 Parker made several changes from Gerolmo's original draft.He omitted the Mafia hitman and created the character Agent Monk, a black FBI specialist who kidnaps Tilman.The scene in which Frank Bailey brutally beats a news cameraman was based on an actual event; Parker and Colesberry were inspired by a news outtake found during their research, in which a CBS News cameraman was assaulted by a suspect in the 1964 murder case.