allen hadn't wanted to write "prince of the city", just produce it. she was put off by the book's non-linear story structure, but lumet wouldn't make the picture without her, and agreed to write the outline for her. lumet and allen went over the book and agreed on what they could use and what they could do without. to her horror, lumet would come in every day for weeks and scribble on legal pads. she was terrified that she would have to tell him that his stuff was unusable, but to her delight the outline was wonderful and she went to work. it was her first project with living subjects, and allen interviewed nearly everyone in the book and had endless hours of bob leuci’s tapes for back-up. with all her research and lumet's outline, she eventually turned out a 365-page script in 10 days. it was nearly impossible to sell the studio on a three-hour picture, but by offering to slash the budget to $10 million they agreed. (when asked if the original author ever has anything to say about how their book is treated, allen replied: "not if i can help it. you cannot open that can of worms. you sell your book, you go to the bank, you shut up.")