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Back in the 80s and 90s, screenplays were very hard to come by.
It is obviously not like today were just about any title is available for free download on the internet.
Very few screenplays were ever published, and when they were, they weren’t always true facsimiles.
But where there is demand, supply tends to pop up.
So you just had to know where to look. And that was usually in the ads in the back of any movie magazine.
There you would find the names, phone numbers of shady collector shops that were usually along Hollywood Blvd.
These places had copies of various drafts of screenplays. They got them from crew, development assistants, or contacts around town.
If you wanted an actual screenplay for a specific title, you would send them a check for $12 and they would photocopy the screenplay and send it to you.
They weren’t in a hurry. It usually took about six weeks.
It was a profitable deal!
They could just copy-per-order and make a quick ten bucks or whatever their margin was.
It was almost certainly illegal but it was such a small market, no one cared.
So I bought my first screenplay.
I wanted an actual, legitimate, studio screenplay in my hand so I wrote out the check and ordered LETHAL WEAPON 2.
This was the late great Jeffrey Boam’s draft.
It was incredible.
Hollywood and movie-making felt so far away, and to have and actual script in my hand seemed to somehow bring it so much closer.