David Koepp never thought of incorporating ghost stories into comedy before he created "Ghost Town". While passing by a dental clinic, he suddenly had the idea of shooting "Ghost Town". At first he imagined a dentist who hated to interact with people, and liked to enjoy the peace of a patient who was unable to talk to him during dental treatment. Later David Koepp mentioned this idea to his screenwriter partner John Caps. The worst thing for a person who enjoys loneliness is that he is suddenly entangled by many people, and he cannot escape it no matter where or when.
David Koepp regards Manhattan as the "Ghost Town" with ghosts wandering around in the film. Living people can't see these ghosts at all. Until one day, the erroneous Pincus witnessed a scene that he could not imagine. Later, due to being busy with other films, the story idea was put on hold. A few months later, formal discussions began and the outline of the story was completed.
While crocheting out the various entanglements between Pincus and the ghosts, Cap and Caps also realized that Pincus’s spiritual journey is actually an inner journey that needs to be awake. Pincus’s communication problems created the allegorical structure of the story, and the supernatural encounter contributed to Pincus’s inner transformation. After deciding to let the ghosts guide Pincus back to the real world, Cap and Caps found that their characters are more free. These ghosts do not have to adhere to the laws of nature, but only need to follow the rules of ghosts. In addition to some small ghost rules, Cape and Capes also conceived the real reason for the lingering ghost. They adopted the reverse thinking of traditional ghost stories and believed that ghosts are greedy for the world because the living cannot let go, and be a living person. After learning to accept reality, they will leave safely. In addition, Cap decided to adopt a similar performance approach to " Heaven Can Wait ", that is, to allow the audience to see ghosts from beginning to end
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