The Scoggins Report: November 2012 Pitch Sales Scorecard

The Scoggins Report is a compilation of sales and trends in the industry. The Report is reprinted on ScriptMag.com by permission of the authors.

The Scoggins Report
by Jason Scoggins & Cindy Kaplan
November 12, 2012

November 2012
Pitch Sales Scorecard

This week marks the end of the Fall Selling Season, but as you can see from the below grids, pitch sales have already headed out of town for Thanksgiving: Just one pitch has sold in the past three weeks, and we doubt we’ll hear about more than a couple more between now and the end of the month.

We wish there was some outlier to point to or some lesson to learn, but the numbers don’t point to a single variable that led to the drop-off in pitch sales this year compared to last. It appears the Studios just weren’t that into pitches this year, to coin a phrase; all but two of last year’s Studio buyers simply bought fewer in 2012 than they did in 2011.

That said, there is one thing we can point to that definitely impacted our 2011 November and December numbers, which as you can see from the below grid were oddlly high: Starting about this time last year, we began reaching out to agents and managers to make sure our numbers matched theirs. We ended up capturing quite a few projects that had previously been below the radar (that is, not mentioned on tracking boards or reported in the trades).

We’ll start that process later this week, and it’ll be interesting to see if the pattern holds. In the meantime, the below grids provide a fairly good snapshot of where we’re going to end up for the year. Enjoy.

Overall Pitch Numbers

Here are overall pitch sales numbers through November 10 on their own...

...and here are combined spec and pitch sales numbers for the same period.

Pitch Sales By Genre

Pitch Sales By Buyer - Studios

Here are the combined pitch and spec purchase numbers for studios that have bought at least one of each:

Pitch Sales By Buyer - Other Buyers

Here are the combined pitch and spec purchase numbers for other buyers that have bought at least one of each:

Each of the following production companies has been attached to at least one pitch sale so far this year. Companies in bold are new or were attached to an additional pitch sale since the last scorecard.

1stAveMachine
Akil Productions
Atlas Entertainment
Bluegrass Films (2)
Branded Films (2)
Break Media
Captivate Entertainment
Carousel
Chris Morgan Productions
Di Novi Pictures
Disruption Entertainment
Electronic Arts
Escape Artists
Fake Empire
Four By Two Films (2)
Gary Sanchez Productions (2)
Grady Twins Productions
Gran Via
Hartbeat Productions
JC23 Entertainment
Imagine
Invention Films
Katzsmith Productions
LBI Entertainment
Mandeville (2)
Mark Gordon Company (2)
Offspring
Our Stories Films
Overbrook Entertainment
Original Film
Palermo Productions
Panay Films
Platinum Dunes
Point Grey Pictures
Rickard Pictures
Roth Films (2)
Ryan Murphy Productions
Smart Entertainment
Strange Weather Films
Vertigo Entertainment (2)
Viking Funeral
The Walsh Co.
Whitaker Entertainment
Wild West Picture Show
Wonderland Sound & Vision

Pitch Sales by Seller - Agencies

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

The following 90 agents have been involved with at least one pitch sale in 2012. People in bold are new or sold an additional pitch since the last scorecard.

Five:
Mike Esola (WME)

Four:
Sharon Jackson (WME)

Three:
Ida Ziniti (Paradigm)
Jeff Gorin (WME)
Kimberly Bialek (WME)
Sarah Self (WME)

Two:
Adam Venit (WME)
Ari Greenburg (WME)
Bill Zotti (CAA)
Billy Hawkins (CAA)
Blake Fronstin (WME)
Bryan Besser (Verve)
Danny Gabai (WME)
David Karp (WME)
David Kramer (UTA)
Geoff Morely (UTA)
Jason Burns (UTA)
Julien Thuan (UTA)
Matt Rosen (CAA)
Rowena Arguelles (CAA)
Simon Faber (WME)
Trevor Astbury (Paradigm)
Todd Hoffman (ICM)
Valarie Phillips (Paradigm)

One:
Abram Nalibotsky (Gersh)
Adriana Alberghetti (WME)
Allan Haldeman (UTA)
Andrea Nelson-Meigs (ICM)
Bayard Maybank (Gersh)
Blair Johan (UTA)
Bob Hohman (Gersh)
Brett Loncar (CAA)
Brian DePersia (WME)
Brian Kend (CAA)
Bryan Diperstein (ICM)
Charles King (WME)
Charlie Ferraro (UTA)
Chris Von Goetz (ICM)
Christopher Smith (Paradigm)
Cliff Roberts (WME)
Cori Wellins (WME)
Dan Erlij (UTA)
Dan Rabinow (CAA)
Danny Greenberg (WME)
Daniel Cohan (WME)
Dave Wirtschafter (WME)
Devra Lieb (Gersh)
Dianne McGunigle (CAA)
Elia Infascelli-Smith (WME)
Emile Gladstone (ICM)
Eric Garfinkel (Gersh)
Erin Junkin (WME)
Esther Newberg (ICM)
Greg Cavic (CAA)
Greg Hodes (WME)
Hanley Baxter (WME)
Jason Hayman (CAA)
Jay Baker (CAA)
Jay Mandel (WME)
Jeremy Zimmer (UTA)
Jessica Kovacevic (WME)
Joe Cohen (CAA)
John Burnham (ICM)
Jon Levin (CAA)
Josie Freedman (ICM)
Kevin Huvane (CAA)
Larry Salz (UTA)
Lisa Harrison (WME)
Mark Ross (Paradigm)
Martin Lesak (CAA)
Matt Rice (UTA)
Michael Sheresky (UTA)
Melissa Myers (WME)
Nick Stevens (WME)
Nicole Clemens (ICM)
Philip D’Amecourt (WME)
Ramses Ishak (UTA)
Rebecca Ewing (UTA)
Rich Cook (WME)
Rob Herting (Verve)
Robert Bookman (CAA)
Robert Lazar (ICM)
Ryan Saul (APA)
Scott Carr (UTA)
Scott Greenberg (CAA)
Spencer Baumgarten (CAA)
Stephanie Ritz (WME)
Steve Smooke (CAA)
Susie Fox (CAA)
Tim Phillips (UTA)

Pitch 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 2012.

The following 49 managers have been involved with at least one pitch sale in 2012. People in bold are new or sold an additional pitch since the last scorecard.

Six:
Brooklyn Weaver (Energy)

Four:
Britton Rizzio (Circle)

Two:
Aaron Kaplan (K/P)
Allen Fischer (PYE)
Dallas Sonnier (Caliber)
Guymon Casady (Mgmt 360)
Joy Gorman (Anonymous)
Paul Young (PYE)
Peter McHugh (Gotham)
Sean Perrone (K/P)

One:
Adam Goldworm (Aperture)
Adam Kossack (Anonymous)
Adam Marshall (Caliber)
Adam Schulman (Anonymous)
Alex Lerner (K/P)
Angelina Chen (Energy)
Bob Sobhani (Magnet)
Brad Mendelsohn (Circle)
Chris Fenton (H2F)
Darin Friedman (Mgmt 360)
David Becky (3 Arts)
David Milner (3 Arts)
E. Brian Dobbins (PYE)
Elana Barry (Anonymous)
Ellen Goldsmith-Vein (Gotham)
Eryn Brown (Mgmt 360)
George Heller (Apostle)
Glenn Rigberg (Inphenate)
Gregory Shephard (Circle)
Greg Walter (3 Arts)
Jeff Silver (Fourth Floor)
Jennie Frisbie (Magnet)
Jeremy Platt (Generate)
Jess Rosenthal (Industry)
Jesse Hara (Haven)
Josh Lieberman (3 Arts)
Julian Rosenberg (Caliber)
Jill McElroy (Mgmt 360)
Kailey Marsh (Station3)
Larry Kennar
Margaret Riley (Brillstein)
Michael Lasker (Mosaic)
Molly Mandel (Mosaic)
Peter Principato (PYE)
Rich Demato
Shawn Simon (Gotham)
Stacy Abrams
Tom Drumm (Safran)
Zach Tann (Magnet)

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. Mol??n labé.