Alien vs Predator: Peter Briggs' script:: AVP scripts buried in inaccessable Amstrad discs

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Alien vs Predator: Peter Briggs' script

 

 

a) First drafted leaked

The first version that he wrote as a writing sample would later leak out.  

 

Someone had transcribed his script and pirated on the internet years later. 

 

He was able to cut and paste this into Final draft and once more have an electronic copy again.

 

At the beginning he had an Amstrad CPM which was a horrible clunky computer that seemed to take forty five minutes to do a save, and he was never guaranteed that it would do a save.

Sometimes he would losr a day's worth of material. Sometimes he would have to reconsitute a page from memory and so he took to printing out pages of the script before he did a save so that he could copy them back in again .

When has sold the script, he still hadn't bought a Mac at that point.

He started on the second draft on the Amstrad CPM, and these machine used proprietary discs that only could be used on that computer

 

 

An Amstrad CPC from that time

 

b) Problem when he swapped to Apple Mac

In 1992 he swapped his Amstrad computer for an Apple Mac Powerbook 145 around 1992 or 1993, and he ended up loosing his Amstrad disk. 

 

At the time Peter didn't expect it to be taken so serious but he wrote it quickly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

c) Tales of archaeological journeys

After a decade later, he noticed that when people talk about restoring episodes of TV shows, he would read such things, about they would have recorded on video formats that they could no longer play. 

 

It seemed as if they had to go on an archaeological dig to find the machines in order to be able to play back all this old material.

 

 

 

d) Whereabouts of the second draft

 

Now he was facing a situation where the script files were on discs that he didn't know where they were, and if he did, they were written on a CPM which he no longer had.

 

During the arbitration on Alien vs Predator in 2004, they asked for the script and he could only reply

They couldn't find it, Fox couldn't find it but he was sure that he had the second draft on a disc but  perhaps it was completely lost.

 

He didn't know if he had a hard copy of it any more, but at least he could say that it existed 

 

 

 

 

 

e) Finding a copy of the first draft

When the internet started to take off around 1996 to 1997, he found a first draft of his script online. he realised that somebody diligently sat down and copied the script word for word,  putting it out on the internet. 

 

The interesting thing was that what had been transcribed was missing three pages at the end, and it was something that most people didn't realise, and perhaps it meant that they were not germane to the story and he thought that was interesting.

However he couldn't be certain that all of the copies on the internet were missing the same three pages

 

He had seen some photocopies of the original script.

 

 

1. Peter Briggs: Here’s a fun anecdote: I wrote “A vs P” originally – oh, God…did you hear that? I actually said “A vs P”. I hate that thing…it’s like “T2″ or “LXG”! Anyway, I wrote it on an Amstrad computer, which was about one step above a Univac Room Filler. In ’92 I swapped to an Apple Mac, which I’ve used ever since. And I ended up losing the Amstrad disk, which was some weird, unreadable proprietary brand anyway. It wasn’t until whoever it was transcribed it and pirated it onto the web years later, that I was able to cut-and-paste it into Final Draft and have an electronic copy again. So, thank-you, Internet Leaker, wherever you were! (bloody-disgusting.com/ August 29th 2004)
2. Peter Briggs:  You do, I don't even know if I have the second draft because I wrote this thing on an old computer called an Amstrad CPN and it had it's own proprietary discs. Erm, I'm not even sure if  I think I must have the discs somewhere but I no longer have the computer. It's not proprietary, which you know, it's funny because I see er when people talk about restoring episodes of TV shows and things, you know, formats and machines that they once wrote on. (00: 50:00) They now no longer have access to them so they have to go on archaeological journeys in order to be able, you know, play back all this old material. Well, I, I , I'm sure I have that second draft somewhere. I don't know that I've got a hard copy of it any more, but it exists, (Best Movies Never Made #63 podcast)
3. Peter Briggs: Those two first drafts, there was a machine called the Amstrad CPM which was a horrible clunky thing, that it took like forty five minutes to do a save, you were never guaranteed it would do a save and I would lose a day's worth of material. Sometimes I would have to reconstitute pages from memory and so i took to printing out pages of the script before I did a save so I could copy type them back in again and I had sold the script, hadn't bought a Mac at that point. First Mac was a Powerbook 145 which I got in either 92 or 93, so I'd written, I'd started on that second draft on the CPM and they have proprietary discs that only that machine could play and it , I read things now about people on television shows like the last fifteen or twenty years and they record it on formats that they can now no longer play (00:49:00). You know, you have video formats that people have to do the archaeology and find the machines that will be able to play this. Well this is the case with these written on that CPM and I know I've got the discs,  just don't know where they are. The copy of the first draft I know, you know when internet first started off in like 1996 - 97 when we had browsers. I know that somebody diligently sat down and copied the script word for word and put that out on the internet. There are some photocopies, I've seen them, a photocopy, but the first draft that everyone read on the internet was somebody doing a transcription and putting it up there, but the interesting thing was, the script that they transcribed from was missing three pages at the end, so a lot of people, that I don't even know, that I hadn't even met to be honest, I don't know if the versions online on the internet in most places like the movie script database has those three pages at the end, but nobody has commented on it so I see that those three pages were not particularly germane to the story (00:50:00), so yeah, that was interesting.
   
   Aaron Percival: We have a scanned copy on the website that's missing a couple of pages, no missing one page
   
   Peter Briggs: There we go
   
   Aaron Percival: Near the auto shop, yeah
   
   Peter Briggs: Yeah. But you know, I have not seen a copy of draft two in over twenty years. The disc is somewhere but even if I had the disc, I don't know that I can, I don't have a machine, and I don't know that I've got a hard copy so I don't know where it is. We certainly, the we did the arbitration on Alien vs Predator in 2000... 2004 they asked for it and I said "I'm sorry. I don't, don't have it. I can't give it to you." They can't find it, Fox couldn't find it, so yeah, I don't know, maybe it's lost
    
   Aaron Percival: We'll find you an Amstrad yeah. We'll find you
   
   Peter Briggs: I've got to find the disc. I have to find the disc