the filmmakers continued to look towards non-linear crime dramas for inspiration instead. Producer Preston Stutzman explained that "The whole film is about surprises and secret lives". Not wanting Red to be "boring" or "too innocent", she was patterned on James Dean and given the desire of leaving home to find her way in the world. Todd Edwards had the idea of basing the Wolf on Chevy Chase's character in Fletch, feeling that it would be fun to apply the character's dry, deadpan style of humor to an animated wolf, while Cory Edwards created the hyperactive character of Twitchy to serve as the Wolf's foil. Going against types, Red's Granny was written as a thrill-seeking action hero, while the strong Woodsman was written as being childishly incompetent. The police officers were written to come across as everyday guys and Cory Edwards has explained that the decision to make three of them pigs was not politically motivated. Nicky Flippers was not a part of the story as it was initially conceived and prior to his creation, the investigation was going to be led by Chief Grizzly. After producer Sue Bea Montgomery and her husband pointed out similarities between their film and the 1950s film/TV series The Thin Man, the Edwards brothers and Leech decided to introduce the character and his dog into the film as an homage to Nick Charles. They considered several different types of animals before settling on making him a frog. Cory Edwards chose to approach the film predominantly as an action/comedy, instead of as a typical animated film, and wrote the script to appeal to audiences of any age like many of the films produced by Pixar or Disney. Bugs Bunny, Road Runner, Rocky and Bullwinkle, The Muppets, The Simpsons and The Incredibles have all been cited as inspirations for the film. An attempt was made to distance the film from Shrek and other similar themed films that had been recently released, by excluding magic, wizards, and fairies from the film. Cory Edwards also strived for a different style of humor than Shrek, choosing to make his film more family friendly and less of a satire. Working out of Todd and Preston’s apartment, Cory and Todd Edwards initially wrote the script while Cory sketched most of the film's storyboards, and Todd wrote the songs. Leech simultaneously scanned the boards and edited the story reel on his Mac computer.