OK-- then it's the same story, not two different stories, the main difference being some altered action in the third act.

This sounds like simple, logical, developmental progression, nothing extraordinary. A producer (in this case, neither an illiterate fool nor a Philistine) has a one- or two-page story idea. He gives it to a writer and the writer writes. They discuss the first draft, the writer makes some minor tweaks (a couple of times). Relatively happy and enthused, the producer discusses the material with the story department and/or his higher-ups and gets feedback. The producer relates the concerns to the writer, and the third act is altered and improved.

Given the ephemeral verbosity of the treatment, the producer makes the call to hire a journeyman writer to adapt the story to a screenplay so studio people-- designers, costumers, budgeters, actors-- actually understand how to put the movie on film.

EDIT: Given the wacky inappropriateness of THE ATOMIC MONSTER as a title... I wonder if this was a slug title, like DESTINY in the 1940s at Universal, something to plop onto the first page of a screenplay so at least there's SOMEthing there. The most awful example of this is I can think of is the Morey Amsterdam thing, DON'T WORRY, WE'LL THINK OF A TITLE.  And they didn't.  Like it would've helped.

Last Edited By: Ted Newsom Aug 5 10 4:02 PM. Edited 1 times.