Finding Scripts in the Catalogue
To find scripts in the library's collection, perform a keyword search in the catalogue. Start with the title of the play, film or television program/series, and then further qualify with further keywords (like Drama, Screenplay, or Author) if required.
For example:
You may also need to limit the results to printed books (otherwise your search will return results for DVDs and other formats as well). You can do this in the Advanced Search screen: using the Material Type menu, select "Printed Books."
To search information about an Author, you can do a subject search. From the catalogue, select "Subject" in the left-hand drop down menu, and then type in the author's last name, then first name. For example:
Then select a subject heading to see titles. For example:
You can repeat this search process with broader Subject Headings, for example:
Libretti
The Southbank Library holds the libretti for many works of Musical Theatre. These can be searched in the catalogue in the manner described in the Find Books page, or by using a Subject search. The most useful Subject search for libretti is:
If you are browsing the shelves, Libretti can usually be found at call number 782.140268.
Library Catalogue Search
Use the library catalogue to search for relevant books, e-books, journals, newspapers, microfilms and other resources.
Browsing the shelves
You can browse the library shelves to discover more of our collections:
- 791.4372 - Film scripts
- 812 - American/Canadian drama
- 822 - British drama
- A822.3 - Australian drama
- 842 - French drama
- 882 - Greek drama
Please note: there are a large collection of film script "class sets" which are held in our store. You can locate these by using the catalogue and search as suggested above.
Preferred Online Databases
- American Film Scripts Online (Alexander Street Press)
American Film Scripts Online contains 1,009 scripts by 1,062 writers together with detailed, fielded information on the scenes, characters and people related to the scripts. In addition, the database includes facsimilie images for more than 500 of these screenplays. Most of the scripts have never been published before, and nowhere else are they available online.
- Australian Plays TransformAustralianPlays.org offers the combined catalogues of Australia's leading theatrical publishers together in one place. Provided are free extracts of scripts where available and access to the full text of over 1200 titles.
- Drama OnlineDrama Online is a digital library of the most studied, performed and critically acclaimed plays from the last 2,500 years. Developed in partnership by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc and Faber and Faber Ltd, Drama Online features the pre-eminent drama titles from the Methuen Drama, Arden Shakespeare and Faber lists. The collection contains the works of Aeschylus to works of the present day.
Why use scripts from AFSO, AustralianPlays.org, or Drama Online?
- They are legal. Copyright permissions have been secured from the publishers or studios. Just ensure you cite the script source properly when using them in your assignments and writing. Many scripts you find on the web have been sourced illegally and may not be able to be used for educational purposes under the Copyright act.
- AFSO has provided authoritative versions of the screenplay -- whenever possible, the final shooting script.
- Scripts in AFSO are dynamic. They have been encoded with information such as scene breakdowns, character information (such as sex and race), setting, genre, subjects and more. This allows you to search AFSO in order to find specific scenes, ie scenes that are from drama films, are set in a prison, and include at least one male character.
ALSO NOTE the individual titles from AFSO and Drama Online can be searched separately in the library catalogue. For example:
- Blade Runner – Draft script (AFSO)
- Rough Crossing, by Tom Stoppard (Drama Online)
Finding Scripts Online
- British Literary Manuscripts OnlineBritish Literary Manuscripts Online presents facsimile images of literary manuscripts, including letters and diaries, drafts of poems, plays, novels, and other literary works, and similar materials. This collection is published in two parts. The Library has access to one part: British Literary Manuscripts Online, c. 1660-1900
- Chinese Film and Newsreel Scripts from the Cultural Revolution Online (Brill)This is a collection of film advertisements and transcripts of Chinese documentary films and newsreels that spans the years 1946 to 1985. The original items are held in the Chinese Filmscript and Advertisement Collection held by the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library at Duke University. The bulk of the items are transcripts for the documentary films and newsreels from the Cultural Revolution, 1966-1976. All documents are in Chinese.
- Latino LiteratureBrings together poetry, fiction, and drama written in English and Spanish by Chicano, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican, and other Latin authors working in the United States. Includes never before published material. Researchers will also find numerous Chicano folk tales and audio files of selected poems and plays
- Loeb Classical LibraryLoeb Classical Library was founded by James Loeb in 1911 to make Classical Greek and Latin literature accessible to the broadest range of readers. The digital Loeb Classical Library extends this mission into the twenty-first century. Epic and lyric poetry; tragedy and comedy; history, travel, philosophy, and oratory; the great medical writers and mathematicians and more are represented with up-to-date texts and accurate English translations. More than 520 volumes of Latin, Greek, and English texts are available in a modern and elegant interface, allowing readers to browse, search, bookmark, annotate, and share content. Every Loeb volume in print is included and new and revised volumes are regularly uploaded.
- Understanding ShakespeareUnderstanding Shakespeare is a collaborative project between JSTOR Labs and the Folger Shakespeare Library . It’s a research tool that allows students, educators and scholars to use the text of Shakespeare’s plays to quickly navigate into the scholarship written about them—line by line. Users simply click next to any line of text in a play and relevant articles from the JSTOR archive immediately load. The Folger Digital Texts are free to use for all non-commercial uses.
Additional Resources
Note many of these websites provide draft film scripts that may or may not have legally published.
Please consider copyright issues when utilising these in your study and work at the University.
- Lost Plays DatabaseA resource for scholarly discussion of lost plays in England, 1570-1642.
- Theatre LinksJustin’s Theatre Links is an online directory to thousands of resources for anyone who loves the theatre, from students and teachers to industry professionals and community groups.