By Movie scripts can provide an interesting look into how movies are conceptualized. They can show both how well-planned that one favorite scene was and how much the director made things up on the spot. But unless you’re trying to learn from them, their value is almost nonexistent once the film has actually been made. What average joe is going to want to read a note-filled script when he could watch the movie instead?
So it’s perplexing that, according to Yahoo, Fox is quite upset that Patricia McIlvaine has posted about one hundred of their scripts online. A self-described “struggling screenwriter who sells flowers over the phone by day and writes scripts by night,” the New York City resident is being sued for $15 million in damages by the entertainment giant. It’s hard to understand, because looking at the list of scripts, it’s all stuff most people have probably seen before. Aliens, Edward Scissorhands, Wall Street, Deadpool – oh wait. Deadpool hasn’t even really entered production yet. That could be why they’re so mad.
McIlvaine claims that all the scripts she collected were already posted on the web; she just made a free online library of scripts in the hopes of assisting other screenwriters. Fox, however, is afraid of the script spoiling the movie for its viewers, effectively damaging the film’s release. Honestly, what are they afraid of? Only film buffs really care about scripts, and they’ll go see films anyway. I doubt their core demographic will be seeking out a script to find out what happened so they don’t have to go pay to see a movie.
Donations are being solicited for the legal defense of McIlvaine. Seeing as $15 million is a lot of money for a “struggling screenwriter,” she’ll need it.
[Yahoo via FilmDrunk]