Recently, I was reading about the National Film Registry, which many of you may know is the United States National Film Preservation Board‘s selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. Every year since 1989, they have chosen up to 25 “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant films,” showcasing the range and diversity of American film heritage to increase awareness for its preservation.
All of their preservation business got me to thinking about the preservation of scripts, which then led me to thinking about what scripts other people would choose to preserve if given the opportunity, which then led me to the thought, “Hey! Why not ask them?” And that in turn led me to wonder how I could include it as a feature on the site, which led to another thought, “Hey! That Seven Scripts feature is pretty popular, why not that?”
So here’s what I’ve come up with: let’s take the end product of a screenplay – a produced film – completely out of the picture and just look at screenwriting as an art form in and unto itself. Now think about all of the scripts that you’ve ever read, either produced or unproduced, doesn’t matter. Compiling a list already? Great. Now, think about which of those scripts, exactly, you feel are not only culturally or historically significant, but are also the best representations of screenwriting as an art form. The quintessential reads. The best of the best. The crème de la crème. The uberscriptabulous screenplays of all-time. The– you get the idea…
Narrowing that list down? Good, because now picture that you have a time capsule that can only contain seven of those scripts. Just seven. Which seven scripts would you choose, from all of the scripts that you’ve ever read, to be placed in said hypothetical time capsule to be preserved for the yet-to-be screenwriters of our future generations?
You game? Sweet! All you have to do is fill out the form below with your seven script choices. Remember, you can choose any seven scripts ever written: produced or unproduced. And, no, you are not limited to the scripts that are listed on this site. You also have the option to explain why you’re choosing each script.
Again, why you are choosing it is optional, but if you choose to include your thoughts, please be a little more detailed than, “Because it rocks!” I’m looking for reasons a little more specific because I’d like to include the best or most interesting comments from your submissions once the final seven scripts have been decided. To help you out, try to give an explanation as to why someone should read the screenplays you’re choosing. How did they effect you? Change you? Teach you? Wow you? Capiche?
Ready? You sure? Okay, go! You’ve only got until January 31, 2010 March 31, 2010 December 18, 2010, to submit your choices!
UPDATE: Now that the traffic to the site has increased over the year, I’ve decided to post this article again in the hopes that I’ll get better script choice submissions.
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