In the world of ephemera looks can be deceiving. To an untrained eye a scruffy pile of paper may actually be the building blocks of a Hollywood blockbuster like Quentin Tarantino's star studded Pulp Fiction - a document worth $ 950.
Movie scripts or screenplays can become very valuable and highly watched after in the collector markets, while many others can be bought reliably cheaply. Like book collecting, there are key factors in knowing if you have a treasure on your hands.
To learn more about film scripts we talked to 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 film ephemera in North America.
Screenplays appeal to all of those who love cinema, but also to bookish types too. "Book collectors who also love movies often find film scripts and screenplays interesting additions to their collections," says Dan. Although the exact reason for collecting can differ from collector to collector or even script to script. "For some they [the scripts] are an artifact which recalls the experience of watching a classic movie. For others, they show the inner workings of the filmmaking process and the decisions which went into the making of the movie. to you as a collector, filmscripts can be pleasant addendums to your book collection, or the starting point for a comprehensive collection of film material. "
Many aspects of collecting screenplays and collecting books are similar, but there are some key differences one must be aware of when acquiring screenplays.
First, the condition of a screenplay is less of an issue for most collectors. "Condition, one factor which is usually critical for book values, is less important for film scripts because of their limited and fragile productions, and because all copies were intended for daily use. much more limited than for a book. "
The value of a script, like that of a book or most other commodities, depends on supply and demand. "A script for a classic movie loved by millions is always going to cost more than a script for a little known picture watched only by film historians and aficionados." In other words a copy of the 1943 Ernst Lubitsch-directed classic Heaven Can Wait ($ 1200) about a would-be sinner (Don Ameche) not quite bad enough to get into Hell, which was nominated for three Oscars will understandably garner a higher price then the 1981 Tom Cruise and Sean Penn film Taps ($ 200) where a group of military cadets seize their campus to prevent a land developer from turning it into condos.
However just because a film is only remembered by aficionados does not mean it's worthless because Dan says "many of the people who collect scripts ARE film aficionados." Sometimes any scripts from a popular director or actor will be worth a handsome sum even if the film is not very known or popular. "This is particularly true because of the foreseeable availability of film scripts, a collector trying to buy a well known book can usually find a copy if he or she is a patient. copy, no matter how long they wait or how much they are willing to spend. " A good example might be with Alfred Hitchcock's The Paradine Case (a courtroom drama where a woman is accused of poisoning her older, blind husband). Usually not considered 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 of screenplays but there is greater room for variance in the screenplay market. With a book the only signatures that usually appear are that of the author and possibly illustrator. With a film, however, there are many more people visibly involved in the production (ie: writer, director and an entire cast). "Right now we have the script [at Between the Covers] for the 1938 film Man About Town ($ 8500), it's not a famous film; script is signed by many of the actors including Jack Benny, Dorothy Lamour, Betty Grable, and others. That collection of autographs from well-remembered Hollywood legends turns a not particularly desirable script into a very desirable one. "
Sometimes you do not even need the signature to make the script valuable, "scripts sometimes have the name of the actor, screenwriter, or production person that copy was intended for either printed or written on them, and this too can add both to the provenance and the value. " This copy of The Highlander has the price tag of $ 750 because it was believed to have belonged to Sean Connery. And then sometimes it's not who signed it or who it was for but what was done to it that makes the script valuable. "Notations by someone involved in the production, not unlike notifications in an uncorrected proof of a book, can also enhance the value."
With screenplays, it is not always the first edition which will fetch the highest price. "The number [of copies] can vary from a few dozen to several dozen (of the same film but in various states), depending on the needs of the production." These different states can be worth different amounts depending on how many of that specific state were produced, such as with these two copies of "The Shop around the Corner." The James Stewart and Margaret Sullivan film which was remade in 1998 by Nora Ephron as You've Got Mail with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Depending on which version you have it could go for $ 2000 to $ 2500. It all comes back to the number of copies that were produced, or more importantly on the 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 copies since only a few individuals need to read them." You do not always know how many copies of each script are out there but sometimes studio's letter or number their scripts so you will know the exact number produced such as Marlon Brando's personal copy of the Viva Zapata! (for a whopping $ 12,500), however numbered or not you have a very rare item with a screenplay.
With filmscripts, as with books, you do not always need to spend a lot to get something interesting, but if you're willing to spend top dollar the sky is the limit for what you can find.
On the lower end of the scale you can buy in a copy of Universal Pictures turkey of a film Howard the Duck for $ 75 or the George Romero zombie "classic" Night of the Living Dead for about $ 30.
Stepping it up a notch you can have the pair of cult classics Gremlins I & II for $ 400, the Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster psychological Thriller Silence of the Lambs for $ 150, or arguably the best Star Trek film to have been made Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan for $ 600.
And if you are willing to put up a bit more money you can get your hands on a piece of history: Oliver Stone's JFK ($ 1250), possibly Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (priced at $ 2001 of course) or Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather ($ 12,500)
Of course we had to ask Gregory what the most valuable script he had ever sold was?
He said it was Gone with the Wind which sold for $ 9500.