Workprint

File:Workprintstill.jpg

Frame captured from a digital editing workprint. The timecode on the left begins with a userbit designating the lab roll and the code on the right is a Keykode.

A workprint is a rough version of a motion picture, used by the film editor(s) during the editing process. Such copies generally contain original recorded sound that will later be re-dubbed, stock footage as placeholders for missing shots or special effects, and animation tests for in-production animated shots or sequences.

For most of the first century of filmmaking, workprints were done using second-generation prints from the original camera negatives. After the editor and director approved of the final edit of the workprint, the same edits were made to the negative. With the conversion to digital editing, workprints are now generally created on a non-linear editing system using telecined footage from the original film or video sources (in contrast to a pirate "telecine", which is made with a much higher-generation film print). Occasionally, early digital workprints of films have been bootlegged and made available on the Internet. They appear sometimes months in advance of an official release.

There are also director's cut versions of films that are only available on bootleg; for example, the workprint version of Richard Williams' The Thief and the Cobbler. Although movie studios generally do not make full-length workprints readily available to the public, there are exceptions; examples include the "Work-In-Progress" version of Beauty and the Beast, and the Denver/Dallas pre-release version of Blade Runner. Deleted scenes or bonus footage included on DVD releases are sometimes left in workprint format as well, e.g. the Scrubs DVD extras. A workprint as source for a leaked television show is rather unique, but it happened with the third season's first episode of Homeland a month before it aired.

See also

• Hulk – Appeared on the internet two weeks before the film opening.
• Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith – Appeared on the web around the release. The Simpsons episode "Steal This Episode" referenced this important event in file-sharing history.
• X-Men Origins: Wolverine – Available on the web before the premiere.
• Apocalypse Now – A 330 minute long workprint circulates amongst collectors on the internet
• This Is Spinal Tap - A 270 minute long workprint exists (3 times the final film's length).
• Vampires Suck – Appeared on the web around a month prior to the film's theatrical release.
• Grizzly II: The Predator – This 1984 film, featuring George Clooney, Charlie Sheen, Louise Fletcher, John Rhys-Davies, and Laura Dern, has never officially been completed or released, and only the workprint survives.
• Homeland – The first episode of the third season leaked a month before airing. It being an unfinished version is rather unique for a TV-show.