A workprint is a rough draft of a film.  It is an unfinished product and is not meant for the public to see.  Film editors use workprints to splice scenes together, tweak audio and add-in place holders for special effects that must be added in later.  Workprints are also used by directors to showcase the basic draft of how a film plays out for studios, executives and others who get a first look at a project during post-production.  Post-production take places after principal photography – the filming process – ends on a film set.

When film making began, there were two sets of work prints for a film: The original shot negatives and a second copy used as the workprint for the project.  Once the final film was done on the copy of the work print, the original was spliced to match it and kept in the studio's vaults.  Now, thanks to the evolution of digital film making, most work prints are stored non-linearlly and an editing system is in place to splice a film together from that to form the rough cut.  From that rough cut, the work print can be altered on a computer to include changes, move frames around and be edited in various ways by directors, producers and more.

Recently, the workprint for Wolverine: Origins leaked onto the Internet.  This caused quite a stir and brought to light the very stark differences between an unfinished and finished film.  It also highlighted the need for more protection for studios from unauthorized leaks from within.  The Wolverine: Origins leak involved the FBI tracking down the source.  Some work print versions, more finished than not, are released along with DVD films as director's cut, unfinished versions and special features.  This gives film fans a chance to see what goes into the process of a film or see a different version than what is shown on screens or on a studio-released DVD.