In 1999, McKay and [[Will Ferrell]] wrote the business comedy ''August Blowout''. The premise reportedly was to have seen Ferrell starring as a car salesman desperate to make his sales quotequota during his dealership's annual August clearance sale.<ref>{{cite magazine|author=Variety Staff|url=https://variety.com/1999/voices/columns/ferrell-sets-2-snl-pics-curry-in-favor-at-fox-1117493191/|title=Ferrell sets 2 SNL pics; Curry in favor at Fox|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=April 13, 1999|access-date=March 25, 2025}}</ref> While the script impressed both [[Ben Stiller]] and [[Paul Thomas Anderson]], McKay and Ferrell opted to make ''[[Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy]]'' instead, but would later produce a similar-plotted comedy, ''[[The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard]]''.<ref name="TrustedSource">{{cite news|first=Bradford|last=Evans|title=The Lost Projects of Adam McKay|url=https://www.vulture.com/2013/03/the-lost-projects-of-adam-mckay.html|date=March 7, 2013|website=[[Vulture (website)|Vulture]]|access-date=December 30, 2023}}</ref>
