The Scoggins Report: September 2013 Spec Market Roundup
The Scoggins Reportby Jason Scoggins & Landon RohwedderOctober 7, 2013 September 2013 Spec Market Roundup The word of the day is: Two. Three different buyers bought two spec scripts each…
The Scoggins Report
by Jason Scoggins & Landon Rohwedder
October 7, 2013
September 2013
Spec Market Roundup
The word of the day is: Two.
Three different buyers bought two spec scripts each last month (Electric Entertainment, big Fox and Thunder Road), and two agencies sold two each (CAA and Gersh). Elsewhere, WME didn’t sell a spec in August or September, the first time the agency notched zeroes two months running since August/September 2010. Oh, and there have been two spec sales so far in October as well.
Cute? Yes. Meaningful? Maybe not, but at minimum it’s nice to see a healthy number of sales overall last month, not to mention the spec market ramping up in general. Ten new scripts hit the market last week, the highest weekly number in months.
September’s raw numbers are below, followed by the usual weekly breakdowns and the details of each sale. Enjoy.
Year-Over-Year Breakdown
1 Total sales in September 2 Sales percentage of scripts that came out and sold in September
Genre Breakdown
The above percentages reflect just those that came out and sold in September.
Weekly Activity Breakdown
Week of September 2:
- 1 new spec hit the tracking boards and has not yet sold
- 5 additional spec sales were announced:
Come As You Are (9/3)
Into the Fire (9/4)
Matthew 21 (9/5)
Sicario (9/5)
Time Square (9/3)
Week of September 9:
- 5 new specs hit the tracking boards, none of which have yet sold
- 1 additional spec sales were announced:
- Hyperbaric (9/12)
Week of September 16:
- 4 new specs hit the boards, none of which have yet sold
- 2 additional spec sales were announced:
Critical Hour (9/16)
No Good Deed (9/16)
Week of September 23:
- 4 new specs hit the tracking boards, none of which have yet sold
- 1 additional spec sale was announced:
- The Ambassadors (9/27)
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: Erik Linthorst (“High School”)
Reps: Unrepped
Buyer: Radar Pictures
Genre: Comedy
Attachments: Hans Canosa is attached to direct and will produce with Barret Stuart, John Baca and Radar’s Ted Field.
Notes: Remake of the 2011 Belgian film “Hasta La Vista!”
Logline: Chronicles an outrageous pilgrimage undertaken by three young men on a quest to lose their virginity: Scotty, a quadriplegic wanna-be-rapper; Matt, a paraplegic former surfer; and Neil, a blind older (and wiser) guy. With the help of no-nonsense nurse/driver Sam, they secretly embark on a road trip to El Cielo, a Mexican brothel that caters to their ‘kind.’
Writer: Eric Tipton
Reps: Resolution (Dennis Kim) and Haven Entertainment (Jesse Hara, Rachel Miller, Dan Vantresca)
Buyer: Electric Entertainment
Genre: Action
Attachments: Electric’s Dean Devlin is attached to direct and will produce with Electric partners Marc Roskin and Rachel Olschan.
Logline: A wounded hitman and two paramedics go on the run from a drug cartel.
Writer: Dominic Morgan & Matt Harvey
Reps: APA (David Saunders, Steve Fisher) and Energy Entertainment (Brooklyn Weaver)
Buyer: Voltage Pictures
Genre: Thriller
Attachments: Voltage’s Nic Chartier and Craig Flores will produce with Shannon Gaulding and Brooklyn Weaver. Rock Shaink will executive produce.
Logline: A thriller in the tone of “Training Day” and “Das Boot.”
Writers: Matt Savelloni
Reps: Gersh (Devra Lieb, Bob Hohman) and Kersey Management (Andrew Kersey)
Buyer: The Exchange
Genre: Action thriller
Attachments: Intrigue Entertainment’sTariq Jalil and Lucas Carter will produce.
Logline: In the vein of “Falling Down.”
Writer: Kurt Wimmer (“Total Recall”)
Reps: CAA (Spencer Baumgarten, Brian Kend)
Buyer: Thunder Road
Genre: Sci-fi action
Attachments: Wimmer is attached to direct. Thunder Road’s Basil Iwanyk will produce with QED’s Bill Block.
Logline: Revolves around the journey of the machine to become human.
Writer: Brandon Boyce (“Apt Pupil”)
Reps: ICM (Doug MacLaren) and Kaplan/Perrone (Alex Lerner)
Buyers: Electric Entertainment
Genre: Thriller
Attachments: Electric’s Marc Roskin will direct and produce with partners Dean Devlin and Rachel Olschan.
Logline: A pair of young valets who moonlight as burglars find themselves way out of their depth when they target the wrong house and stumble across a woman being held captive.
Writer: Taylor Sheridan (2012 Black List’s “Comancheria”)
Reps: Gersh (Debra Lieb, Bob Hohman, Bayard Maybank) and Elevate Management (Jenny M. Wood, Alex Cole)
Buyer: Thunder Road
Genre: Action
Attachments: Thunder Road’s Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee will produce.
Logline: Kept under wraps.
Writer: Tripper Clancy
Reps: UTA (Jon Huddle, Emerson Davis) and Benderspink (Jake Wagner)
Buyer: Fox
Genre: Comedy
Notes: Dany Boon (“Welcome to the Sticks”) is attached to direct and will produce with Invention Films’ Nicky Weinstock and DYD 26 Entertainment’sDean Nichols and Yael Boon.
Logline: Ensemble road trip comedy that starts at Heathrow Airport and spans Europe. An international group bonds over the quest to help an American get home in time for a life-changing event.
Writer: Dan Mazeau (“Wrath of the Titans”)
Reps: CAA (Frank Jung, Dan Kopple) and Circle of Confusion (David Alpert, Ashley Berns)
Buyer: Fox
Genre: Sci-fi thriller
Attachments: Shawn Levy is attached to direct and will produce through his 21 Laps with Kerner Entertainment’sJordan Kerner.
Notes: Production executives are Kira Goldberg for Fox, Billy Rosenberg for 21 Laps and Ben Haber for Kerner.
Logline: Kept under wraps.
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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