a href = fade in

December 7, 2008 6:23 PM

Simply Scripts is a repository of screenplays. Sort of a collection of links to scripts hosted on other sites (like official studio or screenwriter sites). There's some neat stuff there. For instance, I found a Coen brothers script (pdf), based on a James Dickey novel, I'd never heard of before.
posted by Manhasset (14 comments total)

They have Eternal Sunshine. They pass my test.
posted by Navelgazer at 6:47 PM on December 7, 2008

Nice! They have the screenplay for Children of Men, too!
posted by funkbrain at 7:44 PM on December 7, 2008

Well, they have a screenplay for Children of Men. Cool, nonetheless.
posted by funkbrain at 7:47 PM on December 7, 2008 [1 favorite]

Previously: ScriptORama and Pilot School
posted by twoleftfeet at 7:52 PM on December 7, 2008

Nonsnark honest question:
What are the uses for this, besides reading your favorite movie like a book?
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 8:26 PM on December 7, 2008

Back in Film Class, in the pre-web days -- the major mail-order outlets used to charge around $20-40 bucks a crack for scripts. More (much more) if it was in high demand.

Bet they LOVE internet.
posted by RavinDave at 8:30 PM on December 7, 2008

OOOOO! Shiny. Me like.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 9:07 PM on December 7, 2008

Nonsnark honest question:
What are the uses for this, besides reading your favorite movie like a book?

As a screenwriter, I sometimes find it useful to check out scripts of produced films, to learn more about how stories are translated from the page to the screen.

Of course, I don't post the links to Metafilter, for the same reason I don't post links to torrent sites or Limewire.
posted by drjimmy11 at 10:03 PM on December 7, 2008

Put another way:

Yes, believe it or not, a movie script really is a creative work, just like a song or a book or the finished movie derived from it, and yes they are under copyright, and yes, stealing them is illegal.

Also, sales of the paper script are one of the few places where the WGA contract dictates screenwriters be included in the film's profits, so downloading these is taking money directly from their pockets.
posted by drjimmy11 at 10:06 PM on December 7, 2008

Ooops.

Scratch the sanctimony. This site actually seems to contain legit links to studio websites. Most script sites do not.

My bad.
posted by drjimmy11 at 10:09 PM on December 7, 2008

Hm. Potentially a greatest movie never made (my related askme question) in the unproduced scripts section. I'm browsing the Coen Bros script now. Thanks!
posted by jabberjaw at 10:25 PM on December 7, 2008

How about the greatest movie MADE, but never released and you'll never see it? Roberto Benigni got a best-actor Oscar for his version.
posted by RavinDave at 3:10 AM on December 8, 2008

Thanks for this. I read the novel To The White Sea when I found out that the Coen brothers were going to be adapting it and had already written a script. Brad Pitt had signed on as the lead if I remember correctly. But then it never happened. Now I can read it at least.

This also reminded me that David Lynch's scripts for Ronnie Rocket and One Saliva Bubble are available on the web (and through this site) to be read. So thanks.
posted by squarehead at 12:03 PM on December 8, 2008

Back in Film Class, in the pre-web days -- the major mail-order outlets used to charge around $20-40 bucks a crack for scripts. More (much more) if it was in high demand.

When I was in film school (NYU, so this isn't quite as bizarre as it sounds) there were a few hustler-types who would set up their blankets outside 721 Broadway selling scripts they'd obviously transcribed themselves to the students exiting the building.

Also, RavinDave - there's basically unanimous consent that "The Day the Clown Cried" is awful, from everyone involved, as well as from Harry Shearer, one of the only people who's ever been allowed to watch it. The whole time during production Lewis was reportedly asking why the hell they even cast him in the role, he was so ill-suited to the material.
posted by Navelgazer at 3:36 PM on December 8, 2008