The Scoggins Report: March 2013 Pitch Sales Scorecard
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...
Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Total | |
2013 | 3 | 11 | 4 | 18 | |||||||||
2012 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 14 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 81 |
2011 | 4 | 8 | 13 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 10 | 4 | 5 | 10 | 8 | 14 | 106 |
...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...
Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Total | 2012 | 2011 | |
Specs | 7 | 5 | 2 | 14 | 132 | 132 | |||||||||
Pitches | 3 | 11 | 4 | 18 | 81 | 106 | |||||||||
Totals | 10 | 16 | 6 | 32 | 213 | 238 | |||||||||
2012 Total | 20 | 20 | 22 | 26 | 16 | 22 | 13 | 16 | 13 | 19 | 10 | 15 | |||
2011 Total | 7 | 21 | 28 | 16 | 15 | 28 | 20 | 9 | 12 | 30 | 16 | 24 |
...and here are those combined spec and pitch sales numbers in graph form as well.
Pitch Sales By Genre
Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Total | % | |
Action/Adventure | 1 | 4 | 5 | 28% | ||||||||||
Comedy | 1 | 1 | 2 | 11% | ||||||||||
Drama | 1 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 39% | |||||||||
Sci-fi | 1 | 1 | 2 | 11% | ||||||||||
Thriller | 1 | 1 | 2 | 11% |
Pitch Sales By Buyer - Studios
Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | |
Columbia | 1 | 1 | 7 | 9 | |||||||||||
Disney | 0 | 9 | 9 | ||||||||||||
DreamWorks | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | |||||||||||
Fox | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 8 | ||||||||||
Fox Searchlight | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |||||||||||
New Line | 2 | 2 | 5 | 4 | |||||||||||
Paramount | 0 | 9 | 12 | ||||||||||||
Paramount Insurge | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||
Universal | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 12 | |||||||||
Warner Bros. | 1 | 1 | 11 | 13 | |||||||||||
Totals: Studios | 1 | 10 | 3 | 14 | 60 | 69 |
Here are the combined pitch and spec purchase numbers for Studio Buyers:
Pitches | Specs | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | |
Columbia | 1 | 1 | 16 | 16 | |
Disney | 1 | 1 | 12 | 11 | |
Fox | 2 | 2 | 12 | 16 | |
Paramount | 1 | 1 | 20 | 17 | |
Universal | 3 | 3 | 20 | 19 | |
Warner Bros. | 1 | 1 | 18 | 30 |
Pitch Sales By Buyer - Other Buyers
Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | |
1984 PrivateDefense Contractors | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | |||||||||||
Broken Road | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||
QED | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||
Treehouse Pictures | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||
Totals: Non-studios | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
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
Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | |
CAA | 2 | 2 | 16 | 25 | |||||||||||
Gersh | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | |||||||||||
ICM | 1 | 1 | 7 | 14 | |||||||||||
Paradigm | 1 | 1 | 6 | 4 | |||||||||||
UTA | 1 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 13 | ||||||||||
WME | 2 | 4 | 6 | 27 | 28 | ||||||||||
Totals | 2 | 11 | 1 | 14 | 69 | 90 |
Here are the combined pitch and spec sales numbers for the agencies that have sold at least one of each:
Pitches | Specs | Total | 2012 | 2011 | |
CAA | 3 | 1 | 4 | 31 | 50 |
Paradigm | 1 | 3 | 4 | 14 | 14 |
UTA | 2 | 4 | 6 | 32 | 30 |
WME | 6 | 2 | 8 | 61 | 50 |
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
Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | |
3 Arts | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 | |||||||||||
Anonymous | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 | ||||||||||
Apostle | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||||
Benderspink | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | |||||||||||
Caliber | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | ||||||||||
Energy | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 0 | ||||||||||
Industry | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |||||||||||
Luber-Roklin | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||
Lutz Management | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | |||||||||||
Manage-ment | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||||||||||
Mosaic | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | |||||||||||
Principato-Young | 1 | 1 | 5 | 2 | |||||||||||
Untitled | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Here are the combined pitch and spec sales for management companies that have sold at least one of each in 2012.
Pitches | Specs | Total | 2012 | 2011 | |
Apostle | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
Benderspink | 1 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 6 |
Energy | 2 | 3 | 5 | 15 | 7 |
Industry | 1 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 14 |
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.
