Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss - Story and Early Screenplay

Story and Early Screenplay

Shepherd originally wrote the story, upon which the film is based, in 1968 as one of a series for Playboy Magazine between 1966 and 1970. The stories were later published in Shepherd's collection Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories in 1971. Shepherd later described his stories as not based literally on childhood memories, "People are always trying to make me sound like I'm just writing what happened to me. You know, I'm a humorist and a filmmaker. I don't think my stuff is any more autobiographical than, say, Woody Allen's is - or anybody who is involved in making serious films."

Television comedy director John Rich wrote in his memoir that in the 1970s he commissioned Shepherd to write a screenplay from Hopnoodle's, as a possible series pilot episode for the ABC television network. Rich described the script as quite faithful to the story, but problems with management during production prevented that script from being released on American television.