Now that the election is over, we can focus on voting that matters - voting for the unending parade of film awards. Or, as the case may be, figuring out how to dominate the Oscar night ballot for bragging rights among your non-film-obsessed friends who could really care less. Again. Last week, we shared with you the early releases of screenplays available for your consideration (and legal download in PDF format) from Universal Pictures and Focus Features. The remaining studios and specialty arms are rolling out their websites for awards consideration, and two contenders from Sony Pictures Classics, Smashed and Celeste and Jesse Forever, have kindly posted their screenplays for download.
Before we get to the links to the screenplay downloads, here's a trailer for Smashed, currently rolling out in platform release across the U.S.:
And here's a trailer for Celeste and Jesse Forever to refresh your memory, which is wrapping up its extended platform release:
Here are the links to download a PDF of each screenplay:
- Smashed, written by James Ponsoldt & Susan Burke
- Celeste and Jesse Forever, written by Rashida Jones & Will McCormack
As we mentioned in the previous post, please use these screenplays for your personal educational use only (except for Guild members, then consider them as is your duty. As if Guild members are actually reading this post). Also, don't wait to download the screenplays as we never know when Sony Pictures Classics may remove the links from their site.
As more screenplays become available, we'll post links to their downloads on NFS.
Does reading a screenplay for a film before or after watching it influence your opinion about the movie? Let us know in the Comments.
Your Comment
7 Comments
The biggest difference between a screenplay and a movie for me is that with a screenplay, you can go back and re-read parts of the script but with a movie, you can't go back. It is interesting to see how different they are and what they may have changed during production.
November 7, 2012 at 5:17PM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM
Thanks, NFS! Waiting for Argo.
November 8, 2012 at 12:58AM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM
I'm reading Celeste and Jesse. It sickens me when you see so many product placements in the first two pages. Shutterfly Album, Macbook Photo Booth, Int.Toyota Prius-Day. Maybe they are not being paid for these. Maybe they are just specific but I always assume the worst when a big name is one of the writers. haha
November 8, 2012 at 9:06AM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM
Hey Corey,
I can certainly understand your frustration, but there's a good chance the difference between Celeste and Jesse Forever existing as a movie vs. Celeste and Jesse Forever remaining a screenplay (forever) may be these very product placements.
I'm not saying I'm for or against product placements, just acknowledging that it costs money to make the movies we watch, and that money can be very difficult to cobble together.
Obviously, from a reading perspective, these product placements can certainly distract the reader if they aren't integral to the story.
November 8, 2012 at 9:20AM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM
Yeah from a readers stand point I find my self laughing a little every time I have to say Toyota Prius haha. You are right though. After all, it is a business.
November 8, 2012 at 9:28AM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM
Corey, I'm sure you failed to notice you yourself gave those products free publicity by naming them. LoL I think your point might have more readily hit home if you hadn't.
December 6, 2012 at 8:35AM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM
It's fantastic that you are getting thoughts from this post
as well as from our discussion made at this time.
April 3, 2014 at 5:06PM, Edited September 4, 8:56AM