# Do you read movie scripts? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 4, 2013, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-movie-scripts/646064 "2013-01-04T15:26:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Oedipus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Oedipus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oedipus)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-movie-scripts/646064/1 "2013-01-04T15:26:11Z")
Personally, I love reading Tarantino’s scripts. His little asides and stage directions are really cool and add a lot of color to what would normally just be…you know…subtitles pretty much. I have no idea about other scripts though. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-movie-scripts/646064/2 "2013-01-04T15:40:59Z")
I’ve read a few - not in a long time, though - 15 years ago, when I wanted to write for the screen. What I found interesting was the differences between the scripts I had and the movies/tv shows that ended up getting made. Whoever (can’t remember) wrote _ **Back to the Future** _ wrote a great movie, but was a \*terrible \*writer. To make things exciting, he used about 4000 exclamation points in a 100 page script!! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-movie-scripts/646064/3 "2013-01-04T15:44:57Z")
I used to read a lot of movie scripts, because they used to occasionally publish them in popular editions. These, of course, weren’t the raw original shooting scripts, but were edited and smoothed for release, but often contained a lot of the writer’s asides and comments, not simply the bare bones of the dialogue and actions. One example I re-read last year was the script for the 1931 HJames Whale version of _Frankenstein_ I’ve read a few things that claim to be real scripts from stores specializing in movie memorabilia or science fiction, but I’m not sure how authentic they really are. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-movie-scripts/646064/4 "2013-01-04T15:52:12Z")
I would love to read, but cannot find anywhere, the script for Guns at Batasi. The best moments are Lauderdale’s insults shouted at a machine gun clip in a thick English accent so I can’t make them all out. I’ve been contemplating picking up the book it was made from, The Siege of Battersea, just for the insults. ---
**Author:** ![Oedipus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Oedipus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oedipus)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-movie-scripts/646064/5 "2013-01-04T15:59:46Z")
> [@bup](#): > > I’ve read a few - not in a long time, though - 15 years ago, when I wanted to write for the screen. > > What I found interesting was the differences between the scripts I had and the movies/tv shows that ended up getting made. > > Whoever (can’t remember) wrote _ **Back to the Future** _ wrote a great movie, but was a \*terrible \*writer. To make things exciting, he used about 4000 exclamation points in a 100 page script!! lol, you mean Robert Zemeckis? You’re absolutely right though. And the first couple pages in the script are completely different from the beginning of the movie. Nowhere do we have the huge speaker that blows up at Doc’s house. Its replace by some boring thing where Marty sleeps in class and has to go to the principal’s office. _snooze_ > **[Back to the Future Script at IMSDb.](https://imsdb.com/Movie%20Scripts/Back%20to%20the%20Future%20Script.html)** > > Back to the Future script at the Internet Movie Script Database. Here it is if anyone else wants to take a peek. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-movie-scripts/646064/6 "2013-01-04T18:23:37Z")
Sometimes. I read Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay for The Social Network… INT. LARRY SUMMERS’ OUTER OFFICE - DAY The President’s office is in one of the two oldest university buildings in the country, and the SECRETARY sitting at the desk is even older. You get the sense that she thinks Harvard would be a better place if it weren’t for all these students. 😃