In the story, “A Firm Offer,” our original idea was the opposite of what comes to pass in the final version. We had planned to have Wade somehow learn that Eva had been unfaithful. There would have been a violent scene, where Wade hits his wife. Blascovitch would have arrived and defended Eva, or even killed Wade.

Naturally, we prefer our final script, where Eva isn’t a victim who makes a decision in the heat of the moment. When Brookbank and Blascovitch make her an offer, she analyzes the situation coolly, and it’s her own ambition that leads her to turn her back on her life. We feel that, in this scene, Eva gains more personality, which creates some interesting dramatic potential.