Jason Reitman made Sony executives read his 'Ghostbusters: Afterlife' script individually in a secure room

• Reitman told Insider he didn't want it out that he was working on a "Ghostbusters" script.
• "Particularly after years of me saying I didn't want to make a 'Ghostbusters' movie," he said.

Jason Reitman is like most writer-directors in Hollywood, he doesn't want to reveal what he's working on until a time of his choosing.

But that was especially the case with "Ghostbusters: Afterlife," as for most of his life he's been saying that he would never follow in his father's (1984 "Ghostbusters" director Ivan Reitman) footsteps, and make his own "Ghostbusters" movie.

But around 2016, at around the same time Paul Feig's all-female "Ghostbusters" movie came out, he went to his father with an idea for a "Ghostbusters" movie. The elder Reitman loved what he heard and asked his son to pitch it to Sony's Ghost Corps, the production company formed to oversee the "Ghostbusters" franchise.

It ended with Jason Reitman getting the green light to make the movie, and being able to write it in secret.

"I think only three people at Sony knew of its existence," Reitman told Insider of the script.

When he and co-writer Gil Kenan were done with the script, they made the executives come in, in person, to read it.

"Each executive had to come by themselves to Ghost Corps and read the script in a room and then leave," Reitman revealed.

"I really didn't want it out there that we were writing this movie," Reitman said of the secrecy. "Particularly after years of me saying I didn't want to make a 'Ghostbusters' movie."

"Ghostbusters: Afterlife," which opens in theaters on November 19, follows a single mother (Carrie Coon) and her two children (Mckenna Grace and Finn Wolfhard) who move to their late grandfather's broken down home in Oklahoma. As they try to adjust to their new lives, they realize that not only was their grandfather one of the original Ghostbusters, but they have to pick up where he left off, defending the world from evil supernatural forces who are on the cusp of taking over.

The movie has its laughs and many hat tips to the original movie (including Elmer Bernstein's memorable score from the 1984 movie), but it's surprisingly moving with its Spielbergian look at a group of young friends teaming up to save the day. Don't be surprised if you shed a tear or two by the end of it.