Anderson had been working on a screenplay about two fighting families. He struggled with the script and soon realized it was not working. Homesick, he purchased a copy of "Oil!" in London, drawn to its cover illustration of a California oilfield. As he read, Anderson became more fascinated with the novel. After contacting Schlosser, he adapted the first 150 pages to a screenplay. He began to get a real sense of where his script was going after making many trips to museums dedicated to early oilmen in Bakersfield. Anderson changed the title from "Oil!" to "There Will Be Blood" because he felt "there's not enough of the book to feel like it's a proper adaptation".