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Originally posted by: zombie84
The fourth draft is available online so who cares.
I don't. I just thought it would be worth a little more than a pack of smokes & cola. I do think that this 4th draft script on eBay was one the possible official reproductions sold to the public in 1980 unless it was a reproduction of the official reproduction.
Here is the thing--whenever you see these scripts being sold by collectors, they are not fascimiles from the studio vault. These scripts are available online and sellers just print them off. You pay for the paper, the ink and the binding, but these are not some secret rare thing, otherwise they would sell for hundreds of dollars. The fifth draft has been available for years--Lucasfilm published it in the 1980 ESB Notebook, in the Empire Strikes Back Illustrated Screenplay, as a stand-alone script, and as part of The Annotated Screenplays. Same goes for ANH and ROTJ. The problem is that these official releases by Lucasfilm are not the true final drafts, they are the final draft edited to the film edit, so you just get what is on screen and not the unfilmed material. The only true final draft we have is for Star Wars because in the late 70's, every single draft of the script, from the 1973 treatment to the 1976 shooting script was leaked and has been circulating on the collectors circuit. Since then Lucasfilm security has been very tight, though luckily a fourth draft of ESB managed to get out, as well as a revised rough draft of ROTJ (which is missing a page or two at the end).
Its not likely that any of the unaccounted for drafts will ever be let out, and because an edited version of the final drafts have been released by Lucasfilm there is not even much demand for them. Supposedly, Leigh Brackett's first draft is available to read at an archival library of some kind, i think at a University somewhere in the southern US. I'm suspicious that this is merely an internet rumour however, and regardless the rumour is that it cannot leave the library grounds so you can't photocopy it or anything. This is the real Holy Grail of star wars scripts, the draft of ESB where Darth Vader was still a seperate character from Father Skywalker. But anyway. The only way to obtain any of the unreleased drafts is if rare personal copies from crew members are auctioned off--i.e. Gary Kurtz' auction from a while back, which i am still fuming that i happened to be broke at that time.
The fourth draft is available online so who cares.
I don't. I just thought it would be worth a little more than a pack of smokes & cola. I do think that this 4th draft script on eBay was one the possible official reproductions sold to the public in 1980 unless it was a reproduction of the official reproduction.
Here is the thing--whenever you see these scripts being sold by collectors, they are not fascimiles from the studio vault. These scripts are available online and sellers just print them off. You pay for the paper, the ink and the binding, but these are not some secret rare thing, otherwise they would sell for hundreds of dollars. The fifth draft has been available for years--Lucasfilm published it in the 1980 ESB Notebook, in the Empire Strikes Back Illustrated Screenplay, as a stand-alone script, and as part of The Annotated Screenplays. Same goes for ANH and ROTJ. The problem is that these official releases by Lucasfilm are not the true final drafts, they are the final draft edited to the film edit, so you just get what is on screen and not the unfilmed material. The only true final draft we have is for Star Wars because in the late 70's, every single draft of the script, from the 1973 treatment to the 1976 shooting script was leaked and has been circulating on the collectors circuit. Since then Lucasfilm security has been very tight, though luckily a fourth draft of ESB managed to get out, as well as a revised rough draft of ROTJ (which is missing a page or two at the end).
Its not likely that any of the unaccounted for drafts will ever be let out, and because an edited version of the final drafts have been released by Lucasfilm there is not even much demand for them. Supposedly, Leigh Brackett's first draft is available to read at an archival library of some kind, i think at a University somewhere in the southern US. I'm suspicious that this is merely an internet rumour however, and regardless the rumour is that it cannot leave the library grounds so you can't photocopy it or anything. This is the real Holy Grail of star wars scripts, the draft of ESB where Darth Vader was still a seperate character from Father Skywalker. But anyway. The only way to obtain any of the unreleased drafts is if rare personal copies from crew members are auctioned off--i.e. Gary Kurtz' auction from a while back, which i am still fuming that i happened to be broke at that time.
That's interesting info. about Leigh's first draft. If you could actually read it at some University in the U.S. it may be nice to bring somebody with you that has a photographic memory or copy it down on paper when nobody's watching.
Do you know anything about this?
...most of these original production scripts actually got sold off (not auctioned) starting roughly Summer-Fall 1980. The SW fan club was given first shot at them & then they appeared in small 1/8th sized page ads (bottom of page & near the back the mag.) in the popular sci-fi film magazines at the time in the U.S./Canada (not sure about the rest of the world) until the scripts got sold out. He thought that he likely saw the ad. in STARLOG magazine (Anybody have some issues from this period?) etc.
Something else to add to this the 4th draft-the public version (the pricing was: signed (most expensive), then 4th draft upwards it got cheaper) were all released to the public in 1980. The 1st. wave of these drafts were indeed original copies used during the production/filming by cast & crew. A few were signed as well. The 2nd. wave being reproductions (lower price) of these scripts when the originals that were made available became sold out for a limited time.
If you can verfiy the info. above it would be interesting to know what you find. It may be useful information for yourself if any of it is true. That is if your have too much time on you hands, got those scripts on your mind & don't mind searching for those wasted years. I know that last bit barely makes sense, but I'm guessing you can figure out the secret nod.
Sure, other real scripts etc. got auctioned off over the years by the cast/crew from their personal collections as well, of course these are the big ticket items & the most sought after copies by fans like yourself (especially ones actually annotated by GL or other key production members). I really want to see the 1st. 5th draft because the sample page on this auction I did see makes me think that this is possibly the script I've been wanting to read the most & also likely making you 100% correct (depending on what is not dropped from the Hoth scenes scripted in the 4th draft) about one of our previous discussions about the these scripts. Know the power of the dark side. The power to save Padme.
