Bidding for this lot will end on Thursday, September 4th. The auction will begin at 10:00AM PDT and lots are sold sequentially via live auctioneer; tune in to the live streaming broadcast on auction day to follow the pace. Note other lots in the auction may close on Friday, September 5th or Saturday, September 6th.

A bound screenplay from the production of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring with an Academy Awards® timer gift. When visual effects artist Mark Stetson was nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Visual Effects for the film along with Randall William Cook, Jim Rygiel, and Richard Taylor, he was gifted an Oscars®-branded timer to help him and his collaborators prepare a speech short enough for the annual Academy Awards® telecast should they win. They did.

This lot features a leather bound, 119-page screenplay and "Thank You" letter from New Line Cinema, a glass timer with a gift box from Pampaloni, and a congratulatory note card. The screenplay cover is debossed with "Mark Stetson" and features a leather strap bookmark and a Ronnie Gousman cotton storage bag. The timer features "3-24-02" etched on one end and "Oscar 74" en verso. This lot exhibits mild discoloration and metal scuffing. Dimensions: (largest) 12.5" x 9" x 1.5" (31.75 cm x 23 cm x 4 cm)

About Mark Stetson

Visual effects maestro Mark Stetson's singular run in Hollywood began in 1978. After graduating from the prestigious Art Center College of Design, he immediately began a position as an effects props and miniatures artist for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, for which his responsibilities included building such memorable vessels as the workbee, the Constitution-class shuttlebay, and a studio model of the Enterprise itself. After filming concluded, Stetson continued working as a modelmaker, and later model shop supervisor, for Entertainment Effects Group (EEG), hand-making miniatures and other groundbreaking optical effects for acclaimed productions like Blade Runner, Ghostbusters, and Brainstorm under founder Douglas Trumbull.

By 1989, following a stint as model shop supervisor for Richard Edlund's Boss Film Corporation - including positions on such blockbuster productions as Die Hard and Poltergeist II, among numerous others - Stetson had founded his own effects company, Stetson Visual Services, Inc. Over the next 35-plus years SVSI became known for producing pioneering effects sequences for dozens of hit films, running the gamut from action classics like Total Recall, Waterworld, and The Fifth Element to acclaimed franchise installments like The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, and Superman Returns to cult comedies like Coneheads and The Hudsucker Proxy. Stetson's work in this period earned him three Academy Award nominations (and one win), two BAFTAs, and the Visual Effects Society Awards' Founders Award for innovations in the field.

Today, Propstore is proud to offer a hand-picked selection of memorabilia from the personal collection of this once-in-a-generation talent. Accumulated over nearly five decades in cinema, these lots represent a wide range of production materials, including ornately detailed model miniatures, hand-drawn artwork, and rare behind-the-scenes photographs, as well as Stetson's own production paperwork and crew gifts. Stretching across different eras, genres, and styles of production, the Mark Stetson Collection is nothing short of a testament to one of the world's most successful and imitated living visual effects artists.