Two scripts from the fourth season of Friends were auctioned off in England after an unnamed studio employee found them in the trash at London’s now-defunct Fountain Studios. The hit NBC series filmed its two-part finale, “The One With Ross’s Wedding,” partly in London in 1998 and the scripts were apparently left behind.
As per a news report by Rolling Stone, Amanda Butler, who is handling the sale, said the scripts should have been destroyed. “Apparently, the cast and crew were ordered to destroy their copies so the ending wouldn’t be leaked,” she said in a press release. “However, these two slipped through the net.”
As per a news report by BBC, the scripts have now been bought by an "online international bidder". No other details were given of the buyer, but the auction house said competition had been fierce - with 219 pre-sale bids placed from all over the world. It was sold at £22,000 - with fees taking the total paid by the buyer to £28,864.
Amanda also added that the global interest was "phenomenal".
As per the reports, in 1998, a former Fountain Studios employee, where the two Friends episodes were filmed, accidentally found the scripts in a bin. He shared with Hanson Ross, the auction house, that when he left the studios in 1999, he returned one last time to clean out his desk. While packing things into a cardboard box, he accidentally took the scripts and only rediscovered them later. For years, these scripts were kept in his bedside drawer. Now, as he was clearing his house ahead of a move, he found them again.
Meanwhile, Friends star Mathew Perry passed away in October. Friends starred Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer in lead roles.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)