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Complete original production binder for Purple Rain from the estate of Britt Lomond, who served as first assistant director for the film’s second unit, containing a 107-page copy of the film’s first-draft script, 8.5 x 11, with 12 additional ‘Q’ pages representing the film’s alternate ending in which Prince’s parents do not die. The main script’s title page reads “Purple Rain, Screenplay by Albert Magnoli, Formerly Dreams by William Blinn, Production No. 8301, First Draft, 29 August 1983, Computer Version” with Starr Films contact information to the lower left. The script begins with Prince's famous voiceover from the beginning of 'Let's Go Crazy': “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life. Electric word life, it means forever and that's a mighty long time. But I'm here to tell you that there's something else — the afterworld." The script is extensively used as a working production copy, with multiple pages bearing handwritten scene changes, camera blocking, scheduling notes, and other annotations, as well as numerous blue and pink revision pages. The 12 ‘Q’ pages feature a cover memorandum headed “RE: ‘Q’ Pages / ‘Q’ Scenes.” The script is housed in a three-ring production binder. The August 29, 1983 date corresponds with Magnoli’s completion of his first draft shortly before production began that fall.
Included with the script is the film’s 45-page ‘Shooting Schedule,’ offering a day-by-day breakdown of the production of Purple Rain. Arranged in four columns marked “Camera Day & Date Location,” “Set/Scene/Pgs/D or N,” “Actors Working,” and “Vehicles/Props/Notes,” the schedule identifies production number “#8301,” the production dates, and department heads, including director Albert Magnoli. The schedule documents the planning of the Minneapolis-area shoot, which began November 1, 1983, and encompassed locations including First Avenue and sites around Minneapolis and greater Minnesota.
Also contained within the binder are numerous production documents distributed to the film’s cast and crew, including:
- Approximately 40 Water Production, Inc. call sheets for Purple Rain, Production No. 8301, with fields for “Set,” “Scenes,” “Location,” “Cast and Players,” “Part of,” “Makeup,” “Set Call,” and “Remarks.” Several include production layouts of the “Main Level” and “Second Level” of the First Avenue club.
- 8-page ‘Revised, One-Line Schedule’ for Purple Rain shooting locations.
- 7-page ‘Crew List,’ dated November 8, 1983, plus a November 14 crew list naming Tony Brand and Britt Lomond, and a blue revised version dated November 30 listing Lomond.
- 4-page “Cast List”
- 13-page ‘Continuity Breakdown,’ organized by scene number, page count, day or night, description, set, and continuity.
- Numerous Purple Rain production-office memoranda, including a November 25, 1983, memo concerning a security breach involving Prince’s stand-in Byron Hechter, accompanied by a photocopy of the article involved in the breach; additional memoranda concern cast and crew badges, the holiday schedule, matters involving the State of Minnesota, production T-shirts, hotel check-out and departures, an invitation to a party from Prince, and the wrap party.
- Hand-drawn diagram of an interior dressing room and corridor.
- Multiple pages of handwritten production notes by Britt Lomond.
The documents throughout the binder also display an early working Purple Rain production logo, predating the familiar finished logo associated with the film. Together, the script, revision pages, shooting schedule, call sheets, production memoranda, diagrams, crew documentation, and handwritten notes provide a detailed working record of the planning and day-to-day production of Purple Rain. Filming began on November 1, 1983, only about two months after Magnoli completed the August 29 first draft represented here.
Also included is an original Purple Rain movie prop: a small sculpted plaster face, 4˝ x 6˝ x 2.25˝, hand-painted with sad eyes, pink cheeks, and a single black tear. The distinctive prop is prominently visible in the film at approximately 50:36, during the scene in which Apollonia presents Prince’s character, The Kid, with his iconic white Cloud guitar. In overall fine condition, with handling wear.
