THE FILES THE STUDIOS DON'T WANT YOU TO SEE

STATUS: PITCHED/NEVER SOLD

This is a short story written for an animation pitch about bulls and bullfighting. It was sold to The Weinstein Company for 24 hours before they reneged on the offer. Don't worry, karma caught up to them.  It remains unsold.

STATUS: CREATED - NEVER PITCHED

These samples are from a plot point outline and a short story, created to pitch a remake of the movie SILENT RUNNING.  This pitch meeting never happened. The story remains unsold.

STATUS: SOLD/UNPRODUCED

This was a project written for Mel Gibson and Warner Brothers.  The plot points are very detailed and a great example of how your plot points should look like before you start writing.  This is a factual retelling of the events leading up to the Midnight ride of American hero and troublemaker - Paul Revere

STATUS: PRODUCED

These are plot points and the short story from the first draft of Robots.  The file with the story contains never-before-seen concept art for the movie. This film was produced and released in 2005.

STATUS: SOLD/UNPRODUCED

This is an unproduced project sold to Spielberg and Universal (not the horror movie with the same title).  It remains on a shelf somewhere at either company, gathering dust.  Spielberg loved the pitch and bought it in the room.  

STATUS: PRODUCED

This is the draft of SWAT that got the project its first green light.  This draft is considered the best action version of the movie with no training sequences and an incredible fast pace.   For a really good background on this project, Redditor u/Russell-Trager-1984 did a really thorough deep dive.  Check that out HERE

STATUS: PRODUCED

This is another of our produced screenplays.  This draft is the orginal action screenplay that got the project sold. Then, through over delveopment, the story changed and became less exciting with lower stakes. Watch the movie then read this draft and imagine how it could have been, especially with talent like Ethan Hawke.

STATUS: SOLD/UNPRODUCED

This was the spec script screenplay that broke me into the industry. It was sold to Columbia Pictures in 1993 for $650,000.  It was a female lead action film for Jodi Foster. In time, the studio wanted Arnold Schwarzenegger, so we were asked to write both a female and male draft.  Both drafts can be found here.  You can learn more about this wild experience in the Film Courage interview

STATUS: REWRITE OF ALAN MCELROY SCRIPT/UNPRODUCED

This was not an original screenplay for us. It was a page-one rewrite of an Alan McElroy screenplay written for HBO.  This screenplay has a bit of a cult following, with fans of the project often asking why this wasn't made.   More about its cult status on this page of REDDIT. 

STATUS: SOLD/UNPRODUCED

This animated story draws inspiration from the original L. Frank Baum novel. Unlike the deus ex machina of the 1939 classic, the Witch’s vulnerability to water is not treated as a secret in this version. In keeping with the source material, the Tin Man is portrayed as a Munchkin. The project was developed by French producers Laurent and Pascal Rodan. Its current status is somewhere over the rainbow.

Want to see something cool? Check out the artwork for this project :

TAKE ME TO OZ

Check back as we add more behind the scenes from produced and unproduced screenplays