The Scoggins Report: August 2013 Spec Market Roundup
The Scoggins Reportby Jason Scoggins & Landon RohwedderSeptember 3, 2013 August 2013 Spec Market Roundup Considering how little overall activity there was in the Spec Market last month (see the…
The Scoggins Report
by Jason Scoggins & Landon Rohwedder
September 3, 2013
August 2013
Spec Market Roundup
Considering how little overall activity there was in the Spec Market last month (see the grid below, and the weekly breakdown below that), August’s numbers ended up fairly solid, thanks primarily to the pace of the first half of the month. Here are the key take-aways, as far as we’re concerned:
- Two studios bought two specs each last month: CBS Films, which bought its 2nd and 3rd of the year, and Universal, which picked up its 4th and 5th.
- Two agencies sold two specs each as well: CAA, which sold its 6th and 7th so far in 2013, and UTA, which extended its first place lead by setting up its 15th and 16th.
We’re taking a bye week next week to sync up with the calendar, but we’ll be tracking the market as usual over at SpecScout.com. Happy New Year, Hollywood.
Year-Over-Year Breakdown
1 Total sales in August 2 Sales percentage of scripts that came out and sold in August
Genre Breakdown
The above +‘s indicate scripts that sold in those genres last month but went to market previously. The percentage reflects just those that came out and sold in August.
Weekly Activity Breakdown
Week of July 29:
- 2 new specs hit the tracking boards (1 in July, 1 in August), neither of which have sold
- 3 additional spec sales were announced:
Man of War (7/31)
South China Sea (7/30)
The Feud (7/31)
Week of August 5:
- 1 new spec hit the tracking boards, which has not sold yet
- 2 additional spec sales were announced:
- Rose (8/5)
- Panopticon (8/8 - originally went out May 2007)
Week of August 12:
- 3 new specs hit the boards, none of which have yet sold
- 2 additional spec sales were announced:
Soldiers of the Sun (8/14)
Other People’s Love Letters (8/15)
Week of August 19:
- 1 new spec hit the tracking boards, and has not yet sold
Week of August 26:
- 1 new spec hit the tracking boards, which has not sold
- 2 additional spec sales were announced:
Split (8/26)
Untitled Amy Schumer Comedy (8/26)
Spec Sales (alphabetical by title)
Project titles in the report are now linked to the corresponding Spec Scout page, so you can click to see which of the below we’ve covered and scored there.
Writer: Bethany Ashton Wolf (“Little Chenier”)
Reps: APA (Debbie Deuble, Sheryl Peterson) and Magnet Management (Zach Tann)
Buyer: CBS Films
Genre: Romantic comedy
Attachments: Tom Bezucha is attached to direct. Laurence Mark will produce through his eponymous production company with Jonathan Shukat. Tamara Chestna and Eric Bromberg will executive produce.
Notes: Mark Ross and Winnie Kemp will oversee for CBS Films.
Logline: In the vein of “Love, Actually.” Follows the intertwining story lines of four romances, each of which are at a crossroads.
Writer: Craig Rosenberg (“The Uninvited”)
Reps: UTA (Julien Thuan) and Anonymous Content (Jeff Okin)
Buyer: Good Universe
Genre: Action thriller
Attachments: Tarsem Singh is attached to direct. Andrew Lazar will produce through his Mad Chance. Rosenberg will executive produce with Good Universe’s Nathan Kahane and Joe Drake.
Notes: Nicole Brown will supervise for Good Universe. Project was previously set up at Lionsgate, with Di Bonaventura producing.
Logline: An ordinary man receives a package that contains a video of himself that tells him the world is about to end and only he can stop it.
Writer: Nathaniel Halpern (AMC’s “The Killing”)
Reps: CAA (JP Evans, Jacqueline Sacerio)
Buyer: Focus Features
Genre: Thriller
Attachments: ImageMover’s Robert Zemeckis and Jack Rapke will produce.
Notes: Christopher Kopp will oversee for Focus.
Logline: A woman who volunteers to physically fashion herself after another woman loses all sense of identity and begins to covet the other woman’s life.
Writers: Arash Amel (“Grace of Monaco”)
Reps: CAA (Matt Rosen)
Buyer: Universal Pictures
Genre: Sci-fi action
Attachments: One Race Productions’ Vin Diesel and Samantha Vincent will produce with Lorenzo di Bonaventura through his eponymous production company.
Notes: Jeff Kirschenbaum and Jay Polidoro will oversee for Universal.
Logline: Set in a post-apocalyptic future, centers on a team of soldiers searching for a fabled city of gold while on a tour of duty in Mexico, liberating it from an alien race known as Orcs.
Writer: Adam Gierasch & Jace Anderson (“Schism”)
Reps: Gersh (Lee Keele) and Anvil Entertainment (Mike De Trana)
Buyer: CBS Films
Genre: Supernatural thriller
Notes: Ryan Conroy will oversee for CBS Films.
Logline: A young woman who’s never known her real family discovers she has an identical sister and that they both have powerful abilities that a mysterious force will do anything to acquire.
Writer: Amy Schumer (Comedy Central’s “Inside Amy Schumer”)
Reps: UTA (Josh Katz) and Mosaic (Jimmy Miller)
Buyers: Universal Pictures
Genre: Comedy
Attachments: Judd Apatow will produce.
Notes: Apatow is overseeing a new draft and may have a hand in writing directly.
Logline: TBD.
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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