University of Texas at Austin

Paul Schrader:

An Inventory of His Papers at the Harry Ransom Center

Creator: Schrader, Paul, 1946-
Title: Paul Schrader Papers
Dates: 1943-2023
Extent: 128 document boxes, 9 oversize boxes, 7 oversize folders (osf), 152 bound volumes (bv) (53.76 linear feet), and 1,221 electronic files (87 GB)
Abstract: The Paul Schrader Papers contain screenplays, film production files, electronic files, and personal papers belonging to screenwriter and director Paul Schrader.
Call Number: Film Collection FI-00056
Language: English with some printed material in Afrikaans, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.
Access: Open for research; some materials redacted or restricted. The materials contain documents from which personal information has been redacted or restricted to protect an individual's privacy. Examples are Social Security and account numbers and personal records. The originals were removed and have been replaced with redacted photocopies, which have an identifying statement at the top. In addition, an address book has been removed and is closed to researchers. To request access to electronic files, please email Reference.
Restrictions on Use: Certain restrictions apply to the use of electronic files. Researchers must agree to the Materials Use Policy for Electronic Files before accessing them. Original computer disks and forensic disk images are restricted. Copying electronic files, including screenshots and printouts, is not permitted.


Administrative Information


Acquisition: Gifts, 2009-2023 (09-09-003-G, 10-02-012-G, 10-05-006-G, 11-09-007-G, 13-09-018-G, 17-03-008-G, 21-008-003-G, 2023-06-009-G)
Processed by: Amy E. Armstrong, 2010-2011, 2015 Born digital materials processed, arranged, and described by Chance Adams and Brenna Edwards, 2015-2023.
Repository:

Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin

Biographical Sketch


Named after his mother's two favorite biblical figures, screenwriter and director Paul Joseph Schrader was born on July 22, 1946, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to Charles and Joan Schrader. Paul and his older brother, Leonard, were raised in a strict Dutch Calvinist home where faith and church were an essential aspect of family and community life. Because of the tenets of the Calvinist Christian Reform Church, Schrader famously did not see his first film, The Absent-Minded Professor, until he was seventeen years old. Unimpressed, he did not appreciate the impact of film until he saw Wild in the Country starring Elvis Presley and Tuesday Weld.
In 1963, Schrader attended summer school at Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Virginia. Exposure to non-Calvinist life outside of Grand Rapids in the segregated South had a lasting effect on him. Intending to become a minister, Schrader entered Calvin College in 1964. The political and social upheaval of the 1960s found him increasingly politically active and rebellious. He began a film club, which screened artistic and foreign films and invited the more liberal faculty members to discuss them. He began reviewing films and wrote film criticism for the college newspaper, the Calvin College Chimes, and later became assistant editor. Both his film club and his management of the newspaper often put Schrader in conflict with the university administration. He was eventually ousted from the Chimes by administrators; undeterred, Schrader and some friends began a new publication, The Spectacle.
In summer 1967, Schrader enrolled in film courses at Columbia University. While in New York he had a fortuitous meeting with the prominent film critic Pauline Kael, who urged Schrader to abandon his plan of becoming a minister and study film. In 1968, he graduated from Calvin College with a bachelor of arts degree in English and the next year married Jeannine Oppewall, a Calvin student and editor of the Calvin College Chimes, who would go on to a successful career in film as an art director and production designer.
After graduation, Schrader asked Kael for a recommendation to the University of California Los Angeles Film School, where he received an MA in 1970. He was among the first fellows at the burgeoning American Film Institute's (AFI) Center for Advanced Film Studies. While there he published his master's thesis as Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer (1972). As a film critic, Schrader edited and contributed essays and reviews to Cinema, Los Angeles Free Press, and similar publications. While Kael was working as a script reader at Columbia Pictures, she contacted Schrader about a Seattle newspaper film critic position, which he turned down in order to pursue his interest in film-making and to continue writing an in-progress screenplay called The Pipeliner. As a result, Kael and Schrader's relationship cooled for many years.
Schrader's time in Los Angeles in the first half of the 1970s marked a significant turning point in his life. The Los Angeles Free Press fired him for his negative review of Easy Rider, he left his fellowship at the AFI in protest over an administrative dispute, he was unable to finance his screenplay The Pipeliner, he was in financial debt, and his marriage was breaking up. It was in this period of professional and emotional turmoil that Schrader wrote his screenplay for Taxi Driver (1976) in less than two weeks. The screenplay was eventually sent to Brian De Palma, producers Julia and Michael Phillips, then to Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, but it would take two years to begin production. Though at the time of its release Taxi Driver received mixed critical acclaim, it won the Palme D'Or at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival. More importantly, Taxi Driver launched Schrader's career as an emerging member of the second wave of "New Hollywood" filmmakers, such as Scorsese, Spielberg, Lucas, and De Palma, who studied at film school before making some of the late 20th century's most groundbreaking films.
After completing the script for Taxi Driver, Schrader and his brother, Leonard, co-authored a Japanese gangster film, The Yakuza. The script was sold for the extraordinarily high sum of $325,000. Sydney Pollack directed the film, which was released in 1975. The success of these two projects led to Brian De Palma directing Schrader's Obsession (1976). Schrader wrote scripts prolifically during the mid to late 1970s, including many produced and unproduced films like Rolling Thunder (1977), Québecois!, Old Boyfriends (1978), Havana Colony (later made into Havana), Gershwin, Round Eyes, Covert People, and an early uncredited writing role for the film that would become Close Encounters of the Third Kind. In 1978, he directed his first film, Blue Collar, based on a screenplay he co-wrote with his brother. Later the same year, Schrader wrote and directed Hardcore (1978), the first of two films heavily influenced by his parents (the other was Light of Day in 1987). While he was editing Hardcore, Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese asked himr to rework Mardik Martin's original script for Raging Bull (1980). Though the film's final script changed significantly from Schrader's version, Schrader recognized the need to reorder the scenes and combine Joey La Motta and Pete Savage into one character. He would again partner with Scorsese and wrote screenplays for his films The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and Bringing Out the Dead (1999).
Schrader's catalog of film projects demonstrates his fascination with the grimmer aspects of human behavior. He is drawn to the study of flawed, socially isolated, and often self-destructive characters. He has collaborated with some of the twentieth century's most notable directors, producers, and actors on films such as Old Boyfriends (1978), Hardcore (1979), American Gigolo (1980), Raging Bull (1980), Cat People (1982), Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985), The Mosquito Coast (1986), Light of Day (1987), Patty Hearst (1988), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), The Comfort of Strangers (1990), Light Sleeper (1992), Witch Hunt (1994), Untitled: New Blue (1995), City Hall (1996), Touch (1997), Affliction (1997), Forever Mine (1999), Bringing Out the Dead (1999), Auto Focus (2002), Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005), The Walker (2007), Adam Resurrected (2008), and The Jesuit (expected 2012).
In 1983, Schrader married actress Mary Beth Hurt, who frequently appears in his films, and they have two children, Molly and Sam.

Sources:


In addition to material found within the Paul Schrader Papers, the following sources were used:
Jackson, Kevin (Ed.). Schrader on Schrader & Other Writings. London: Faber and Faber, 1990.
Kouvaros, George. Contemporary Film Directors: Paul Schrader. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2008.
"Paul Schrader."Contemporary Authors Online. http://galenet.galegroup.com (accessed 26 October 2010).
"Paul Schrader."Dictionary of Literary Biography. http://galenet.galegroup.com (accessed 26 October 2010).

Scope and Contents


Scope and Contents

The Paul Schrader Papers contain screenplays, film production files, and personal papers documenting Schrader's life and film career from 1943 to 2011. Included are early childhood materials, film reviews and essays published in his college newspapers, materials reflecting his emergence as one of "The New Hollywood's" most successful filmmakers, and records of his film projects. The papers are arranged in six series: I. Films and Television, circa 1960s-2010, undated; II. Plays, 1981-2011; III. Journalism and Other Writings, 1968-2007, undated; IV. Personal and Career-Related, 1943-2011, undated; V. Correspondence, 1968-2008, undated; VI. Works by Others, 1966-2007, undated.
The bulk of the material is located in the first series, Films and Television, and contains screenplays and production files for twenty-nine films Schrader wrote and/or directed, as well as for numerous unproduced films, television series, and other projects. The production files typically include screenplay drafts, film outlines and treatments, notes, Writers Guild of America (WGA) registration, and correspondence. In many cases, these files are extensive and may also include research material, casting files, deal contracts, daily production logs, cast and crew lists, film schedules, audience surveys, budgets and invoices, legal and arbitration documents, behind-the-scenes and film stills, publicity packets, clippings and reviews, film festival screenings, novelizations, sound recordings, moving images, and digital media.
Series II. Plays includes various script drafts, research files, correspondence, legal documents, and clippings for three theatrical projects initiated by Schrader: Sabina (unproduced), Berlinale, and The Cleopatra Club.
Schrader began his film career as a critic while attending University of California at Los Angeles film school. Series III. Journalism and Other Writings contains many of his early film essays and reviews, issues of Los Angeles Free Press and Cinema that Schrader edited and contributed to, as well as later writings published in Film Comment, the New Yorker, and similar publications. Schrader's original master's thesis, which he revised and published as Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer (1972), is also included in this material.
Series IV. Personal and Career is the second largest series in the collection and contains a variety of material spanning Schrader's life. Beginning with his baby book, Schrader's early childhood and schooling, time at university, and film career are well documented. Also included are family photographs, writings belonging to his brother, Leonard, and extensive personal publicity files.
Though correspondence is located throughout Schrader's papers, Series V. Correspondence contains incoming and outgoing letters he filed as a group. Many of these are originals or copies he sent and received from various family, friends, professional associates, actors, directors, and producers, such as long-time collaborator Martin Scorsese. A complete index of all correspondent names in this collection is included at the end of the finding aid.
The final series, VI. Works by Others, contains scripts and writings received, reviewed, or considered by Schrader, including a 1966 film treatment for Jerusalem, Jerusalem! by Martin Scorsese.

Series Descriptions

Series I. Films and Television, circa 1960s-2023, undated (94.5 document boxes)
Schrader has written and/or directed 29 films as of the Ransom Center's acquisition of his papers in 2010, and all are represented to varying degrees in the first series, Films and Television. This material documents his film career, beginning with The Yakuza (1974), his first produced screenplay, and Taxi Driver (1976), the screenplay that launched him into the spotlight; continuing through his directorial debut with Blue Collar (1978); and concluding with The Jesuit (expected 2012). Though uncredited, Schrader wrote early drafts for films such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and later in his career was hired frequently as script consultant or for rewrites for screenplays such as Black Rain, Falling Down, and The Quiet American. He also wrote outlines, treatments, and/or scripts for numerous unproduced films, including his first screenplay, The Pipeliner, as well as television series and other projects.
The amount and diversity of material associated with each project varies, depending, in part, on whether the film was produced and if Schrader directed it or wrote the script. In general, there is significantly less material for his earlier films or films for which Schrader only wrote the screenplay. Materials in this series are arranged in alphabetical order by project title. Subsequent items for each produced film or program, if present, are consistently arranged in the following order: screenplays and teleplays; outlines and treatments, notes; production materials; publicity materials; and research materials, followed by moving images, sound recordings, and artifacts. For unproduced projects or for films with a small number of items, materials in these categories may have been combined into one or multiple folders.
Schrader was involved in the development of several television series, short films, and a music video. The Century Project was initiated by TBS cable network and planned as a 10-hour documentary series focusing on twentieth-century world events, with each episode produced by an award-winning feature film director. Though the network abandoned this project, Schrader was to write and co-direct with Alan Poul a one-hour documentary about Japan. Schrader was also asked to write the pilot and subsequent episodes for an unproduced multi-part series for HBO cable network called The Distributor, based on stories by Richard Matheson. He also wrote the television pilot for Zion Hill, an unproduced series for FX cable network. Files for these programs include script drafts, correspondence, and similar material.
In the mid 1980s, Bob Dylan asked Schrader to direct a music video for his song "Tight Connection to My Heart" as a promotion for the Empire Burlesque album produced by and broadcast on MTV cable network. The video was shot in Japan, and this series includes script, photographs, and film documenting the video production. Untitled: New Blue (1995) is a short film directed by Schrader about his Manny Farber painting, Untitled (from the "New Blue series"), and made for broadcast on BBC television. Files include correspondence, research material, photographs, and film.
Screenplays and teleplays
The number of screenplays present for each project varies from film to film, but most are represented by multiple versions and copies. As exhibited in this series, modern screenplays commonly have variant titles, multiple writers, and numerous re-writes. Screenplays are arranged in chronological order based on the date typed or written on the script. The 'Director's copy' of shooting scripts contains additional production material (such as story boards, contact and crew lists, shooting schedules, script revisions, set sketches) inserted in the pages for the films Adam Resurrected, Affliction, Auto Focus, and Forever Mine. The screenplay for Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters includes numerous versions with translations written in Japanese and Romaji (Japanese written with Latin characters). Filed with the screenplays for the film Patty Hearst is a letter from Hearst in which she makes suggestions and clarifies the script's historical facts.
Some screenplays of particular interest include Schrader's draft of Close Encounters of the Third Kind and the multiple scripts related to Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005). Schrader was asked by Steven Spielberg to write an early script about UFOs for what would later become Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Scripts and arbitration documents are included for this film. Dominion had three directors over the span of production. Schrader was hired to replace the original director, John Frankenheimer, but the producers fired him after an early screening of his version of the film, claiming that it was too intellectual and not scary enough. The film was re-scripted, re-cast, and remade by director Renny Harlin and released in theaters as Exorcist: The Beginning (2004). Schrader's version, titled Paul Schrader's Exorcist: The Original Prequel, premiered at the Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Film and was released as a bonus feature and later on DVD as Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist. Materials include different versions of the script as well as some limited production material and a large amount of publicity material.
Outlines, treatments, notes
Schrader often drafted film outlines on yellow legal pads while developing and revising his screenplays. These outlines are consistent in layout and style and reveal the evolution of many of his films. Frequently unproduced and/or uncompleted film projects may contain only outlines and/or film treatments.
Production materials
The type of production files present for each project varies, but may include: actors' deal contracts, budgets and invoices, cast and crew lists, casting files, contracts, correspondence, daily production logs, filming schedules, legal and arbitration documents, location lists and photographs, memos, rights clearance, soundtrack, title credits drafts, and Writers Guild of American (WGA) registration. There is little or no production material for Schrader's earliest films, including the first film he directed, Blue Collar. Pre- through post-production is particularly well documented for the films Affliction, Light of Day, Patty Hearst, and The Walker. Folders containing cast contracts and crew deal memos detail the arrangements and contract specifications for the primary cast and for most of the below-line, production staff, reflecting the large amount of varied craftspeople an independent film requires. Casting files for the film Touch include early head shots and résumés, as well as test shots, for many of Hollywood's well-known actors.
Publicity materials
The amount and type varies from film to film and may include: audience surveys, clippings and reviews, correspondence and memos, behind-the-scenes and film still photographs, film festival screenings, posters, press junket itineraries, publicity packets, novelizations, sound recordings, moving images, and digital media.
Research materials
In general, there is little research material associated with each film. Often the only items may be some clippings and/or Schrader's personal copy of a published novel he adapted into a screenplay, as evidenced by his annotations and/or extensive underlined passages in Adam Resurrected, Affliction, The Last Temptation of Christ, and The Mosquito Coast. These books have been foldered and placed in document boxes along with the manuscript material. A significant amount of research material exists for the biopics Auto Focus, about the actor Bob Crane, Doris Duke (unproduced), and Blue Thunder, an unproduced film about Donald Aronow.
Of particular interest are photographs and a map Schrader acquired when riding with New York City ambulance drivers while researching Bringing Out the Dead. In addition, research material for his unproduced film The Doors of Perception includes articles, numerous bound volumes, films, and music for his research into shamanism, psychedelics, and drug culture.
Series II. Plays, 1981-2011 (3.5 boxes)
Series II, Plays, includes script drafts, research files, correspondence, legal documents, and clippings for three theatrical projects Schrader initiated: Sabina, Berlinale (1987), and The Cleopatra Club (1995). His first play was Sabina, a biographical work about Sabina Spielrein, one of the first female psychoanalysts, as well as a patient, lover, and student of Carl Jung. Though Schrader completed extensive research and wrote an initial script to be performed at the National Theatre in Britain, he ultimately abandoned the project. There are numerous research files, outlines, a list of possible themes, a research draft of the script, and correspondence with Peter Hall that reflects Schrader's struggle to draft a script that was satisfactory to him.
Berlinale, Schrader's second play, is based on the Berlin Film Festival. Materials related to it include scripts, research, and a bound volume entitled Berlinale (1990) by Wolfgange Jacobsen. Jacobsen's book, which details the history of the Berlin Film Festival, also contains Schrader's Berlinale script. A work-in-progress reading of the play was performed at the New York Shakespeare Festival in 1987.
The Cleopatra Club premiered as part of the New York Film and Stage Company's 1995 summer season at the Powerhouse Theater at Vassar College. In 2011, it was staged at stadtTheater walfischgasse in Germany. Materials related to the play include multiple drafts and copies of the script, contracts, clippings, and programs.
Series III. Journalism and Other Writings, 1968-2007, undated (2.5 boxes)
This series contains published versions of many of Schrader's early film essays and reviews published in Cinema, Coast FM & Fine Arts, Los Angeles Free Press, and other publications. Schrader was also the editor of Cinema and frequently published articles about Japanese film written and/or translated by his brother, Leonard; therefore, there are many issues that contain no writings by Schrader but were edited by him. This series also includes many published magazines and journals containing Schrader's later interviews with other film-makers, historical essays, critical film commentary, and tributes that appeared in publications such as DGA News, Film Comment, and the New Yorker. Of particular significance is an essay entitled "Canon Fodder," published in Film Comment (September-October 2006), which originally began as a book project about the film canon. Schrader completed extensive research about the origin and usefulness of any artistic "canon" and even took several university courses in order to become more familiar with the concept of the Western canon. The material accompanying this article includes lecture notebooks, course notes and readings, email and correspondence, article drafts, and copies of the final publication.
Many of Schrader's early reviews and essays have been reprinted in film anthologies; therefore, the series may contain the original published magazine version, as well as the later version printed in various bound volumes. Schrader on Schrader (1990) was edited by Kevin Jackson and contains an extensive interview with Schrader, in addition to reprints of Schrader's earliest and most notable film reviews and essays.
Also in the collection is Schrader's original master's thesis in which he analyzes the spiritual film style of three directors: Yasajiro Ozu, Robert Bresson, and Carl Dreyer. He revised and published it as Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer (1972).
Series IV. Personal and Career-Related, 1943-2011, undated (19 boxes)
This is the second largest series in the collection and it is arranged in alphabetical order by topic. The material spans Schrader's life, beginning with early childhood and all schools he attended, through family papers and personal material associated with Schrader's extensive film career. Files related to awards, film commentary, interviews, public appearances, and retrospectives contain certificates, correspondence, lecture notes, photographs, programs, and other materials.
Schrader's early schooling, and in particular West Side Christian School, Grand Rapids Christian High School and Hargrave Military Academy, is documented in the Childhood segment. Materials associated with this period include brochures, catalogs, diplomas, grade reports, photographs, school awards, school newspapers, school projects, student handbooks, and yearbooks. This material also reflects Schrader's childhood hobbies and interests and includes copied handwritten Bible verses, a cigar band collection and scrapbook, clippings, juvenilia, membership cards, patches, programs, and other ephemera. Childhood toys and other artifacts have been transferred to the Center's Personal Effects Collection. Issues of Calvin College's student newspapers, the Calvin College Chimes and The Spectacle, are of interest because they document Schrader's rebellious tenure as assistant editor and his subsequent ouster, as well as his early reviews for films screened as part of his controversial film club.
Schrader's publicity files span 1968 to 2009, and his original arrangement has been maintained. There is at least one folder for each year, and these files predominantly contain general clippings about Schrader (often unrelated to a specific film title) but may also include awards, correspondence, magazines, photographs, and printed material.
The Photograph files are arranged in alphabetical order by genre or subject, often using the title written on the original folder (denoted with single quotation marks). Subjects include John Bailey (cinematographer for American Gigolo, Cat People, Light of Day, and Mishima), Calvin College, family, Schrader's first wedding, UCLA, and publicity headshots and portraits. There are numerous color and black-and-white prints as well as negatives. Also included is Schrader's collection of autographed photographic prints of directors, such as Budd Boetticher, Robert Bresson, Charlie Chaplin, John Ford, Jean Renoir, Leni Reifenstahl, and Billy Wilder. Many of the prints are inscribed to Paul Schrader, as well as third parties, and are arranged in alphabetical order by director's last name.
In addition, other personal files include an interview transcript and photographs of Robert Bresson by Schrader, a small film poster collection, genealogy material, identification cards, receipts, requests and invitations, other projects, shopping files containing orders and receipts for items (particularly rare and first-edition books purchased from online auctions), subject files, travel files with receipts and itineraries, and a baby book and early writings belonging to his brother, Leonard.
Series V. Correspondence, 1968-2008, undated (2 boxes)
Based on Schrader's own arrangement and often using the title written on the original folder (denoted with single quotation marks), this series contains incoming and outgoing letters and is arranged into four categories: chronological, family letters, 'personal or special' correspondents, and Linda Reisman's (Schrader Productions, assistant and producer) correspondence. The chronological segment dates from 1968 to 2008 and, in addition to letters, contains some writings and two computer disks which were separated to the Ransom Center Electronic Records Collection. This business and personal correspondence often relates to various projects, collaborations, and film festivals.
Family letters include correspondence from Schrader's mother and father and are sometimes addressed to both Paul and his brother, Leonard. The early letters Paul and Leonard wrote each other while Paul was editor of Cinema document both brothers' interest in film and Paul's diligence in ensuring quality content for the magazine. The later letters between Paul and Leonard reflect the drift in the brothers' relationship.
'Personal and Special' correspondence contains incoming and outgoing letters to and from prominent actors, directors, producers, and other professional collaborators in the entertainment industry. Correspondents include: Pedro Almodóvar, Russell Banks, Bernardo Bertolucci, David Bowie, Robert Bresson, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert De Niro, Eiko Ishioka, Pauline Kael, Spike Lee, George Lucas, Helen Mirren, Jeannine Oppewall, Harold Pinter, Natasha Richardson, Ferdinando Scarfiotti, Martin Scorsese, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Stoppard, Paul Theroux, Beverly Walker, and Wim Wenders. A complete index of all correspondent names in this collection is included at the end of the finding aid.
The final segment of this series contains letters sent and received by Linda Reisman, Schrader's frequent producer.
Series VI. Works by Others, 1966-2007, undated (1.5 boxes)
The final series, VI. Works by Others, contains scripts and writings received, reviewed, or considered by Schrader. Materials include a 1966 film treatment for Jerusalem, Jerusalem! by Martin Scorsese and an undated screenplay, Funny Boy, written by Leonard and Chieko Schrader.

Related Material


The Robert De Niro, Russell Banks, Tom Stoppard, and David Mamet holdings at the Ransom Center contain additional Schrader-related material.

Separated Material


Artifacts, including two commemorative plates celebrating the completion of Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist and Adam Resurrected, a film clapper used for the film Touch, and school and childhood memorabilia, were transferred to the Ransom Center's Personal Effects Collection. A costume worn by Willem Defoe in the film Light Sleeper was transferred to the Costumes Collection.
Audio, if present for a film, may include published soundtracks and unpublished demo tapes, musical scores, and promotional cassette tapes. Published soundtracks and albums were transferred to the Ransom Center Library. Unpublished audio was transferred to the Ransom Center Sound Collection. Of particular interest are demo tapes by Bruce Springsteen for Light of Day, David Bowie for Cat People, and Bob Dylan for Light Sleeper.
Bound volumes related to film theory, film criticism, and filmmaking; books containing biographical information or features about Schrader; and critical analyses and novelizations of Schrader's films were transferred to the Ransom Center Library. Many of these books are inscribed to Schrader; those inscribed to him from his early mentor, Pauline Kael, have particular significance. Novels he used heavily for screenplay adaptations have been kept with the manuscript material. Some of the books originally contained loose items which have been removed and placed into folder 102.11.
Also transferred to the Ransom Center Library are over fifty bound volumes and programs for numerous international film festivals in which Schrader was involved. Many of these festivals held screenings, tributes, or retrospectives of his films; in some instances he served as a member of the film jury.
Digital media, including Zip disks, CDs, DVDs, and 3.5-inch disks, have been transferred to the Ransom Center's Electronic Records Collection. Digital audio and moving image materials have been transferred to the Ransom Center Film and Sound Collections.
A variety of moving image material is present in the collection, including commercial versions of Schrader's films in a variety of formats, including film, VHS tape, beta tape, DVD, and laserdisc. Published films have been transferred to the Ransom Center Library. In addition there is a large number of diverse, unpublished films, including versions in various stages of the filming process and daily takes. Materials related to certain films include recorded interviews and other televised promotional events; research materials; and copies of published movies, programs, and documentaries recorded from television or some other source. These have also been transferred to the Film Collection.

Index Terms


People

De Niro, Robert.
Hurt, Mary Beth.
Kael, Pauline.
Oppewall, Jeannine, 1947-
Schrader, Leonard.
Scorsese, Martin.

Organizations

Writers Guild of America, West.

Subjects

Film festivals.
Independent filmmakers.
Motion picture authorship.
Motion picture plays.
Motion picture producers and directors--United States.
Motion Pictures, American.
Screenwriters.

Places

Grand Rapids (Mich.)
Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.)
New York (N.Y.)

Document Types

Audio tapes.
Clippings.
Correspondence.
Electronic documents.
Film stills.
Juvenilia.
Legal documents.
Motion pictures (visual work).
Photographs.
Posters.
Publications.
Scrapbooks.
Screenplays.
Scripts.
Serials (publications).
Video recordings.

Container List

Oversize document boxes Container 123-124   
Oversize flat boxes Container 125-132   
Accession 11-09-007-G (material integrated into container list) Container 133-135   
Accession 13-09-018-G (material integrated into container list) Container 136-137