Tony Gilroy, the Andor creator, showrunner, and screenwriter, will be launching a website to release the production scripts for all 12 Andor episodes online, for free, for everyone. This news came from journalist Jeff Goldsmith, who attended the Disney+ series’ Emmy FYC event, and Gizmodo confirmed it with Disney.
Following Cassian Andor, unlikely and only half-willing Rebel spy, Andor has been critically hailed as one of the best Star Wars shows in years. Earnest and brutal, Andor is a show that treats its audience with respect, which comes down to the truly excellent writing — and Gilroy’s understanding that what makes a good show is not necessarily what fans might say they want.
A production script is the screenplay that is used on-set to help organise scenes and shooting schedules. It’s usually marked up by script coordinators and used as a guide during shooting. If there are deleted scenes, improvised lines, or even lines that have been changed in post-production, audiences will be able to pick out the nuances from an analysis of a production script. The production script is, more or less, the final draft of a screenplay that is used to direct the action on camera.
This is very cool. So many scripts are locked away, and only people with insider connections or who are members of screenwriting community get access to them. I get this impetus; a script is, by its very definition, unfinished. It is the outline for an altogether different piece of media. But learning from scripts is invaluable. It provides depth, an inside look at what exactly the screenwriter wanted to happen.
The Andor scripts are also important because of how polished other behind-the-scenes looks at Disney+’s Star Wars shows have been; The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett both got entries in the Disney+ “Disney Gallery” documentary series and concept art books, but not scripts. (I suspect we’re not getting the Boba Fett scripts because, frankly, that show wasn’t very well written.)
Andor season two is currently in production and will debut on Disney+ next year. We’ll keep you posted about when those season one scripts become available for reading.
Author’s Note: I love reading scripts! Some of the great scripts out there (if you can get your hands on them) are The Green Knight, Gone Girl, Midsommar, and The Shape of Water.