Where Have all the Screenplays Gone? A Comprehensive List of Resources (that are left)
It’s been a hot minute since I read a new script, so I thought I’d head over to the Script Lab to see what’s about. What I found was this:
After many years of serving the screenwriting community, The Script Lab is officially shutting down. We’re incredibly grateful to everyone who has read, learned from, and supported our content over the years.
While The Script Lab is closing its doors, we encourage you to check out the Final Draft Blog for more screenwriting resources, industry insights, and expert advice.
Thank you for being a part of this journey with us. We appreciate you, and we wish you all the best in your writing endeavors!
Not only are they gone, but their whole script library has disappeared with them. Hundreds of screenplays dating back nearly a century, gone forever. Obviously, it’s a massive inconvenience for me, but it’s also a huge blow to new and emerging writers everywhere. The adage that you have to read in order to write is true regardless of medium, so how are we going to raise a new generation of screenwriters without their greatest library of material?
If an emerging writer wants to pen a theatre script, they need only go to Waterstones (or high street bookstore of your choice) and head to the drama section. It’s Shakespeare up the wazoo! I doubt there’s a single chain of bookstores that doesn’t keep at least one ‘Fleabag’ in stock, just in case. And not only are play scripts abundant, they’re also CHEAP. But what if a writer wants some Aaron Sorkin, John August, or Chloe Zhao? Jordan Peele’s ‘Get Out’ screenplay is currently listed at £18.00 on Amazon, meanwhile ‘Interstellar’ and ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Secrets of Dumbledore’ are both listed at £20.00. Three screenplays come to £60.00!
To give some idea, here’s some high-profile plays that, when bought together, also cost £60.00:
Ten Shakespeare Plays (£26.99)
Fleabag (£10.99)
Five Oscar Wilde Plays (£14.99)
Waiting for Godot (£9.99)
That’s 17 of the most prolific theatric works for £62.96 at the time of writing, and one or more of them is almost always on sale. Resources like the Script Lab were crucial to educating new writers on craft, terminology, and voice. It’s loss is honestly crushing.
All is not completely lost, however. Hope (for now) remains. There are still resources out there for screenwriters. Invaluable resources. And, as we are now all aware, fragile resources.
BBC Writers
BBC Writers script library is an absolute treasure trove. Predominantly populated with TV scripts, there is a small library of high-profile feature screenplays included. Almost all of Doctor Who dating back to 2005 is included, along with scripts from its various spin-offs. ‘Lost Boys and Fairies’ is a particular favourite of mine, but make sure you go in with a full box of tissues. It’s an emotional one.
BBC Writers also offers an array of children’s scripts, something few other sites (even the Script Lab) gave any real focus to.
Check out BBC Writers here.
StudioBinder
If films are more your thing, then StudioBinder offers more than just engaging blog posts and video essays on writing craft, they also have a library of scripts to read. Not as comprehensive as other libraries have been, they have got an array of drama, comedy, horror, and even some TV screenplays to read. Being an American company, there is a distinct Hollywood skew when it comes to the scripts here, but the Detectorists made the cut for their TV showings, so they’re not all bad.
Read StudioBinder’s library here.
Go Into the Story
This used to be one of my favourite resources when I started my undergraduate degree, but nothing repels me like something being a bit of a faff. To access this list you need to create a Medium account, and I’m not doing that. This blog is the home to the Black List, among other resources, and its 100 downloadable screenplays is a library that changes frequently.
So if you want to read a script on the list, download it when you see it, not when you want to read it, as when that time comes it may be gone.
Go Into the Story’s 100 screenplays can be found here.
Script Reader Pro
50 scripts, listed in order of quality (and personal taste), broken into five genre lists? Cracking. Resources like this are crucial to new and emerging writers as this is a consolidated list of script downloads that likely began life on the Script Lab, but are now stored on someone’s hard drive. When libraries disappear, we will all rely on the kindness and generosity of internet strangers to ensure we can still read screenplays.
Check out the 50 chosen screenplays here.
Shore Scripts
Shore Scripts have an amazing blog, and every now and then they’ll put a post up with a few downloadable scripts included based on certain genre or topic criteria. There’s posts on LGBTQ+ screenplays, TV scripts, and even Series Bibles to peruse at your leisure.
It’s all here.
To be honest, there’s a few others out there that I know about but haven’t included for one simple reason. They look shady as all hell. If a website is offering me the screenplay for ‘Conclave’ but looks like it was last updated with Windows 98? No, thanks.
From here on in, this page will be a live list. If I find any more resources, I’ll update and repost, but I also want to hear from you! Are there any screenplay websites you rely on and can share with others? Maybe you have a list that you want to be included? Get in touch here or on Instagram and let’s make sure that all writers are able to pull from the best, most trustworthy, and most comprehensive catalogue of scripts out there!
