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The Basements series (5.25 linear feet) consists of materials from two short films produced and directed by Robert Altman based on stage productions written by Harold Pinter. The Dumb Waiter features John Travolta and Tom Conti and The Room features Linda Hunt, Annie Lennox, Julian Sands, David Hemblen, Abbott Anderson, and Donald Pleasance.

Both sections of the film were shot in Montreal in 1986. These films were produced by ABC to be two made for TV specials and aired separately. The two films were then shown as one feature film named Basements at the 1987 Montreal Film Festival.

The legal material includes actor agreements, copyright information, and insurance forms. Additionally, the legal materials include correspondence from Pinter regarding a request for extended distribution rights, and he expresses his disappointment in the two films.

Business and financial is the largest section of this series and contains items such as expense reports and residual statements as well as related correspondence. This collection includes several different versions of the script including a continuity script and a published version of the original play. Production and post-production includes daily production reports and detailed information on the construction of the set forThe Dumb Waiter . The articles and reviews section contains domestic reviews of the version aired on ABC and Canadian reviews of the version presented in Montreal.

Included in the publicity and distribution section of the collection is a viewer guide. ABC issued this as part of the publicity for The Dumb Waiter to encourage the film to be used in classrooms and libraries as a teaching aid. Also in this section is correspondence regarding requests to use clips of John Travolta in specials for the MTV and Bravo networks.

Photographic materials include photographs taken by Robert Reed Altman and Piroska Mihalka.

Notes on the arrangement of Basements:

While both projects were filmed separately, they were financed as one project; the original order of the legal, and business and financial materials as well as much of the production materials reflect the fact that the two projects were treated as nearly one continuous project. Unless otherwise noted, materials from both projects are filed together.