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Pirates of the Caribbean: The First Draft

Screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio have put the first draft of the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie online:

You might notice that it's a little rough. You might notice that parts are not like what eventually landed in the movie. We thought that would be more interesting -- let screenwriters, and fans, see how aspects of the movie change over time, let people see the gulf between idea and final execution.

When you read it, try to take yourself back and put yourself in our shoes at the time, to before the film was a hit, before it was even shot, before we had the full cast, before Johnny showed up with his gold teeth, before we knew if our flickering green light would stay lit. The 26 or so screenplay sequences were written out of order; this is one of the first fully assembled drafts, where you slap it together to see if all the story engines run. It was completed about the time Disney pulled the plug on the project, and Gore Verbinski saved the film by telling people to come into work anyway. As Michael Eisner tells the story, he was fully prepared to tell Gore and Jerry Bruckheimer he wasn't going to make the film, but then Gore took Eisner on a tour of the development art, and Eisner thought, what the heck, there's a movie I'd like to see, and let it continue.

--WORDPLAY/Archives/Screenplay - PIRATES (intro)

About J. Ott

John Ott is a writer, filmmaker and futurist. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.