Raiders of the Lost Ark

Story Conference Transcript
January 23, 1978 thru January 27, 1978
George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Larry Kasdan

Back in 1978, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg got together with Larry Kasdan to hash out the story for Raiders of the Lost Ark. The meeting was recorded and transcribed. (I guess that’s what you do when you’ve got a few bucks and you’re afraid of forgetting brilliant ideas.)

Fast forward to 2009, when a scan of this 126 page (!) transcript started circulating online. It’s a remarkable read. You can see the characters and plot being built from the ground up. Also, tacked on at the end is an additional conversation between Debbie Fine, Larry Kasdan, and Phil Kaufman.

Download the original photocopied document from TheRaider.net

Download the easier-to-read transcript here.

Feeling adventurous? Read it with Stanza on your iPhone! I’ve translated the file into ebook format here:
http://maddogmovies.com/almost/ebooks/raidersstoryconf1978.sgf

Mystery Man on Film has a good analysis of the document here.

Thanks to Moedred’s Journal for providing the transcript in text format.