Well, after seeking it for about 2 years and nearly giving up hope, I had the notion to ask the fine people here for their assistance and expertise.

I (and many here, it seems) am seeking the as-yet-unproduced screenplay for GHOSTBUSTERS III: HELLBENT, the first draft screenplay written by Dan Aykroyd and rejected by Columbia/Sony as being too much of a financial gamble for the studio. It exists, as at least two reviews for it appear on-line. It reportedly features the GB's struggle to keep NYC and the world from being transformed into a Hell on Earth.

As GB has always pretty much been my favorite movie (aside from DIE HARD, natch), I've noticed that with the release of the GB comic book and novel that the time really is ripe for more material.

It's been two years since it's been written and reviewed. I think by now someone would have a line on it. How did the reviewers get copies? From Sony? From Aykroyd? Did they have to sign some sort of agreement? I understand the Xerox-proof paper idea… but howabout digital scans? That should be possible, yes?

I just don't believe that finding a readable copy of the GBIII script is impossible. Early rejected drafts of the STAR WARS and ALIEN film screenplays (and more) eventually turned up easily. GBIII was rejected for production and will likely not be made without some rallying behind it. Can't someone get it out there?

“I ain't 'fraid of no copyright.”

–mcc

It's a good question, but for whatever reason no one here can find it. Castewar, who posts regularly here, is one of the reviewers, so you'd be well off asking him. I've actually always wondered how he got ahold of it, too. Maybe he'll pop into this thread at some point…

first off, welcome to the boards, mcclane98. the development of a third GHOSTBUSTERS film is something that i've followed closely for the *gasp* nearly a decade. the script you're talking about is dan aykroyd's first draft of GHOSTBUSTERS III: HELLBENT. the basic story came about from a treatment written by harold ramis and dan aykroyd, which was a departure from the first two films, which were kicked off by dan aykroyd solo. aykroyd tackled the first full draft of the script, which was reviewed by stax at ign. com, and our very own castewar, on protoncharging.com. from the reviews, it seems the script was very similar to aykroyd's first drafts of GHOSTBUSTERS and GHOSTBUSTERS II… low amounts of humor, low character development, wild & crazy stories, and a LOT of “techo-jargon”. reportedly, harold ramis worked with aykroyd on the second draft of the HELLBENT script. there are rumors that aykroyd did other GB3 scripts prior to 1999. magazine articles and interviews dating back as far as 1996 mention script being complete.

as for getting copies of the scripts, many have hit a dead end on that road. it's pretty much just as they say… it's all in who you know. i have no idea how stax and castewar scored copies, and i highly doubt they would reveal their sources. it could have been anyone from dan aykroyd's chef's daughter to a lowly intern working in the sony script department…. or aykroyd himself. we'll never really know. i can't really blame the guys on not scanning the scripts, as that would be a long and tedious task… not to mention could possibly have legal repurcussions with sony. …or possibly they were asked not to leak the script online by their source. there are numerous possible answers. however, as a big fan, i'm jazzed that the reviews of the script were posted back in the day. it's way more info than we ever had at that point, not to mention an excellent look at the script.

…but then again, this is the internet. stranger things have happened.