The Scoggins Report: June 2013 Spec Market Scorecard

The Scoggins Report
by Jason Scoggins & Cindy Kaplan
June 24, 2013

June 2013

Spec Market Scorecard

Well, we know now why Warner Bros. hasn’t been buying much so far this year, but it’s still unclear what’s going on at Sony and Paramount. As you can see from the grid on page 4, Sony’s Columbia Pictures bought a total of 16 specs and pitches each of the last two years, but so far this year has bought one (a pitch). Similarly, Paramount bought 17 and 20 in 2011 and 2012, respectively, but just 2 in 2013 (one pitch, one spec).

Since we love going the extra mile, we compared last June’s Scorecard to this one, line by line, and we’re glad we did: The slothful spec market this year is 100% attributable to the above three studios. Yes, 2013’s total spec sales are down 18.5% from this point in 2012 (57 vs 70 as of June 18, 2012)...but if Sony, Paramount and Warner Bros. had bought the same number of scripts they did in the first half of 2012 (18 total), the spec market would actually be slightly up for 2013 (to 72).

We went ahead and did the spec market versions of the “Buyers by Genre” grids we introduced in last week’s Pitch Market Scorecard. The one for the Studios is on page 4, and the one for Non-Studio Buyers is on page 6. Enjoy.

2013 Overall Numbers

Of 2013‘s 57 spec sales, 11 (19.3%) have been of scripts that originally went out prior to 2012. Here are the overall spec market numbers through June 21.

* For 2010 and 2011, sales of scripts that originally went to market in years prior are not distributed monthly in the above table but have been added to the year-end totals.

The following are combined total spec and pitch sales numbers through June 21, with year over year monthly comparisons...

Spec Sales By Genre

Spec Sales By Month - Studios

* 2011 and 2012 numbers for Lionsgate and Summit are combined.

Spec Purchases by Genre - Studios

* 2011 and 2012 numbers for Lionsgate and Summit are combined.

Here are the combined pitch and spec purchase numbers for Studio Buyers that have bought at least one of each so far in 2013 (plus Columbia):

* 2011 and 2012 numbers for Lionsgate and Summit are combined.

Spec Sales By Month - Other Buyers

Spec Purchases by Genre - Other Buyers

Here are the combined pitch and spec purchase numbers for Non-Studio Buyers that have bought at least one of each so far in 2013.

Each of the following production companies has been attached to at least one spec sale so far this year. Names in bold are new or have set up an additional spec since the last Scorecard.

1492 Pictures

Allison Shearmur Productions

Anonymous Content

Apocalyptic Entertainment

Atlas Entertainment

Benderspink (2)

Bluegrass Films

Broken Road (2)

ContentFilm

Crave Films

De Line Pictures

Disruption Entertainment (2)

Electric Entertainment

Energy Entertainment (4)

Friendly Films

Hutch Parker Entertainment

Industry Entertainment

Intrigue Entertainment

Jerry Bruckheimer Films

Jon Shestack Productions

Le Grisbi Productions

Madhouse Entertainment (3)

Mandeville Films

Midnight Kitchen

Pacific Standard

Platinum Dunes

Rosa Entertainment

Sean Daniel Company

Silver Pictures/Zinc Entertainment

Sunny Field Entertainment

Vendetta Entertainment

Spec Sales by Seller - Agencies

Here are the combined pitch and spec sales numbers for the agencies that have sold at least one of each in 2013:

The following 51 agents have been involved with at least one spec sale so far this year. Names in bold are new or sold an additional spec since the last Scorecard.

Five:

Mike Esola (WME)

Four:

Charlie Ferraro (UTA)

Three:

Emerson Davis (UTA)

Two:

Daniel Cohan (WME)

David Boxerbaum (Paradigm)

David Park (UTA)

Geoff Morley (UTA)

Ida Ziniti (Paradigm)

Jason Burns (UTA)

Jon Huddle (UTA)

Marissa Devins (UTA)

Rob Herting (Verve)

Shan Ray (KSA)

One:

Aaron Hart (Verve)

Abram Nalibotsky (Resolution)

Adam Kanter (Resolution)

Adam Levine (Verve)

Adam Perry (APA)

Adriana Alberghetti (WME)

Andrew Miller (CAA)

Billy Hawkins (CAA)

Carolyn Sivitz (UTA)

Chris Licata (Paradigm)

Chris Ridenhour (APA)

Chris Sablan (Original)

Dan Erlij (UTA)

David Saunders (APA)

Debbee Klein (Paradigm)

Debbie Deuble-Hill (APA)

Erik Horine (ICM)

Greg McKnight (CAA)

Harley Copen (ICM)

Holly Jeter (WME)

James Kearney (UTA)

John Garvey (CAA)

Josh Hornstock (UTA)

Julien Thuan (UTA)

Keya Khayatian (UTA)

Larry Salz (UTA)

Matt Leipzig (Original)

Max Michael (UTA)

Mickey Berman (UTA)

Philip Raskind (WME)

Roger Green (WME)

Ryan Saul (APA)

Sandra Lucchesi (Gersh)

Simon Faber (WME)

Tim Phillips (UTA)

Todd Feldman (CAA)

Valarie Phillips (Paradigm)

Will Lowery (APA)

Spec 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 2013.

The following 35 managers have been involved with at least one spec sale so far in 2013.

Nine:

Brooklyn Weaver (Energy)

Six:

Jake Wagner (Benderspink)

Three:

Adam Kolbrenner (Madhouse)

Josh Adler (New Wave)

Mike Goldberg (New Wave)

Two:

Ben Rowe (Oasis)

George Heller (Apostle)

Jeff Belkin (Zero Gravity)

Marc Manus (Manus Ent.)

One:

Aaron Kaplan (Kapital)

Ava Jamshidi (Industry)

Bryan Brucks (Luber-Roklin)

Cindy Adams (Art/Work)

C. Campos-Greenberg (Anthem)

Dallas Sonnier (Caliber)

Dan Vang (Benderspink)

David Alpert (Circle)

David Lonner (Oasis)

DJ Talbot

Evan Cavic (PYE)

Greg Shephard (Circle)

JC Spink (Benderspink)

Jeff Ross (Jeff Ross Ent.)

Jeff Silver (Fourth Floor)

Jonathan Hung (Hung)

Langley Perer (Mosaic)

Linda Seifert

Michael Botti (Industry)

Rhonda Bloom (Plumeria)

Russell Hollander (Hollander)

Ryan Cunningham (Madhouse)

Sidney Sherman (Rosa Ent.)

Stephanie Davis (Wet Dog)

Tom Drumm (Think Tank)

Will Rowbotham (Prolific)

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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