 New Line Cinema bought Jeffrey 's treatment and hired him to write the original draft of the script , which featured Death as an unseen force . After the script was finished , New Line Cinema submitted the script to directors , including writing partners James Wong and Glen Morgan . Both writers were willing to make it into a film , although they rewrote the script to comply with their standards . " I believe that at one time or another we 've all experienced a sense of prescience . We have a hunch , a feeling , and then that hunch proves true , " Wong said . " We want to do for planes and air travel what Jaws did for sharks and swimming " . 
