The Scoggins Report: October 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
October 8, 2012

October 2012

Pitch Sales Scorecard

Let’s get right to it: The Fall selling season is off to a promising start. Spec sales have been been brisk, including three seven figure deals within a few days of each other a couple of weeks ago, and there have been six pitch sales in the last four weeks. As you’ll see from the below grids, we’re still on pace to match October 2011’s ten pitch sales.

That said, there’s no getting around the fact that 2012’s overall pitch sales are off 14% from last year, and given how strong Q4 2011 was, it’s going to be tough to catch up. When we looked at 2011’s year-end Scorecard to figure out the biggest differences, the answer was quickly obvious: Ten of last year’s key mini-major and non-studio buyers haven’t bought pitches yet this year.

The list includes Chernin (3 pitch purchases in 2011), Dimension (2), Fox 2000 (2), GK Films (2), Legendary (1), Media Rights Capital (1), Skydance (2), Strange Weather (2), Summit (2) and WWE (1). Together, those ten buyers alone account for 18 missing pitch purchases year-over-year. And coupled with Disney’s and Fox’s less enthusiastic buying patterns so far this year, it’s no wonder overall pitch sales are down on the year.

If we were getting ready to take out a pitch, we know which buyers we’d target. Good hunting, Hollywood.

Overall Pitch Numbers

Here are overall pitch sales numbers through October 6 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.

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 80 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)

Three:

Ida Ziniti (Paradigm)

Jeff Gorin (WME)

Kimberly Bialek (WME)

Sharon Jackson (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)

Sarah Self (WME)

Simon Faber (WME)

Trevor Astbury (Paradigm)

Two (con’t):

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)

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)

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)

Greg Cavic (CAA)

Hanley Baxter (WME)

Jason Hayman (CAA)

Jay Baker (CAA)

Jay Mandel (WME)

Jeremy Zimmer (UTA)

Joe Cohen (CAA)

John Burnham (ICM)

Jon Levin (CAA)

Kevin Huvane (CAA)

Larry Salz (UTA)

Mark Ross (Paradigm)

Martin Lesak (CAA)

Matt Rice (UTA)

Michael Sheresky (UTA)

Nick Stevens (WME)

Nicole Clemens (ICM)

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)

Steve Smooke (CAA)

Susie Fox (CAA)

Tim Phillips (UTA)

Todd Hoffman (ICM)

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 46 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 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

Michael Lasker (Mosaic)

Molly Mandel (Mosaic)

Peter Principato (PYE)

Rich Demato

Shawn Simon (Gotham)

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.