Firestarter

In 1982, Universal Studios hired John Carpenter to direct an adaptation based on Stephen King's novel.

Bill Lancaster
Bill Lancaster wrote a first draft dated March 1st, 1982, which King liked, but noted a departure, that John Rainbird was replaced with a female antagonist (in the script named Dr. Rahv, who also replaces Dr. Wanless).

Bill Phillips
Another draft came from Bill Phillips (who would later work with Carpenter in 1983 on Christine) that he felt strongly on his version that he did not want to use cheap pyrotechnics.

Turning Point
By the time when Carpenter's The Thing was a failure, Universal got cold feet on Carpenter with slashing the original budget from 28 or 15 million down to about 5 million which made Carpenter walked away, with both drafts abandoned,

A new screenplay written by Stanley Mann with Mark L. Lester as director and the film was released in 1984.