 In April 1999, although Sony Pictures optioned from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer all preceding script versions of a "Spider-Man" film, it only exercised the options on "the Cameron material", which contractually included a multi-author screenplay and a forty-five-page "scriptment" credited only to James Cameron.The studio announced they were not hiring Cameron himself to direct the film nor would they be using his script.The studio lined up Roland Emmerich, Tony Scott, Chris Columbus, Ang Lee, David Fincher, Jan de Bont and M. Night Shyamalan as potential directors.