205 linear feet.
103 linear feet.
Projects 2000s forms part Robert Altman Archive. It includes materials related to The Company, Dr. T and the Women, Gosford Park, A Prairie Home Companion, Resurrection Blues, Roads and Bridges, Tanner on Tanner, andTrixie . Records include scripts, legal files, publicity materials, photographs and correspondence.
34.5 linear feet.
The unfinished and suspended projects series consists of materials related to projects that Altman had an involvement with but were never produced. The reason that any specific project failed may or may not be apparent from the materials and vary greatly. Materials in this series run from the 1960's through the late 2000's.
The type and volume materials also vary greatly from project to project. These can include correspondence, legal materials, legal materials from Jerome Walsh, business and financial materials, scripts and related materials, production materials including those used for research, materials related to publicity and distribution, and articles and reviews related to both the productions and the subjects of the productions.
6 Linear Feet
Other Projects and Scripts (6 linear feet) consists of materail sent to Robert Altman for consideration as potential film projects. Notably, the series includes scripts by Elmore Leonard, Kurt Vonnegut, Tim Burton, Donald Freed, and Anne Rapp. Frequently, Wren Arthur, Altman's assistant, would read and critique these materials, and serve as the contact person for the individual submissions. The material is generally from 1989 to 2003, and arranged by author's last name. Where possible, date is noted. Occasionally, a cover letter was included with script submissions. Many of these projects were never produced, by Altman or any other filmmaker.
In addition, the series includes correspondence, treatments, and other documents from various scripts and projects that were sent to Robert Altman and rejected as potential projects. Much of the material consists of script cover letters sent to Altman with the accompanying return correspondence written by one of Altman's staff. These "passed projects" are arranged alphabetically by the script writer's last name where possible. Among them include script submissions from Carrie Fisher, Billy Baldwin, Paul Newman, Joan Tewkesbury, Linda Yellen, and Stanley Tucci. In addition, Altman was asked to consider such projects as Thank You for Smoking, Benjamin Button, Michael, and The Killer Inside Me.
Also included are various script treatments organized alphabetically by script writer. These treatments, or script coverages, were generally written by one of Altman's employees and included a summary of the script as well as a recommendation to pass or consider the project. The materials under the "possible projects" heading contain those projects that were considered by Altman in some capacity and often contain extended correspondence.
The materials contained under the description "Open-Directing Projects" are printouts sent to Altman by Addis Weschler & Associates describing films in various stages of production that are in need of a director.
5.5 Linear feet (4 records boxes, 1 manuscript box, 2 oversize boxes)
The collection is divided into five series: Personal, Business Documents, Projects, Articles and Clippings, and Audiovisual Materials. All the series contain many of Shaye’s hand-written notes from notebooks to scraps of paper in which many of his ideas are written. Along with the notes, Shaye included many Post-it notes explaining some of the content. The majority of documents for the Projects series and all the material from the Audiovisual series are from The Last Mimzy, directed by Shaye and released in 2007.
The Personal series includes correspondence between friends and business partners as well as congratulatory cards and notes. The majority of the series consists of Shaye’s speeches made during awards ceremonies, general speeches for company events, movie premiere speeches and speeches for family and friends’ events. Many documents refer to Shaye as L.E. Moko. This reference refers to Pépé le Moko, a 1937 French gangster film directed by Julien Duvivier.
The Business Documents series ranges from 1967-2008 with documents focusing on New Line and consisting of correspondence, shareholder meeting notes, and film catalogs showcasing the variety of movies available for distribution that year. A binder with information on New Line common stock and correspondence can be found in an oversize box.
The Project series highlights some of New Line Cinema’s distributed and produced films. Highlights include storyboards for Nightmare on Elm Street 4: Dream Master, produced in 1988. The majority of documents are production documents for two films directed by Shaye, Book of Love and The Last Mimzy.
The Articles and clippings section consists of personal articles about Robert Shaye as a business entrepreneur and creative director, New Line Cinema articles, and miscellaneous film reviews along with trade magazines with issues dedicated to New Line or Robert Shaye.
The Audiovisual Materials series consists of The Last Mimzy DVD’s and a CD of video clips, trailers and publicity events. The DVD’s include production footage such as alternate beginnings, B-roll footage and different edited versions of the film.
(6.75 linear feet, 1962-1996)
The collection includes scripts from 48 different shows. In the 1960's, the most important shows are I Dream of Jeannie, The Courtship of Eddie's Father, Mayberry RFD and That Girl. In the 1970's he was mostly involved with Maude, as well as The Odd Couple. In the 1980's, he worked on Gimme a Break, Love, Sidney, Empty Nest and Dear John. There are also scripts for 19 different pilots that he was involved with creating in the 1970's and 1980's, and numerous other scripts for scattered episodes of other shows.
From about 1970, the scripts for episodes Hal Cooper directed are usually heavily annotated with shooting notes. There are also sometimes shooting schedules, cast and crew lists, and revisions to the scripts. Some episodes only have a few pages rather than full scripts, especially from The Courtship of Eddie's Father and some of the shows with only a few episodes.
The scripts have been arranged chronologically by year to reflect the progression of Hal Cooper's career. Within each year, the scripts are arranged alphabetically by show. For each show, episodes are arranged chronologically. For each episode, the title, writer, director, producer and date are given, when the information is available. The date is the final draft date, when there was one. If not, then the date is the latest revision date, the taping date, or the copyright date.
Scripts for other shows have been bound and are in a separate series, Bound Scripts and Production Notes. For a list of all the shows alphabetically, chronologically, and by the number of episodes, see the appendix at the end of the finding aid.
The Theater series is relatively small (approximately 0.2 linear feet) and consists of materials arranged chronologically by production. It is mostly comprised of photographs and playbills from a variety of the Mercury Theatre productions in the 1930s and 1940s, including The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus , Around the World in 80 Days, and Five Kings .
The Company series (27 linear feet and 5 oversized boxes) consists of material from the 2003 film directed by Robert Altman. The film was co-written by Neve Campbell and Barbara Turner, and co-produced by Neve Campbell and Joshua Astrachan. The film's actors include Neve Campbell, James Franco, and Malcolm McDowell along with dancers from the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago.
The legal sub-series contain numerous agreements including those for the actors, crew, musicians and dancers in the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. Many of the legal files reflect licenses to use the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago's choreography, music and dances in the film.
Business and financial is the largest sub-series in the collection. The majority of files include payroll for the cast and crew, an extensive invoice history that includes releases, contracts and annotated bills and a variety of accounting reports including posting reports, closing reports and cost reports. The payroll services company called Cast and Crew Payroll, Inc. for the film was audited by the Directors Guild of America's Producer Pension and Health Plans branch in 2004.
The scripts sub-series include interviews between writer Barbara Turner and the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago dancers. Production and post-production includes production files that document the start of filming from camera tests to day 1-33 of shooting and production. Also, a variety of foley cue sheets for sound editing are found in oversized boxes. In the awards, events and festivals sub-series information on the San Francisco International Film Festival's Lifetime Achievement in Directing Award for Altman in 2003 is included.
Photographs consist of contact sheets, cast photos, headshots and continuity shots in the photograph sub-series. The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago's official photographer, Herbert Migdoll, photographed the dance sequences while the production photographer, Matt Dinerstein, photographed the rest of the filming and production.