Spec Sales Stats: 2010 The Year in Review
Almost a spec a day hit the marketplace in 2010. And while both submissions and sales were down (17.6% and 15.1%, respectively), just 62 of the 360 spec scripts that made the rounds in 2010 sold.
Almost a spec a day hit the marketplace in 2010. And while both submissions and sales were down (17.6% and 15.1%, respectively), just 62 of the 360 spec scripts that made the rounds in 2010 sold.
While Jason Scoggins' covers these statistics brilliantly, consistently and in depth on his ItsOnTheGrid.com (which Sharon Waxman's TheWrap.com just acquired, merging them into an even more formidable source of instant entertainment industry insider information), a simplification of the top notes is illustrative and handy to aspiring and veteran screenwriters alike trying to make sense of (or keep their finger on the pulse of) the buying landscape.
Here's a quick thumbnail sketch of just the top three players across the board in terms of studio buyers and the sales facilitators or reps: agents and mangers.
Warner Bros. was by far the biggest studio buyer with nine purchases, a flurry of seven in the last quarter bumped it ahead of Relativity in second place with six and Paramount in third with four.
CAA sold the most, eleven, just inching out WME with ten. Notably, 70% of WME's business was attributed to top producer Mike Esola, who sold seven of the fifteen he took to market. UTA came in third with seven sales.
H2F and Circle of Confusion tied for top spec-selling management firms with four each with Anonymous right on their heels with three.
Maybe a fun New Year's Resolution for Script readers might be to make it on to Franklin Leonard's 2011 Black List?
Or better yet, to rank as one of 2011's spec sales statistics!
Heather Hale is a film and television writer, director and producer with over 80 hours of credits. She currently produces Lifestyle Magazine, the #1 life coaching broadcast television talk show. She wrote the $5.5 million dollar Lifetime Original Movie The Courage to Love (2000) which starred Vanessa Williams, Stacy Keach, Gil Bellows and Diahann Carroll. She directed, produced and co-wrote the million dollar thriller Absolute Killers which was distributed theatrically then sold at Walmart and Best Buy.
She has books published by the two major entertainment industry publishers: Story Selling: How to Develop, Market and Pitch Film & TV Projects (2019, Michael Wiese Productions) and How to Work the Film & TV Markets: A Guide for Content Creators (2017, Focal Press/Routledge).
The Independent Film and Television Alliance approved her as a qualified independent producer to pitch projects to NBCUniversal for their annual development fund. As IFTA’s Industry Liaison, Ms. Hale booked all the speakers for the 2013 American Film Market, including their flagship Conference series as well as launching their Producer’s Workshop. Ms. Hale served as the Vice President of Event Programming for NATPE (the National Association of Television Program Executives) for whom she also booked speakers and designed curriculum as well as consulting professionals to polish their pitch packages and sizzle reels to prepare them to pitch their TV concepts at their annual TV markets. She has written many “How to Pitch TV” articles and executive profiles for their membership newsletter and website.
A popular international speaker and in-demand consultant, Ms. Hale has taught custom pitching workshops to ABC/Disney Drama Executives, a weeklong screenwriting retreat in Australia (integrated with concurrent directing and acting programs). She teaches webinars and online classes for the Writers Store, Screenwriters University and Stage 32. She is a member of The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (The “TV Academy,” the entity that awards the Emmys) and ShowBiz Mensans.
