The Scoggins Report: March 2013 Pitch Sales Scorecard

The Scoggins Report is published on ScriptMag.com with the permission of the authors. The Scoggins Reportby Jason Scoggins & Cindy KaplanMarch 11, 2013 March 2013Pitch Sales Scorecard A month ago…

The Scoggins Report is published on ScriptMag.com with the permission of the authors.

The Scoggins Report
by Jason Scoggins & Cindy Kaplan
March 11, 2013

March 2013
Pitch Sales Scorecard

A month ago in the Pitch Scorecard we were surprised to find there had been more pitch sales than spec sales so far in 2013 (10 vs 9, at the time), and we expected (read: “hoped”) to see that change within days of publishing. (Not that we have anything against pitch sales, we just have a thing for spec scripts.) As we pointed out last week, however, the spec market still hasn’t gotten off the ground yet this year, and as of today pitch sales are even further ahead of spec sales (18 vs 14 as we write this).

As you’ll see from the updated grids below, there are lots of strange dynamics going on in the marketplace. Here are two that jumped out at us:

  • Only one buyer has picked up at least one spec and one pitch so far this year: QED. By this point last year, four buyers had done so (Columbia, Disney, Universal and Warner Bros.).
  • Just two Comedy pitches have sold so far this year (the second one was announed today), lagging far behind Drama and Action. In 2012 and 2011, Comedy was by far the most popular genre for pitches and sold well throughout the year.

As we said, strange dynamics, and we think they’ll continue in March, since SXSW and Passover will probably affect this month’s numbers as well. We’ll let you know what happens.

Overall Pitch Numbers

Here are basic pitch sales numbers through March 11 on their own, with year-over-year monthly comparisons...

...and here are the same monthly pitch sales numbers in graph form.

The following are combined spec and pitch sales numbers through March 11, with year over year monthly comparisons...

...and here are those combined spec and pitch sales numbers in graph form as well.

Pitch Sales By Genre

Pitch Sales By Buyer - Studios

Here are the combined pitch and spec purchase numbers for Studio Buyers:

Pitch Sales By Buyer - Other Buyers

QED is the only non-studio buyers to have bought both a spec and a pitch so far this year.

Each of the following production companies has been attached to at least one pitch sale so far this year. Names in bold are new since the last Scorecard.

21 Laps

Action Entertainment

Aggregate Films

Anonymous Content

Bandito Brothers

Davis Entertainment

Energy Entertainment

Gambit Pictures

Gran Via

Groundswell Productions

Hurwitz & Schlossberg Productions

Lin Pictures

New Regency

Offspring Entertainment

Original Film (2)

Sunny Field Entertainment

Pitch Sales by Seller - Agencies

Here are the combined pitch and spec sales numbers for the agencies that have sold at least one of each:

The following 23 agents have been involved with at least one pitch sale so far this year.

Two:

Daniel Cohan (WME)

Mike Esola (WME)

Sandra Lucchesi (Gersh)

One:

Brett Loncar (CAA)

Brian Kend (CAA)

Charlie Ferraro (UTA)

Cori Wellins (WME)

Dan Aloni (WME)

Danny Greenberg (WME)

David Boxerbaum (Paradigm)

David Karp (WME)

David Lubliner (WME)

David Wirtschafter (WME)

Greg McKnight (CAA)

Jay Baker (CAA)

Jeff Barry (ICM)

Jenny Maryasis (UTA)

John Garvey (CAA)

Josh Hornstock (UTA)

Kimberly Bialek (WME)

Lee Keele (Gersh)

Michael Sheresky (UTA)

Ramses Ishak (UTA)

Pitch Sales by Seller - Management Companies

Here are the combined pitch and spec sales for management companies that have sold at least one of each in 2012.

The following 17 managers have been involved with at least one pitch sale so far this year:

Two:

Adam Marshall (Caliber)

Brooklyn Weaver (Energy)

George Heller (Apostle)

One:

Brian Dobbins (PYE)

Brian Lutz (Lutz)

Bryan Brucks (Luber-Roklin)

Dan Halsted (Manage-ment)

Dawn Saltzman (Mosaic)

Greg Walters (3 Arts)

Jake Wagner (Benderspink)

Jeff Okin (Anonymous)

Jennifer Levine (Untitled)

Langley Perer (Mosaic)

Michael Sugar (Anonymous)

Paul Young (PYE)

Rosalie Swedlin (Anonymous)

Stephen Crawford (Industry)

About The Scoggins Report:

The Scoggins Report is a terribly unscientific analysis of the feature film development business based on information assembled from a variety of public and non-public sources. The numbers in the reports are by no means official statistics.

Caveat emptor.

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