“You’ve got the Ancient One as Tilda Swinton. Give me a break! Really? I mean, it’s stupid. You know?”

That’s a quote from screenwriter/producer, Bob Gale, you might know him from films like “Back To The Future” and “Used Cars”.

Gale is a huge fan of Dr. Strange, and in the mid 80’s shopped a rather cool draft around. It wasn’t overly ambitious, and seemed designed for a slightly lower budget, but we have to remember, this is back in a time when Marvel could barely give away characters, let alone have them dominating the box office.

Anyway, for some reason this script didn’t sell, and we wouldn’t see an official Dr. Strange on the silver screen for another thirty years. Click the pic and have a read, Gale says he won’t watch it, but what do you think, is he right to avoid it, or is it just sour grapes, let us know below.

Stephen Batchelor is a screenwriter. He watches movies. Reads scripts. Writes pages. Read His Blog, check out his facebook page Facebook.com/TheScriptMason and stalk him on twitter @thescriptmason.

La La Land – undated, unspecified script by Damien Chazelle – hosted by: Lionsgate – in pdf format

Mia, an aspiring actress, serves lattes to movie stars in between auditions and Sebastian, a jazz musician, scrapes by playing cocktail party gigs in dingy bars, but as success mounts they are faced with decisions that begin to fray the fragile fabric of their love affair, and the dreams they worked so hard to maintain in each other threaten to rip them apart.

Information courtesy of imdb.com

Thanks John for the heads up. Find more Oscar nominated screenplays.

Stephen Batchelor has another interesting article on and a copy of the unproduced screenplay of Crusade written by Walon Green. You can find it on his blog.

For a brief moment in the 90’s director Paul Verhoeven, and super star Arnold Schwarzenegger had the opportunity to re-team for what surely would have been the most fascinating medieval epic of the decade – Crusade. Read More ->

Crusades – January 24, 1993 unproduced, revised draft script by Walon Green (revisions by Gary Goldman) – hosted by: Stephen Batchelor – Screenwriter – in pdf format

Hagen is a renegade soldier who is waiting on death row, but his fate is changed when he meets with the Pope. Hagen started the sacred ground to fight on behalf of Christianity under the walls of Jerusalem.

Information courtesy of GeekTyrant

Best Adapted Screenplay Nominations

Arrival (pdf format) by Eric Heisserer (Based on the story “Story of Your Life” written by Ted Chiang) host:Paramount

Fences (pdf format) by August Wilson (based on his play) host:Paramount

Hidden Figures (pdf format) by Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi (Based on the book “Hidden Figures” by Margot Shetterly) host:Fox Movies

Lion (pdf format) by Luke Davies (Based on the book A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley) host:The Weinstein Company

Moonlight (pdf format) by Barry Jenkins (Based on “In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue” By Tarell Alvin McCraney) host:A24

Best Original Screenplay Nominations

20th Century Woman (pdf format) by Mike Mills host:A24

Hell or High Water (pdf format) by Taylor Sheridan host:CBS Films

La La Land (pdf format) by Damien Chazelle host:Lionsgate

The Lobster (not available) by Yorgos Lanthimos & Efthimis Filippou host:A24

Manchester By The Sea (pdf format) by Kenneth Lonergan host:Amazon Studios

Thanks to MNightFans.com you can read Labor of Love

Labor of Love – Undated Unproduced draft script by M. Night Shyamalan – hosted by: M. Night Fans – in pdf format

A widower embarks on a cross-country trip on foot to prove his love for his late wife.

The original screenplay was written in 1992 and sold to 20th Century Fox in 1993. Harrison Ford was initially considered to play the lead with Sydney Pollack approached to direct. The production stalled when Eric Roth’s subsequent screenplay for Forrest Gump (1994) recycled a similar plot device. The movie then languished in development hell for over twenty years.

Information courtesy of imdb.com

Check out more on the Movie Scripts page.

Stephen Batchelor has another interesting article on and a copy of the unproduced screenplay Wonder Woman written by Laeta Kalogridis. You can find it on Stephen’s blog.

A Wonder Woman film of some sort has been bouncing around various directors and writers for decades. Studios seem to want to make one, but no one seems to be able to get one off the ground… read more on Stephen’s blog.

Wonder Woman – August 26, 2004 unproduced, fourth draft script by Laeta Kalogridis – hosted by: Stephen Batchelor – Screenwriter – in pdf format

The demi-godess Diana has to stop her vicious father Ares from obtaining an ancient artifact, that could plunge the whole world into an eternal war.

check out Wonder Woman script review

Information courtesy of Wikipedia

Check out more scripts on the Movie Scripts page.

I’ve been a fan of Danny Elfman ever since Tim Burton’s “Batman”. Film after film Elfman scored for Burton, but it wasn’t until the mid ’90s that I found out he was part of a band (Oingo Boingo). A whole new path just opened up for me.

Another path this musician has attempted to follow is directing, a number of projects have come and disappeared, one of the more promising ones was “Little Demons”.

Set in 1921, about three young kids (Cynthia, Jonathan and Bradley) who perform in a traveling carnival show. To appease their saintly dead mother, they lure young women into their crazy uncles trailer and kill them, with the belief that the souls of the dead will now help their dead mother in heaven.

The film is quite violent, and I’m not quite sure who the audience was going to be. Around the time this draft was completed, Elfman had signed a deal with Disney to direct (something with didn’t come to fruition, but musician has always had a great relationship with the studio) a few films.

If you Google the title you’ll find demos for most of the tunes (it has a bit of a “Nightmare Before Christmas” feel, kinda…) and they seem fine, very ‘Elfman’ of course, but what did you expect.

Certainly a curious ‘what-if’, and even now it occasionally pops up in interviews with Elfman, and I believe it’s a project he regrets didn’t get off the ground.

Click the picture, have a read and maybe Google some of the songs, you’ll get a very good idea of what might have been, let me know what you think in the comments below.

Stephen Batchelor is a screenwriter. He watches movies. Reads scripts. Writes pages. Read His Blog, check out his facebook page Facebook.com/TheScriptMason and stalk him on twitter @thescriptmason.

A Wonder Woman film of some sort has been bouncing around various directors and writers for decades. Studios seem to want to make one, but no one seems to be able to get one off the ground.

At the beginning of 2001, producer Joel Silver approached screenwriter Todd Alcott to step up to the task with Silver Pictures backing the project. At the time, names such as Megan Fox, Sandra Bullock, Angelina Jolie and Catherine Zeta-Jones were rumored to be up for the role. 

Bullock, in interviews confirmed she had been approached for the part, wrestler Chyna had expressed interest in the role, while Zena herself, Lucy Lawless said she had turned down the role in the past, stating that she wanted Wonder Woman to be a more of a flawed hero.

The revolving door of leading actresses was only outweighed by screenwriters. Alcott was followed by, Jon Cohen, Becky Johnston, and Philip Levens. This brings us to August of 2003 when Laeta Kalogridis came on board to tackle the latest draft.

This is the draft I have here today. Click the pic, have a read (a lot of whats in this script seems to coincide with spoilers from the current production, so be warned) and let me know what you think in the comments below.

Stephen Batchelor has a interesting article on and a copy of the unproduced screenplay of Stephen King and Peter Straub’s The Talisman written by Richard LaGravenese. You can find it on Stephen’s blog.

…The Talisman may set some sort of record for development hell. King and Straub had sold the rights to Universal on behalf of Amblin with the understanding that Spielberg and only Spielberg would be the one to make it… Read the Rest

The Talisman – May 22, 1992 unproduced, unspecified draft script by Richard Lagravenese (based on The Talisman by Steven King and Peter Straub) – hosted by: Stephen Batchelor – Screenwriter – in pdf format

Twelve-year-old Jack Sawyer embarks on an epic quest–a walk from the seacoast of New Hampshire to the California coast–to find the talisman that will save his dying mother’s life. Jack’s journey takes him into the Territories, a parallel medieval universe, where most people from his own universe have analogs called “twinners.” The queen of the Territories, Jack’s mother’s twinner, is also dying.

Information courtesy of wikipedia