‘Back To The Future’ movie screenplay written in an Atari?

[Scream And Fly]

Maybe this is common knowledge, but I never knew it. 
 

Recently I watched a documentary on the making of Back To The Future.  When Robert Zemeckis was discussing how he wrote the screenplay very quickly, a photo was shown of him working on it.  That blue screen immediately caught my attention, and it appears that he’s using a 65XE or 130XE??
 

You can see the characteristic slanted vents on the machine and it looks too small to be an ST. Also, an ST word processor wouldn’t have that blue background. That black line on the TV was caused by the camera shutter speed while that photo was taken and was not actually on the TV. 
 

The movie was in production in 1985 and the XE line was introduced that year.  Have a look and let me know what you think…

 

 

 

Edited August 30, 2023 by Scream And Fly

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8 hours ago, Scream And Fly said:

The movie was in production in 1985 and the XE line was introduced that year.  Have a look and let me know what you think…

Chances are that it may have been written on an Atari, but before the XE line was introduced.  The XE in the photo may have been the machine that was being used at the time, but the script would have been written at least a year before production began.  That would make an XL or 800 a more likely candidate.

[4ever2600]

I call BS. Someone took the DeLorean back in time and took this pic.

 

Helloooo McFly....

Edited August 31, 2023 by 4ever2600

[Big Player]

Two threads with more information and pictures.  The other pictures with Bob Gale show it's a XE.  It looks like Paperclip was the word processor used, if I remember correctly, since it shows two windows of text.  You could have two files open on the same screen.  I used it through my later years of high school (1986-1988) but I'm not an expert on all the word processing programs on the Atari 8 bits.

 

But if it is Paperclip, I would assume they used a 130XE, since you got a spell checker that wasn't available with only 64K of RAM. I had an 800XL and wished I had that spell checker.

 

Is it possible that these pictures shows them writing the sequels to Back to the Future instead? Wouldn't that fit the time frame better? Does anyone know exactly when the XE's were first released?  I got my 800XL for Christmas in 1984 and there were no XE's then.  Also, in one of the threads, someone points out that printer came out in 1987. Still it's cool either way.

[Flyindrew]

I got a 130 XE (which is still in use to this day) when it was brand new, the first week it went on sale which was the 3rd-4th week of August 1985.

 

As far as the "Back to the Future" photos, they may just be stock photos used in the documentary, when in reality it has nothing to do with writing or producing the movie.