Los Angeles (E! Online) – Exactly how top secret are movie scripts, like the two found in the trash can in St. Louis, including New Moon? Are they freely floating around among actors, agents and managers?
—diljarr, via Twitter
Scripts are indeed floating about, much like the tips of Robert Pattinson's physics-defying coif—but not freely, film developers tell me.
First things first: After some lady in St. Louis found the very real New Moon script in a trash can, she reportedly toyed with selling the info to tabloids before deciding to return the document to filmmakers.
The lady will now attend the New Moon premiere and get the script back, signed by Pattinson and others. It's almost as exciting as Pattz appearing in the lady's stylist chair and, you know, sparkling just for her.
So. What are your chances of finding the next Twilight script in your local dumpster?
Not that high.
"The reason that the New Moon script being found in a trash outside a hotel made so many headlines is because it is so unusual," script reader Katherine Brodsky tells me. "While not all scripts are guarded tightly and kept under lock and key attached to Ninja warriors, they are not usually just tossed around with no disregard."
Before the filming stage, scripts do indeed circulate between agents, actors, producers, directors and the like.
Security isn't particularly tight—it's typical to walk into production offices and see a pile of scripts stacked up in a corner—and coffee houses are rife with actors reading scripts, like, right out there in the open. With shorter actors, you can just walk right by them and get an eyeful of whatever they're reading.
After it is read, shredding or otherwise destroying a script is rare. Someone may even accidentally leave a script in a coffee shop with soy latte stains all over it. In that case, Brodsky explains, "for many projects, it's not the end of the world. But for highly anticipated, well-publicized projects, I imagine it would be a serious cause of stress and premature gray hairs."
There have been tales of some film and TV scripts being deliberately leaked to garner press—a story involving the new Dr. Who series comes to mind—and, of course, labels leak new tracks constantly. But for a high-profile film like Twilight, security would be atypically tight, Brodsky posits.
"It's part of a marketing strategy for them," Brodsky says. "They want fans to look out for the 'unknowns' in the film."
Right. As if anything having to do with Twilight needs more marketing.