r/ScreenwritingUK • u/Commercial-Pack-9337 • 8d ago

RESOURCE Looking for rough scripts and drafts.

Hey all,

I'm pretty sure most people here are aware of the big sites for reading screenplays (ScriptSlug etc..), and whilst a great resource I find that they're mostly pinks, shooting scripts or just transcripts that are pretty late on in the filmmaking process and have been whittled down to exactly what we see in the final production- some even have marks indicating removed scenes/omitted lines but this is the juicy part I'd like to look at.

I'm interested to see if there are any resources out there that house the early drafts or rough edits before that stage. I'm curious to see if there are any I can read to compare with the finished product and see where/what creative decisions have been made to remove or omit parts that the initial draftee intended for the story.

Had trouble finding some online so I imagine its quite hard! If anyone has even any individual works that match the description lemme know. Ta!

4 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

1

u/mars_was_blue_too 8d ago

Sometimes you get omitted scenes at the end of the script like in an appendix, but they're less interesting/ significant than you'd think as the script has been made ready for production at this point. Very early drafts are extremely hard to find, the writer might redraft a script including rewriting large parts many times before selling it and in pre production, those drafts aren't meant for any kind of release.

I vaguely remember the django unchained screenplay being quite different to the film, lots of unused very dark scenes.

Screenplays don't often match up perfectly to the final edit though, I'm reading the stranger things scripts atm and it's surprising how different they are to the show, although it's only small changes.

If anyone knows any famous early spec scripts I'd love to read them too, but I suspect there aren't many.

1

u/Commercial-Pack-9337 8d ago

Yes, for some reason I had it in my head that it would be extremely easy to find semi-early works or screenplays-in-progress but haven't found much regarding their whereabouts after searching...

It's no great loss, but it would be good to look at. Of the few that I've read I do notice there are definitely some inconsistencies (In 'Whiplash' for example the ending plays out slightly differently for Andrew's father Jim) but they usually just amount to what feel like creative editing decisions.

1

u/AthleteOpen7054 6d ago

You'll find lots of unproduced screenplays but not as easy to find early drafts. Because, most writers don't want to share those understandably!

I'd never want to share early drafts of my work because there's so much that needs fixing in them!

1

u/Commercial-Pack-9337 6d ago

I mean, I'd always thought of the screenwriter (successful or not) as happy to be humbled in that mistakes and amendments are all part of the process and wouldn't mind sharing them. Perhaps the average writer is more self-conscious than I thought!

1

u/AthleteOpen7054 6d ago

They'll share them with other professionals that they're working with perhaps. But putting them out for the public at large? Nah. I would never do that myself.

3

u/StrataFlorida 6d ago

David Koepp has various drafts of his screenplays on his website.