Jeff Eastin stated that he originally had the idea for "White Collar" while sitting in a hot tub before the WGA strike in 2008. He said that the idea was influenced by "The Shield" and a friend, Travis Romero (who worked on the pilot with him and would later cowrite episodes of "White Collar"). The idea evolved into a story focusing on a man in prison who is let out to solve crimes. However, after being told that the show sounded similar to the NBC series "Life", the idea was shelved. Just before the strike, Eastin and Travis Romero decided to turn the idea into a comedy, and the idea was pitched to USA Network. While pitching the idea, Eastin described Neal Caffrey as "an evil Donald Trump."