Search

In the summer of 1983 William Kennedy accepted director Francis Ford Coppola's invitation to collaborate with him on a film script for The Cotton Club, a 1930s period drama built around the real Harlem night club in New York. He spent the remainder of that summer and the fall writing and editing, as the movie transitioned from the pre-production phase to principal photography. The film debuted in the United States in 1984. This series documents that intensive writing and re-writing effort with many working scripts, rehearsal scripts, shooting scripts, and editing scripts. In addition, there are production memos and notes, call sheets, publicity materials, reviews, correspondence, and a file about the movie premiere.