Producer Lauren Shuler Donner and screenwriter Gary Ross had known each other since taking a Stella Adler class in the 1970s, and in 1988 Ross told Shuler Donner his idea for "Dave". She approved it, and after the idea was rejected by the studio she was contracted to, Warner Bros. bought the project. Ross wrote the script while working on the Michael Dukakis presidential campaign. Production waited three years for Shuler Donner to be released from her contract and for director Ivan Reitman to become available.