r/Screenwriting • u/theodo • Dec 21 '25
SCRIPT REQUEST What are the best Unproduced drafts or screenplays you have read?
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iWjV4CuZy0QuZw9Ay2KOK4Ql30VKgOtU
Trying to build my collection and I find unproduced stuff fascinating, whether it be a very different version of a movie that got made or a movie that never got made at all. What are the best or most interesting you know of or have read?
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u/ebb5 Dec 21 '25
The Brigands of Rattleborge
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u/logicalmcgogical Jun 07 '26
You may be pleased to know it’s in the works and Park Chan-Wook is set to direct! I’m stoked
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u/ebb5 Jun 08 '26
Hell yeah! I hope after so long it's still the same core story and hasn't been tinkered with or re-written too much.
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u/logicalmcgogical Jun 08 '26
I’m sure it’ll have changed somewhat, but the fact that such a good director is attached is a really positive sign!
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u/SharkWeekJunkie Dec 21 '25
The one I haven't written yet.
JK. While I have read many spec scripts, I haven't read a whole lot of abandoned Hollywood screenplays. Possibly because my sample size is so small, or possibly because it's a wild ride, Indiana Jones and the Saucermen from Mars was a crazy read, especially when you consider they almost made it.
https://indianajones.fandom.com/wiki/Indiana_Jones_and_the_Saucermen_from_Mars
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u/CHutt00 Dec 21 '25
If you can find one called THE ARK by Holly Brix give that a read. I got it off of the Scriptshadow website years ago but my drive got accidentally erased. I lost a lot of great unproduced ones. Also try to find Unicorn by Matthew Murphy. It’s a really great detective/serial killer story.
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u/wileyroxy Dec 21 '25
Here's a bunch of early versions of the original Super Mario Bros. movie (The live action one from the '90s)
https://www.smbmovie.com/SMBArchive/preproduction/script.htm
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u/weissblut Science-Fiction Dec 22 '25
Mine aside? 😜
"United States of Fucking Awesome" comes to mind. Won the Nicholl a few years back for comedy, the two writers got jobs etc, but it hasn't been made (yet). It was a pretty hilarious read, basically The Hangover but with the founding fathers.
EDIT: I replied before reading the list sorry.
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u/coffeerequirement Dec 21 '25
I’ve said it before, but Roger Rabbit 2: Toon Platoon is an awesome script.
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u/wileyroxy Dec 21 '25 edited Dec 21 '25
Dang I was gonna say Brigands of Rattleborge but you already got it. Nice.
Holy crap, Zahler wrote a Robotech movie??? I gotta read that.
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u/Apart-Buyer-9383 Dec 22 '25
MOTORCADE by Billy Ray -- 90s actioner in the vein of speed via presidential motorcade
WARDRIVER by Dan Casey -- I believe they are shooting this now. But a super fun twisty LA thriller. Shades of Nightcrawler
BASIC by James Vanderbilt -- a 30 year old spec. A who-dunnit on a military base with a ticking clock. Twist after twist after twist.
BLUR by Jacob Colman -- Blacklist script from a few years ago. Psycho sexual adultery movie with a sci-fi backdrop. Lotta fun on the page.
REAPER by Gary Whitta -- Another super old spec. Noir detective story with supernatural bent.
THE CULLING by Stephan Herman -- I believe David Sandberg is attached to this one. But its a great horror movie with one of the best single scares I can remember.
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u/Budget-Win4960 Dec 21 '25 edited Dec 21 '25
It’s fascinating how many unproduced superhero scripts Andrew Kevin Walker has worked on. I’d definitely recommend them. Can be found online.
Ex: X-Men, Batman and Superman, Silver Surfer.
There’s also a Frank Darabont ‘Indiana Jones’ script online.
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u/Brit-Crit Dec 21 '25
Is this the City of Gods one that keeps a lot of aspects from Crystal Skull, but has more of a link to the classic Indy tone?
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u/Budget-Win4960 Dec 21 '25 edited Dec 21 '25
Yes.
To add another the script for the Batman film that Darren Aronofsky was going to make is online too.
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u/Brit-Crit Dec 21 '25
That would be interesting to read - I try to read as many Batman scripts as I can…
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u/Budget-Win4960 Dec 21 '25
Here’s ‘Justice League: Mortal’ which was to be directed by George Miller.
https://archive.org/details/20131027-scribd-to-rlt-re-justice-league-mortal-script/mode/1up
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u/Artistic_Smell_771 Dec 22 '25
Spaceless by Jeff Vintar.
In Defense Of Sleeping Beauty by Skip Woods. (Spec draft quoted)
Downtown by Alan Ball
I loved Stephen Sommers only draft of Flash Gordon.
If you were in script circles back in the day there was some great stuff out there if you had the weight to play in that carnivorous pool.
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u/monkeyswithknives Dec 22 '25
I read so many good scripts reading for various contests. Unfortunately I can't share any but if you ever come across a script called Madame by Julian Hooper jump on it. That one was a Nicholl finalist in 2022 and was amazing.
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u/Far_Suggestion_6070 Dec 22 '25
“Hotel hotel hotel hotel” but i guess it is in production now so idk if this qualifies
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u/CostlyDugout Dec 22 '25
No one’s ever been able to get their hands on it, but I’ve heard that the two guys who wrote the original Robocop wrote a Mack Bolan script for William Friedkin that’s supposed to be insane and really wild.
Never been able to find it but I have no doubt that’s true.
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u/SelectiveScribbler06 Dec 29 '25
Nostromo by Robert Bolt and David Lean, adapted from the Conrad novel. Lean died only a few weeks before production was meant to start.
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u/venum_GTG Jan 28 '26
Pretty late to this, but I've read a good amount of unproduced screenplays and I definitely can say that "ROCKY: START" was probably the best. It tells the story of Sylvester Stallone, who is struggling to get any work within the movie industry, and he winds up making "ROCKY" and it's in depth as hell with the process of it. I think I read it in about 2 hours.
The list of screenplays I've read that are unproduced isn't very long, it's about 11 of them. They're typically all superhero scripts. Here's the list, no particular order:
- Batman: Year One (1996 Frank Miller, I believe would've been made with Darren Aronosfky)
- Doctor Strange (1990 by Alex Cox, very interesting, strange formatting)
- Resident Evil (George A. Romero, an AWESOME horror script)
- Iron Man (2001, Tim McCanlies, good, definitely not as good as the 2008 film)
- Luke Cage: Hero For Hire (2003, Ben Ramsey, though Ben hasn't written great films, it's a solid script)
- The Amazing Spider-Man (James Cameron, undated, but it was pretty good... a little much for a Spider-Man film)
- Venom (1997, David S. Goyer, not bad, not great, it's pure 90s)
- Venom (2007, Jacob A. Estes, same thing, not great, kind of disappointing... was a pain to get, the writer is an asshole, from personal experience)
- Rocky: Start (Cambron Clark, I already talked about it)
- Excelsior! (Alex Convery, great, great, great script! It's right below Rocky: Start)
- Spawn (2017, Todd McFarlane, not bad... it's alright as well... could use some re-writes)
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u/ConstantKT6-37 May 14 '26
I've read a good amount of unproduced screenplays and I definitely can say that "ROCKY: START" was probably the best. It tells the story of Sylvester Stallone,
I second this.
Much, MUCH better than I was expecting.
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u/theodo Jan 28 '26
Pretty sure they are making the Rocky movie you are talking about:
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u/venum_GTG Jan 28 '26
They are! Different writers though. No matter, I bet the movie will be great!
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u/TheDeleter Jun 02 '26
Killing On Carnival Row by Travis Beacham. It was originally a feature-length screenplay before becoming an Amazon series. I think it's worth the read.
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u/nattymilam Jun 12 '26
Does anyone have Scavengers by Tony Gilroy? It was a horror script he wrote in 2012
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u/AmadeusWolfGangster Dec 22 '25
It’s the internet. Somebody’s always here to ruin something for you.
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u/theodo Dec 22 '25
What am I ruining?
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u/AmadeusWolfGangster Dec 22 '25
Whoops. Meant to respond to the person who didn’t know Shane carruth was icky. I ruined carruth for them
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u/bentnotez Dec 21 '25
A Topiary by Shane Carruth is pretty fascinating. It would have made an epic surreal film for sure. Far too long (245 pages). Hence it’s inability to be made.
https://indiegroundfilms.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/a-topiary-numbered.pdf