The Scoggins Report: Spec Market Scorecard as of October 15, 2012

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 15, 2012

2012 Spec Market Scorecard

as of October 15, 2012

Fair warning: October’s spec numbers so far are...weird, and not in the awesome way October 2011’s were weird. Thirty pieces of material have hit the market in the past two weeks, but we’ve only seen two sales in that period. By contrast, last year there were 20 sales out of 53 scripts over the course of the month.

We’re not certain what’s made the difference, but the fact that 20 specs went out the first week of October alone couldn’t have been helpful; that’s a lot of material to slog through in a few days if you’re a CE. Still, there were some really good loglines in that batch, not to mention projects out from familiar names, so we’re betting the month will end strong. We may not break October 2011’s single month record this year, but we’re still in good shape to beat 2011 overall.

Here’s one other tidbit we found interesting: In the past four weeks, Paramount became the first studio this year to break into double-digit spec purchases. That’s a big deal -- it’s only happened once before since the writers’ strike (Warner Bros., in 2011). And here’s the kicker: It’s possible we’ll see Columbia and Universal follow suit by the end of the year. They’ve bought 9 and 8 specs so far, respectively.

Get out there and win, Hollywood. And enjoy the grids.

2012 Overall Numbers

The first grid below shows numbers for this year’s Spec Market (that is, sales of scripts that originally went out this year). As shown in the second grid,23 scripts have sold this year that originally went out prior to 2012.

Here are the spec sales numbers through October 13 on their own...

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

Spec Sales By Genre (sold/total)

Each cell in the below grid shows the number of specs in each genre that came out and/or sold that month, plus the number that sold that month that originally came out in years prior. The column on the right shows the percentage of total 2012 spec sales.

Spec Sales By Buyer - Studios

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

Spec Sales By Buyer - Other Buyers

Here are the combined numbers for spec and pitch sales by non-studio buyers that have bought at least one of each:

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

21 Laps

Allison Shearmur Productions

Anonymous Content

Arad Productions

Bad Robot (3)

Bavariapool

Benderspink

Bluegrass Films

Blumhouse Productions

Bobker/Kruger Films

Chernin Entertainment

Circle of Confusion

Content Engine

Conundrum Entertainment

Davis Entertainment

EMJAG

Energy Entertainment

Film 44

Film Rites

Flashlight Films

Gran Via Productions

Henceforth Pictures

Imagine Entertainment

In Cahoots Productions

Intrigue

Langley Park

Leverage Entertainment

Londinium Films

Mad Chance Productions

Mandalay Pictures

Marc Platt Productions

Matt Tolmach Productions

Michael De Luca Productions (2)

Montecito Picture Company

Movie Package Company

MXN

Mythology Entertainment

Original Film (3)

Pacific Standard

Payam Films

Pearl Street Films

Platinum Dunes (2)

Prime Universe

Quadrant Pictures

Robert Cort Prods/Barnstorm Pics

Roth Films

Ruby Films

Scott Rudin Productions

Scott Sanders Productions

South Creek Pictures

Strike Entertainment

Sunswept Entertainment

Underground Films and Mgmt

Unsupervised

Valiant Entertainment

Vertigo Entertainment (2)

Wonderland Sound and Vision

Spec Sales by Seller - Agencies (sold/total)

Each cell in the below grid shows the number of specs each agency took out and/or sold that month, plus the number it sold that month it took out in prior years. The efficiency rating shows the percentage of scripts taken out this year that have sold.

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

The following 90 agents have been involved with at least one spec sale in 2012:

Six:

Charlie Ferraro (UTA)

Mike Esola (WME)

Five:

Chris Sablan (Original)

Jordan Bayer (Original)

Matt Leipzig (Original)

Four:

David Boxerbaum (Paradigm)

Rich Cook (WME)

Three:

Dan Cohan (WME)

Two:

Bayard Maybank (Gersh)

Cliff Roberts (WME)

Danny Greenberg (WME)

David Karp (WME)

David Saunders (APA)

David Stone �� (WME)

Devra Lieb (Gersh)

Greg Hodes (WME)

Joseph Cohen (CAA)

Keya Khayatian (UTA)

Lee Keele (Gersh)

Max Michael (UTA)

Michael Sheresky (UTA)

Nicole Clemens (ICM)

Philip d’Amecourt (WME)

Ramses Ishak (UTA)

Rob Herting (Verve)

Ryan Saul (APA)

Tim Phillips (UTA)

Todd Feldman (CAA)

Todd Hoffman (ICM)

One:

Aaron Hart (Verve)

Adam Kanter (CAA)

Adam Levine (Verve)

Adam Weinstein (ICM)

Adriana Alberghetti (WME)

Amanda Urban (ICM)

Andrew Cannava (UTA)

Barbara Dreyfus (UTA)

Beth Swofford (CAA)

Bill Weinstein (Verve)

Bill Zotti (CAA)

Brian Kend (CAA)

Bryan Besser (Verve)

Caren Bohrman (Bohrman)

Carolyn Sivitz (UTA)

Chris Donnelly (WME)

Chris Ridenhour (APA)

Chris Till (CAA)

Cori Wellins (WME)

Craig Brady (CAA)

Dan Vantresca (Gersh)

Dar Rollins (ICM)

David Park (UTA)

Debbie Deuble-Hill (APA)

Geoff Morley (UTA)

Ida Ziniti (Paradigm)

Jacqueline Sacerio (CAA)

James Kearney (UTA)

Jeff Gorin (WME)

John Garvey (CAA)

Julien Thuan (UTA)

Kathleen Remington (ICM)

Kimberly Hodgert (CAA)

Lars Theriot (ICM)

Lee Cohen (Paradigm)

Lisa Harrison (WME)

Mark Ross (Paradigm)

Marissa Devins (UTA)

Martin Spencer (CAA)

Matt Rice (UTA)

Micah Green (CAA)

Nigel Meiojas (ICM)

Philip Raskind (WME)

Rand Holston (CAA)

Rebecca Ewing (UTA)

Richard Lovett (CAA)

Rob Carlson (WME)

Robert Bookman (CAA)

Roger Green (WME)

Ron Bernstein (ICM)

Sarah Self (WME)

Scott Carr (UTA)

Scott Greenberg (CAA)

Sharon Jackson (WME)

Simon Faber (WME)

Stuart Manashil (CAA)

Ted Chervin (ICM)

Theresa Kang (WME)

Trevor Astbury (Paradigm)

Will Lowery (APA)

Zach Druker (WME)

Spec Sales by Seller -

Management Companies (sold/total)

Each cell in the below grid shows the number of specs each management company took out and/or sold that month, plus the number it sold that month that it took out in years prior. The efficiency rating shows the percentage of scripts taken out this year that have sold.

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

The following 75 managers have been involved with at least one spec sale:

Seven:

Brooklyn Weaver (Energy)

Five:

Josh Adler (New Wave

Mike Goldberg (New Wave)

Three:

Aaron Kaplan (Kaplan/Perrone)

Adam Kolbrenner (Madhouse)

Two:

Bard Dorros (Anonymous)

Bryan Brucks (Brucks)

Kailey Marsh (Station 3)

Noah Rosen (Circle/Confusion)

Steve Golin (Anonymous)

Will Rowbotham (Prolific)

One:

Adam Goldworm (Aperture)

Alan Gasmer (Gasmer/Friends)

Alex Goldstone (Anonymous)

Alex Lerner (Kaplan/Perrone)

Alix Madigan (Anonymous)

Andrew Deane (Industry)

Andy Cohen (Grade A)

Ashley Berns (Circle/Confusion)

Benjamin Rowe (Oasis)

Brian Lutz

Britton Rizzio (Circle/Confusion)

Chris Bender (Benderspink)

Chris Fenton (H2F)

Chris Huvane (Mgmt 360)

Christopher Pratt (Elements)

Dannie Festa (Festa)

David Engel (Circle/Confusion)

David Lonner (Oasis)

Dick Hillenbrand (Heroes & Villains)

Elana Barry (Anonymous)

George Heller (Apostle)

Jake Weiner (Benderspink)

JC Spink (Benderspink)

Jeff Silver (Fourth Floor)

Jennie Frisbie (Magnet)

Jennifer Graham (Mgmt 360)

Jennifer Levine (Untitled)

Jenny Wood (Elevate)

Jeremy Bell (Gotham)

Jess Rosenthal (Industry)

Jesse Silver (Mindframe)

Jewerl Ross (Silent R)

Jim Wedaa (Parallax)

Jonathan Hung (Hung)

Josh Goldenberg (Kaplan/Perrone)

Kathy Muraviov (The Muraviov Co.)

Kelly Roberts (Anonymous)

Langley Perer (Mosaic)

Lawrence Mattis (Circle/Confusion)

Lee Stollman (Gotham)

Lindsay Williams (Gotham)

Marc Manus (Manus Ent.)

Markus Goerg (Heroes & Villains)

Marti Blumenthal (59 Management)

Mason Novick (MXN)

Michael Botti (Industry)

Michael Sugar (Anonymous)

Michelle Knudsen (MXN)

Mikhail Nayfeld (Heroes & Villains)

Mikkel Bondesen (UFUSE)

Missy Malkin (Brillstein)

Nick Fariabi (Mindframe)

Paul Young (Principato Young)

Peter Principato (Principato Young)

Rich Freeman (Code Ent.)

Rosalie Swedlin (Anonymous)

Scott Leddy (Empirical)

Sean Perrone (Kaplan/Perrone)

Seth Jaret (ContentEngine)

Stephen Gates (Evolution)

Stephen Marks (Evolution)

Tom Drumm (The Safran Co.)

Zach Tann (Magnet)

Zachary Cox (Circle/Confusion)

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.