‘Friends’ scripts go on sale after being rescued from trash can
By Lianne Kolirin, CNN
(CNN) — Original scripts from the long-running sitcom “Friends” that were found in a trash can 25 years ago are going under the hammer.
Fans of the hit show can bid online for the scripts of two episodes, both of which focused on Ross’ wedding and were filmed in London.
The documents for “The One With Ross’s Wedding Part I and Part II” should have been destroyed after the episodes were filmed at Fountain Studios in Wembley, a west London suburb, so the ending wouldn’t be leaked.
However, an employee at the time discovered them discarded in a trash can after filming finished and put them in a drawer.
They date back to 1998 when the show’s main characters travel to England to see Ross, played by David Schwimmer, marry his fiancée Emily, played by Helen Baxendale, in London.
Auctioneers have set the guide price for the pair at between £600 (about $760) and £800 (about $1,020).
“But thanks to the show’s huge global appeal, who knows where the hammer may fall,” said Amanda Butler, head of operations at auction house Hansons. “Friends’ final show aired 20 years ago in 2004 but it’s still watched and enjoyed by millions.”
According to the auction house, the former studio employee who worked in admin is now 60, but has not been named.
Recalling the episode on the auctioneers’ site, the former employee said: “I never saw any of the Friends cast but I remember it was madly busy.”
Of the scripts, they added: “I found them in a bin a couple of week’s after filming had finished. It was part of my job to ensure everything was tidy and no rubbish was left around. I wasn’t sure what to do with them so just put them in my office drawer. I remember wondering which member of the cast they might have belonged to.
“I left Fountain Studios in 1999 and when I came to clear my desk I just swept everything into a big cardboard box.”
They added: “It wasn’t until I checked through the box a few months later that I found them. They ended up in a bedside drawer and they’ve been there ever since. I could have quite easily have thrown them out. Recently I’ve been clearing my house ahead of a move and I came across them again.”
However, they admitted they weren’t a big fan of the show, adding: “American humour is different to ours. These scripts deserve to be owned by a big Friends fan.”
One of the main stars of the hugely-popular show, Matthew Perry, who played Chandler Bing, died suddenly last year. An autopsy revealed that Perry died from “acute effects of ketamine.”
The-CNN-Wire
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