| Guess what happened? An early
draft of the Free Spirit pilot script somehow turned up
on eBay. You know what that means. I purchased it right away, and now, we'll all go through it together. Extra large thanks to the reader who alerted me to this!
"Revised First Draft" likely means this was draft #2. It's not the first draft, and it's not the last one because that's known as the final draft. Unsurprisingly -- and thrillingly -- the draft contains many differences from the finished episode. Robb is the same, Winnie is slightly different, and Jessie is VERY different, to the point where I can't see any of her lines sounding right coming out of Alyson Hannigan. Maybe this is why the pilot was originally shot with a different Jessie. This was the first Free Spirit promo ever made, as part of a press reel announcing ABC's 1989 fall season. The father is also different in this clip. In my opinion, they never did find the perfect Thomas.
HAGGARTY??? The final version begins with Thomas in his home office and we actually see his client. Then Becky Ann Breen appears at the door (that scene never occurs in this script), followed by the scene with Robb in the kitchen.
This scene is in the final, but there are a couple of extra lines here.
And thus we learn a bit more about "Jeremy Kendall."
Almost nothing on this page occurs in the episode. The top line, however, should not have been cut. The Harpers don't mention they're from New York until episode 5. It's kind of an important detail, it's easy to miss, and it's one I didn't know when I started the webcomic. In the final Jessie starts dinner when Thomas forgets to make it. This early Jessie isn't as take-charge.
This was in the final, except for the oven thing.
Here's another page full of cut dialogue, mostly exposition. In the final Thomas mentions he's looking for a housekeeper as he opens the door to meet Becky.
Nothing changed here. |
