The “Correction Script” for Citizen Kane

Is this the final script for Orson Welles’ masterpiece?

Harlan Lebo
leboprojects@gmail.com

(The full Correction Script begins on the fifth page of this document.)

(For more about the production of Citizen Kane, and how Orson Welles edited the final script
and added new scenes during production, see the “More Information” page below.)
__________

This document is the so-called “Correction Script” for Citizen Kane. The Correction Script was
created by Orson Welles by editing the last official script for the project, designated the “Third
Revised Final,” which had been distributed by RKO Studio on July 16, 1940.

What is the “Correction Script?”

Unlike most scripts, which are printed on studio stationery and have a description on the cover
(such as “Final” or “Revised Final”), the Correction Script is undated, typed on plain paper, has
no cover sheet from RKO, and is formatted unlike other scripts with an unusual two-column
structure. The document does not have an official studio name; it is called simply the
“Correction Script” because its file folder at the Museum of Modern Art in New York is labeled
“correction script.”

The Correction Script contains no information about how it was used, but we at least know it was
created after July 16, 1940, because many of the edits in this document had been created for the
Third Revised Final script, and had not appeared in any of the earlier draft scripts. Shooting for
Citizen Kane began on July 30, and it is possible that the Correction Script may have been
created at the same time Welles was immersed in filming his project.

Given how thoroughly archives and collections of Welles’ material from Citizen Kane have been
studied, it is likely that the Correction Script is the last script for Citizen Kane that will ever be
found.
Clues to solving the mystery of Citizen Kane

However, the Correction Script provides some clues to the principal mystery that lingers to this
day about the making of Citizen Kane: The final film of Citizen Kane is significantly different
from any of the scripts prepared before production of the film began.

All of the official script drafts for Citizen Kane contain a large amount of superfluous material,
and also have major scenes that lack focus on the topics that would eventually become the core
of Welles’ vision for the character of Charles Foster Kane. And all of the earlier draft scripts are
also missing key scenes, still to be written, that would eventually appear in the film. (For details
about these changes, see the “more information” page below)

So when and how did Orson Welles create some of the extensive edits and additions to the script
that were made while the film was in production beginning on July 30, 1940? The Correction
Script answers part of that question.

What does the correction script show?

The Correction Script reveals how Welles began to edit the Third Revised Final, even after the
official shooting schedule began on July 30, 1940. Welles cut at least fifteen minutes’ worth of
unneeded dialogue while maintaining the original purpose of each scene, and continued to shape
the characterization of Kane.

However, even the Correction Script contains some long scenes that were later cut, and the
unwritten scenes are not included here either.

Unfortunately, no examples of scripts for the missing scenes still exist, and Welles never
described precisely how he prepared and shot those scenes. However, the Correction Script does
at least help answer some of the questions about how Orson Welles transformed a relatively
straightforward narrative script into a platform for powerful visual images and innovative
storytelling that would become the cinema masterpiece we know today.

* * * * * * * *
More information on the making of Citizen Kane

 For questions or corrections for this document, contact Leboprojects@gmail.com.

 You can learn more about the writing of the original script for this film in Citizen Kane:
A Filmmaker’s Journey by Harlan Lebo, the only book that includes the full story of the
creation and release of the film. Visit Citizenkanebook.com.

 To see all of Orson Welles edits, additions, and deletions to the last official script for
Citizen Kane, on Scribd see “Citizen Kane -- The Third Revised Final script with
overlay: roadmap to a masterpiece” or
https://www.scribd.com/document/482028530/Citizen-Kane-The-Third-Revised-Final-
script-with-overlay-roadmap-to-a-masterpiece

 To see a clean newly-typed version of the Third Revised Final script, as originally
produced in July 1940, see “Citizen Kane – The Final Script (Third Revised Final
dated July 16 1940)” or https://www.scribd.com/document/481272511/Citizen-Kane-
The-Final-Script-Third-Revised-Final-dated-July-16-1940

 To see a copy of the actual Third Revised Final script as released on July 16, 1940 (fuzzy
but readable), on Scribd see “Citizen Kane-3rdRevFinal+Breakdown(7.16.40)” or
https://www.scribd.com/document/294411920/CitizenKane-3rdRevFinal-Breakdown-7-
16-40

 For a newly-revised and corrected transcript of the film, on Scribd see “Citizen Kane –
corrected transcript – September 2020” or
https://www.scribd.com/document/476927625/Citizen-Kane-Corrected-Transcript-
September-2020

 For the complete transcript of the film, along with all of the scene directions, and camera
positions of the final film, see the revised “cutting continuity” posted on Scribd as
“Citizen Kane -- cutting continuity corrected September 2020” or
https://www.scribd.com/document/476928478/Citizen-Kane-Cutting-Continuity-
Corrected-September-2020

This document includes revisions to correct many errors that were in the original cutting
continuity – the supposedly-final written record of a film – created in February 1941.
Pages 1-3 above are copyright © 2020 by Harlan Lebo. Use of this text in any form is prohibited
without permission; contact Leboprojects@gmail.com.

NOTE: The document that follows is for research and educational purposes only. It is not to be
sold or published.