The original spec script for the film was written by Gregory (or Greg) Fitzpatrick, way back in 1993, and he sold it in July of that year to Warner Bros, for $225,000 against $625,000. It was considered to be a "hot property" at the time, and was given to various Hollywood producers and studios, before Warner outbid TriStar Pictures and Paramount Pictures for the script. It was considered to be one of the bigger spec script sales in recent time, especially considering Fitzpatrick was a first time screenwriter. Warner also bought the spec in mind to have it as part of their stockpile of action scripts for some action stars they were working with during that time, and in Maelstrom's case, Clint Eastwood, Sylvester Stallone, and Steven Seagal were in discussions to possibly star in the film.
Described as "Die Hard in a hurricane," the story of this original spec was about a federal agent who is charged with protecting a woman from her husband, a powerful crime boss who has taken out a contract on her life to prevent her from testifying against him. The crime boss hunts them down when he discovers their location.
Interestingly, there were at least a couple more spec scripts during those years which sold for big prices, which were also described as "Die Hard in a hurricane," both of which also almost starred Stallone, but which were never made. In 1989 Carolco Pictures bought a spec script titled "Gale Force," written by David Chappe, for $500,000 against $200,000, which was about an ex-Navy SEAL battling modern day pirates who attack coastal town during a catastrophic hurricane. And in 1995, Universal Pictures bought a spec script titled "No Safe Haven," written by Drew Yanno and Tony Borghi, for $300,000 against $600,000, which was about an ex-marine battling militia-like cult who took over Martha's Vineyard and kidnapped the President's wife and daughter while they were vacationing there, and marine and President join up to stop the terrorists and rescue his family, all the while entire island is being hit by a hurricane.
