The Scoggins Report: August 2011 Roundup
The Scoggins Report is a compilation of spec sales and trends in the industry. Archive editions of The Scoggins Report can be found at The Business of Show Institute and on www.thewrap.com. Details on every person, project, and company covered by the Report can also be found at www.ItsontheGrid.com. The Report is reprinted at Scriptmag.com by permission of the authors.
Spec Market Roundup for August 2011
Here are the highlights of August’s spec market activity:
- August continued 2011’s unbroken string of strong monthly spec sales, finishing nearly on par with July’s (and April’s and May’s, for that matter) unseasonably strong 6.
- None of the major studios broke out their checkbooks last month (the first time that’s happened since January), but four new buyers got on the board for the first time in 2011: Davis Entertainment, FilmNation, Inferno and Millennium/Nu Image.
- Two sets of unrepped writers sold specs last month, the first time that’s happened since we began tracking the market in 2009.
In case you were on vacation, riding out earthquakes or battening down the hatches in preparation for a hurricane when we we last published, here’s a link to the previous edition of the Scoggins Report. And now on to August’s numbers:
1 This number is a tally of every script that sold in August.
2 Only counts scripts that came out and sold in August.
Weekly Activity Breakdown
Week of August 1:
- 5 scripts hit the tracking boards, none of which sold
- 2 additional sales were reported (“Autobahn” and “Non-Stop”)
Week of August 8:
- 2 scripts hit the boards, neither of which sold
Week of August 15:
- 1 script hit the boards and didn’t sell
Week of August 22:
- 1 script hit the tracking boards and didn’t sell
- 2 additional sales were reported (“In the Event of a Moon Disaster” and “Untitled Supernatural Action Project”)
Week of August 29 (week before Labor Day):
- 1 script hit the boards and hasn’t yet sold
- 1 additional sale was reported (“Seven Days Waiting”)
Genre Breakdown *
* August’s numbers only
Spec Sales (alphabetical by title)
Writer: Greg Russo
Reps: ICM and Manage-ment (Dan Halsted)
Buyer: Inferno
Genre: Action, Thriller
Attachments: Mark Steven Johnson (“Ghost Rider,” “Daredevil”) is attached to direct.
Notes: Originally went out in September 2010. Project was previously titled ”I-95.”
Writer: Mike Jones
Reps: CAA (David Kopple)
Buyer: FilmNation
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi
Attachments: Aaron Ryder will produce through FilmNation.
Notes: Glen Basner will oversee for FilmNation. Script hit the market in May.
Writers: John Richardson & Chris Roach
Reps: Not applicable
Buyer: Dark Castle
Genre: Thriller
Attachments: Jeff Wadlow (“Never Back Down”) is attached to direct. Joel Silver, Andrew Rona, and Alex Heineman to produce through Dark Castle.
Writers: Jeff Bacon, Jordan Capell & Joe Davidson
Reps: Not applicable
Buyer: Davis Entertainment
Genre: Thriller
Attachments: Benderspink is attached to produce alongside Brad Jensen and Davis’s John Davis and Derek Dauchy.
Writer: Paul Sloan
Reps: Brucks Entertainment (Bryan Brucks)
Buyer: Millennium/Nu Image
Genre: Sci-Fi, Adventure
Attachments: Frank Demartini and Richard Salvatore are attached to produce.
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. Archive editions of The Scoggins Report can be found at The Business of Show Institute (http://bit.ly/2HRZ67) and in their beautiful new home on www.thewrap.com.
Details on every person, project and company covered by the Report can also be found at www.ItsontheGrid.com, the only place mere mortals can find listings of Hollywood’s active open writing and directing assignments, not to mention comprehensive spec market data and active film development information.
The IOTG Blog has a new home on the site: www.ItsontheGrid.com/news It includes daily highlights of recent database updates and individual posts on every spec that hits the market. You’ll find buttons to subscribe to the blog’s feed right where you’d expect them, and you can follow the site’s Twitter feed here: http://twitter.com/itsonthegrid.
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