Hollywood keeps scripts under wraps

Producers aren't even showing scripts to potential cast members out of concern about seeing their work on the Internet before the first day of shooting. Interesting piece by Deadline.com's Mike Fleming cites a new film by the Wachowski brothers that no one is getting a peak at. The practice has been happening for a while on blockbusters, but it's apparently becoming more common for all films:

Producers and studio executives claim that if they email or messenger even one copy to an agency, it goes into that tenpercentery's library -- and then becomes fodder for low-level employees who trade the content of those scripts like currency. Suddenly, that copyrighted document is on the Internet. Disturbing but not illegal is having the script picked apart in a forum, or presented as a blog scoop that gives away story reveals. "I doubt a blogger with 60 readers will ruin a movie even if they publish a script or rip it apart," said one dealmaker who considers the increased secrecy "ridiculous" but acknowledges the bigger problem. "What is more important is the number of movies that are being leaked onto the internet before they are released."

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Mark Lacter
Mark Lacter created the LA Biz Observed blog in 2006. He posted until the day before his death on Nov. 13, 2013.
 
Mark Lacter, business writer and editor was 59
The multi-talented Mark Lacter
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