The Scoggins Report: July 2013 Spec Market Roundup

The Scoggins Report
by Jason Scoggins & Landon Rohwedder
August 5, 2013

July 2013
Spec Market Roundup

This week marks the end of an era for the Scoggins Report: We’re bidding a fond farewell to Cindy Kaplan (sob!), whose contributions to this newsletter (not to mention all things Scoggins) for the past three years cannot possibly be overstated. Cindy’s level head, grace and wit will be sorely missed here, but at least we’ll still get to experience her comedy stylings via Kids At Play Media. We’re looking forward to seeing her first sitcom “created by” credit in the near future as well.

When you’re done observing a moment of silence in Cindy’s honor, please join us in welcoming Landon Rohwedder to the team. Landon’s long been a friend of the family, having helped out early on with the newsletter and at IOTG before getting his first gig as a lit manager’s assistant a couple of years ago. He’s been observing and tracking the market ever since, and while there’s no replacing Cindy, we couldn’t be more pleased to have someone as smart and capable as Landon contributing here each week.

The below grid’s pretty self-explanatory -- great overall numbers last month, especially compared to years past. We’ll go deeper on the Scorecard in a couple of weeks, but the details and loglines of each of July’s spec sales are below. Enjoy!

Year-Over-Year Breakdown

1 Total sales in July 2 Sales percentage of scripts that came out and sold in July

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 July.

Weekly Activity Breakdown

Week of July 1 (Independence Day):

Week of July 8:

Week of July 15 (Comic Con):

Week of July 22:

Week of July 29:

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.

CHILDREN OF THE GUN

Writer: Will Dunn (“Ion”)

Reps: WME (Mike Esola) and Think Tank Management (Tom Drumm)

Buyer: Bold Films

Genre: Action

Attachments: David Lancaster will produce through Bold Films. Sean Daniel will executive produce.

Notes: Purchase price was a reported low against mid six figures.

Logline: Set in a desolate near future, two survivors must unite, using their urban athleticism and a weapon from the past to escape their crumbling world, ruthless pursuers and their own violent history.

DEPRIVATION

Writer: Jason Doty

Reps: UTA (Jenny Maryasis, David Kramer)

Buyer: Focus Features

Genre: Action thriller

Attachments: Tim Perrell will produce through Process Media.

Notes: This is Doty's first sale.

Logline: A desperate man who, three days after his family dies mysteriously in a fire, discovers he can travel back in time if he never falls asleep.

EXTINCTION

Writer: Spenser Cohen (“High Value Target”)

Reps: WME (Solco Schuit) and Energy Entertainment (Brooklyn Weaver)

Buyer: Good Universe

Genre: Sci-fi thriller

Attachments: David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Alexander Young will produce through Mandeville with Anna Halberg.

Notes: Pre-emptive purchase, closed over the 4th of July holiday.

Logline: Under wraps.

LEGACY

Writers: Gregg Hurwitz

Reps: Resolution (Rich Green)

Buyer: Sidney Kimmel

Genre: Thriller

Attachments: Thea Sharrock is attached to direct. Sidney Kimmel and SKE president of production Matt Berenson will produce alongside Double Nickel’sJenette Kahn and Adam Richman. SKE president Jim Tauber and BruceToll will executive produce.

Logline: A single mother's 12-year-old son persuades her to commit the perfect crime.

MAGGIE'S DAWN

Writer: Blaine Taylor

Reps: Unrepped

Buyer: BCDF Pictures

Genre: Sci-fi

Notes: Script was a 2011 Nicholl semi-finalist. Project was set up at BCDF in March and is currently being packaged by CAA. Taylor is still unrepped.

Logline: An android housemaid adapts to survive as a gladiator in the aftermath of nuclear war.

MAN OF WAR

Writer: Joseph Sousa

Reps: CAA (Matthew Rosen, JP Evans) and Wirehouse Entertainment (Jessica Jordan)

Buyers: Lotus Entertainment, Sourian Pictures

Genre: Action thriller

Attachments: Mark Sourian will produce through his Sourian Pictures. Lotus’s Bill Johnson, Jim Seibel, Ara Keshishian and DJ Gugenheim will executive produce with Wirehouse’s Jessica Jordan.

Logline: Story of a Navy SEAL who flees from terrorist captors into the Carpathian mountains in winter.

RIVERSIDE

Writer: Sean Wathen

Reps: Jeff Ross Entertainment (Jeff Ross)

Buyer: RadioactiveGiant

Genre: Action thriller

Attachments: Daemon Hillin will produce for RadioactiveGiant.

Logline: After his partner’s death, a downtrodden cop must choose between resigning in defeat or taking one final shot at cleaning up the city and finding vengeance.

SOUTH CHINA SEA

Writer: Kerry Williamson (“Alex Cross”)

Reps: Gersh (Lee Keele)

Buyer: Millennium Films

Genre: Action thriller

Attachments: Gunn Films'Andrew Gunn will produce.

Logline: A detective must team up with an American expat on death row to track down an American’s son who stole a hijacked ship that was being used by Triad gangs.

THE DRIVER

Writer: George Richards

Reps: Magnet Management (Jennie Frankel Frisbie)

Buyer: JuntoBox Films

Genre: Heist thriller

Attachments: Forest Whitaker will produce through his JuntoBox Films. Alex Ardenti will direct.

Logline: A down-on-his-luck boxer-turned-getaway driver is left with a dead partner and a duffle bag of cash after a heist gone wrong.

THE FEUD

Writers: Chad & Carey W. Hayes ("The Conjuring")

Reps: WME (Cliff Roberts) and Circle of Confusion (Ken Freimann)

Buyer: Gulfstream Pictures

Genre: Action thriller

Attachments: Gulfstream’s Mike Karz and William Bindley will produce with Circle’s David Alpert, Ken Freimann and Rick Jacobs.

Notes: Josie Rosen and Matt Phelps will oversee for Gulfstream.

Logline: Centers on two prominent Hong Kong families caught up in a centuries-old conflict.

THE LOST

Writer: TJ Fixman (“One Night on the Hudson”)

Reps: WME (Philip Raskind, Simon Faber) and Fourth Floor Management (Jeffrey Silver)

Buyer: New Line

Genre: Action comedy

Attachments: 21 Laps’ Shawn Levy, Billy Rosenberg and Dan Cohen will produce.

Logline: Reformed first-time offenders must clear their names after they’re framed for the murder of their parole officer.

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.

Check out the newsletter’s beautiful new home on SpecScout.com.