{"id":475826,"date":"2026-05-09T04:20:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T04:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/475826\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T04:20:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T04:20:17","slug":"larry-david-script-leaks-online-read-prognosis-negative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/475826\/","title":{"rendered":"Larry David Script Leaks Online: Read ‘Prognosis: Negative’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tBefore \u201cSeinfeld\u201d and \u201cCurb Your Enthusiasm,\u201d there was \u201cPrognosis: Negative,\u201d a film script written by Larry David<\/a> in the 1980s that was never produced.<\/p>\n

\n\tThanks to a Reddit user from Rochester, N.Y., a 1983 draft of the screenplay has been uploaded to the internet. (Read a PDF here<\/a>.) The 24-year-old, named Jeremy Smith, bought the script on eBay from a seller offering unpublished scripts; it\u2019s unclear how \u201cPrognosis: Negative\u201d was obtained in the first place. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe existence of \u201cPrognosis: Negative\u201d has long been known (its title was a recurring joke in \u201cSeinfeld\u201d), but the screenplay had never been available to read until now.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cPrognosis: Negative\u201d follows a man named Leo Black, who is incapable of committing to women. When he discovers an ex-girlfriend is dying, he decides to rekindle their relationship. After all, she won\u2019t be around for much longer. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe premise, of course, sounds straight out of an episode of \u201cCurb Your Enthusiasm\u201d or \u201cSeinfeld.\u201d And it\u2019s worth noting that the protagonist\u2019s name sounds strikingly similar to J.B. Smoove\u2019s \u201cCurb\u201d sidekick Leon Black.<\/p>\n

\n\tRobert B. Weide, who would later serve as a producer and director of \u201cCurb Your Enthusiasm,\u201d was an early advocate for \u201cPrognosis: Negative\u201d when he served as the head of development at a Hollywood agency that specialized in comedy. In an interview with The New York Times<\/a>, Weide said \u201cPrognosis: Negative\u201d was \u201cprobably the funniest script that I read during my tenure there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWeide said he brought the script to the agency\u2019s partners \u2014\u00a0Jack Rollins, Larry Brezner, Buddy Morra and Charles Joffe \u2014 and encouraged them to meet with David in 1983. During that meeting, the partners said the script had potential but was not ready to be shopped to studios. According to the notes taken at that meeting, the agency partners believed that \u201cthe basic problem\u201d was that \u201cthe main character, Leo, is not at all likable.\u201d They also noted that Leo was \u201c\u2018too ethnic\u2019 \u2014 too Jewish\/neurotic,\u201d according to Weide.<\/p>\n

\n\tWeide recalled Brezner asking David if there was any way to make Leo more sympathetic. \u201cLarry David was thinking about it and sort of weighing it in his head,\u201d Weide said. \u201cAnd then he looked at Brezner and said, \u2018No, I don\u2019t think so.\u2019 And that was it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDavid declined to take the agency\u2019s notes, and \u201cPrognosis: Negative\u201d was never made. \u201cI look at the notes from that meeting now, and my stomach just churns for 1983 Larry,\u201d Weide told the Times in an email. \u201cThe idea of having to implement notes that you don\u2019t agree with in order to possibly get something made is a terrible position to be in if you have any creative integrity. And Larry sure could have used the money back then.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOf course, David went on to build one of the most illustrious careers in television with characters who are often arrogant, petty and unlikable by traditional media standards. \u201cLeo Black is Larry David,\u201d Weide said. \u201cJust as George wound up being Larry David on \u2018Seinfeld\u2019 and then Larry would up being Larry David on \u2018Curb.\u2019 There\u2019s a definite through line. It\u2019s the personality. It\u2019s his attitude about life. It\u2019s about not suffering fools gladly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWeide said he brought up \u201cPrognosis: Negative\u201d to David about 15 years ago, asking him if he\u2019d ever consider shopping it around again. At this point in David\u2019s career, he surely could have found a studio partner for the project. David responded: \u201cI think I\u2019ve outgrown that script.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before \u201cSeinfeld\u201d and \u201cCurb Your Enthusiasm,\u201d there was \u201cPrognosis: Negative,\u201d a film script written by Larry David in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475827,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[268],"tags":[434,18,117,19,17,92177],"class_list":["post-475826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-larry-david"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116542703328437219","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}