 The financial success of Pee @-@ wee 's Big Adventure ( 1985 ) meant that Burton was considered a " bankable " director , and he began working on a script for Batman with Sam Hamm . While Warner Bros. was willing to pay for the script 's development , they were less willing to green @-@ light Batman . Meanwhile , Burton had begun reading the scripts that had been sent his way , and was disheartened by their lack of imagination and originality , one of them being Hot to Trot . David Geffen handed Burton the script for Beetlejuice , written by McDowell ( who wrote the script for " The Jar " , an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents directed by Burton ) . 
