Collectable,Screen,Plays,Film, entertainment Collectable Screen Plays: Film Scripts worth a Fortune

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In the world of ephemera looks can bedeceiving. To an untrained eye a scruffy pile of paper may actually be thebuilding blocks of a Hollywood blockbusterlike Quentin Tarantino’s star studded PulpFiction  - a document worth $950.  Moviescripts or screenplays can become very valuable and highly sought after in thecollector markets, while many others can be bought relatively cheaply.  Like book collecting, there are key factorsin knowing if you have a treasure on your hands. To learn more about film scripts we talkedto Dan Gregory, a bookselling expert from Between the Covers in Merchantville, New Jersey. Between the Covers is one of the leading sellers of screenplays and filmephemera in North America. Screenplays appeal to all of those who lovecinema, but also to bookish types too.  “Bookcollectors who also love movies often find film scripts and screenplaysinteresting additions to their collections,” says Dan.  Though the exact reason for collecting candiffer from collector to collector or even script to script.  “For some they [the scripts] are an artifactwhich recalls the experience of watching a classic movie. For others, they showthe inner workings of the filmmaking process and the decisions which went intothe making of the movie. Regardless of why they appeal to you as a collector,filmscripts can be pleasant addendums to your book collection, or the startingpoint for a comprehensive collection of film material.” Many aspects of collecting screenplays andcollecting books are similar, but there are some key differences one must beaware of when acquiring screenplays.   First, the condition of a screenplay isless of an issue for most collectors.  “Condition,one factor which is usually critical for book values, is less important forfilm scripts because of their limited and fragile productions, and because allcopies were intended for daily use. The chances of finding a "better"copy of a script are much more limited than for a book.” The value of a script, like that of a bookor most other commodities, depends on supply and demand.  “A script for a classic movie loved bymillions is always going to cost more than a script for a little known picturewatched only by film historians and aficionados.”  In other words a copy of the 1943 Ernst Lubitsch-directed classic  HeavenCan Wait ($1200) about a would-be sinner (Don Ameche) not quite bad enoughto get into Hell, which was nominated for three Oscars will understandablygarner a higher price then the 1981 Tom Cruise and Sean Penn filmTaps($200)where a group of military cadets seize their campus toprevent a land developer from turning it into condos. However just because a film is onlyremembered by aficionados doesn’t mean it’s worthless because as Dan says “manyof the people who collect scripts ARE film aficionados.” Sometimes any scriptsfrom a popular director or actor will be worth a handsome sum even if the filmis not very known or popular. “This is particularly true because of thepredictable availability of film scripts, a collector hoping to buy a wellknown book can usually find a copy if he or she is patient. Collectors hopingfor a particular film script may never have the opportunity to purchase a copy,no matter how long they wait or how much they are willing to spend.”  A good example might be with AlfredHitchcock’s TheParadine Case (a courtroom drama where a woman is accused of poisoning herolder, blind husband).  Generally notconsidered one of Hitchcock’s best films yet it still fetches a high price at$6000 because of the director’s notoriety. Signatures can also effect the value ofscreenplays but there is greater room for variance in the screenplay market.  With a book the only signatures that usually appearare that of the author and possibly illustrator.  With a film, however, there are many morepeople visibly involved in the production (ie: writer, director and an entirecast).  “Right now we have the script [atBetween the Covers] for the 1938 film Man About Town ($8500), it's not afamous film; you would have to be a real film buff to have heard of it. Butthis copy of the script is signed by many of the actors including Jack Benny,Dorothy Lamour, Betty Grable, and others. That collection of autographs fromwell-remembered Hollywood legends turns a notparticularly desirable script into a very desirable one.”   Sometimes you don’t even need the signatureto make the script valuable, “scripts sometimes have the name of the actor,screenwriter, or production person that copy was intended for either printed orwritten on them, and this too can add both to the provenance and the value.”  This copy of TheHighlander has the price tag of $750 because it was believed to havebelonged to Sean Connery. And then sometimes it’s not who signed it or who itwas for but what was done to it that makes the script valuable.  “Notations by someone involved in theproduction, not unlike notations in an uncorrected proof of a book, can alsoenhance the value.” With screenplays, it is not always thefirst edition which will fetch the highest price.  “The number [of copies] can vary from a fewdozen to several dozen (of the same film but in various states), depending onthe needs of the production.”  Thesedifferent states can be worth different amounts depending on how many of thatspecific state were produced, such as with these two copies of “TheShop around the Corner.” The James Stewart and Margaret Sullivan film whichwas remade in 1998 by Nora Ephron as You've Got Mail with Tom Hanks and MegRyan.  Depending on which version youhave it could go for $2000 to $2500.   Itall comes back to the number of copies that were produced, or more importantly onthe market demand. “Screen treatments or screenplays which do not get produced,or are in their very early drafts, often exist in only a handful of copiessince only a few individuals need to read them.”   Youdon’t always know how many copies of each script are out there but sometimes studio’sletter or number their scripts so you will know the exact number produced suchas with Marlon Brando's personal copy of the VivaZapata!(for a whopping $12,500), however numbered ornot you have a very rare item with a screenplay.  With filmscripts, as with books, you don’talways need to spend a lot to get something interesting, but if you’re willingto spend top dollar the sky is the limit for what you can find. On the lower end of the scale you can buyin on a copy of Universal Pictures turkey of a film Howardthe Duck for $75 or the George Romero zombie “classic” Nightof the Living Dead for about $30. Stepping it up a notch you can have thepair of cult classics GremlinsI & II for $400, the Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster psychologicalthriller Silenceof the Lambs for $150, or arguably the best Star Trek film to have beenmade StarTrek II: The Wrath of Khan for $600. And if you are willing to put up a bit moremoney you can get your hands on a piece of history: Oliver Stone’s JFK($1250),  perhaps Stanley Kubrick‘s 2001:A Space Odyssey (priced at $2001 of course) or Francis Ford Coppola’s TheGodfather($12,500) Of course we had to ask Mr. Gregory whatthe most valuable script he had ever sold was?He said it was Gone with the Wind whichsold for $9500.