|date=May 2024}}

Resnick said the film mostly stayed true to his script, although the original was fifteen pages too long, and that subplots and a narrator had to be removed. Edward Norton was the first person Resnick brought the script to, as the character had been written for him.<ref name="Fischer">{{cite interview |date=28 March 2002 |first=Paul |last=Fischer |title=Adam Resnick for "Death to Smoochy" |url=https://www.darkhorizons.com/adam-resnick-for-death-to-smoochy/ |website=[[Dark Horizons]] }}</ref>