FilmFund Tracking Report: June 2012 Pitch Sales Roundup

FilmFunds Tracking Report
by Jason Scoggins & Cindy Kaplan
June 25, 2012

June 2012

Pitch Sales Roundup

Our publishing schedule has us rounding up pitch sales a few days earlier than usual, but no worries: We’re well under June 2011‘s big number, true, but this month’s total (as of the 23rd) is already way ahead of May’s, and we’re still only a few pitch sales under 2011’s mid-year total.

Here are our favorite highlights from the past four weeks:

• Disney’s three pitch purchases sent a clear message to the marketplace (“Seriously, we’re open for business!”), putting its tally at roughly half the number of pitches it bought in 2011. As we wrap up the Spring selling season, Fox is the only studio significantly off its 2011 pace (2 pitch purchases so far, compared to 4 in the first half of last year).

• WME is all-but uncatchable at this point: Its three pitch sales in the past four weeks puts its year-to-date tally at 15, compared to second place CAA’s 9 and third place UTA’s 8.

Here are June’s raw numbers, followed by the usual breakdowns and project details.

Weekly Activity Breakdown

Week of May 28 (Memorial Day):

• No pitch sales were announced

Week of June 4:

• 1 pitch sale was announced (“Temple of Heaven”)

Week of June 11:

• 1 pitch sale was announced (“Stuff of Legend”)

Week of June 18:

• 5 pitch sales were announced (“Untitled Allison Burnett Thriller,” “Bloodstrike,” “Untitled Chris McCoy Romantic Comedy,” “High Value Target,” and “Untitled Scott Rosenberg Action Comedy”)

• 1 other pitch was announced but hasn’t been set up yet (“Untitled Josh Hamilton Biopic”)

Pitch Sales (alphabetical by title)

Untitled Allison Burnett Thriller

Writer: Allison Burnett

Reps: Gersh (Bob Hohman, Devra Lieb, Bayard Maybank) and Industry Entertainment (Jess Rosenthal)

Buyer: New Line

Genre: Thriller

Logline: A noir thriller with sensuality and intrigue, in the tradition of Body Heat.

Bloodstrike

Writer: Rob Liefeld

Reps: Energy Entertainment (Brooklyn Weaver)

Buyer: 1984 Films

Genre: Action

Attachments: Adi Shankar will produce with Weaver.

Notes: Based on the ‘90s comic book series by Rob Liefeld.

Logline: Follows a team of top-secret super agents/assassins who had died but were revived by the government via a secret initiative called “Project: Born Again.”

Untitled Chris McCoy Romantic Comedy

Writer: Chris McCoy

Reps: WME (Jeff Gorin, Sharon Jackson, Simon Faber) and The Gotham Group (Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Shawn Simon)

Buyer: Disney

Genre: Romantic comedy

Attachments: Mandeville Films’ Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman will produce.

Logline: Under wraps, but said to involve iconic fairy tales.

High Value Target (aka HVT)

Writers: Spenser Cohen & Zach Luna

Reps: WME (Mike Esola) and Energy Entertainment (Brooklyn Weaver)

Buyer: Energy Independent

Genre: Action

Attachments: Spenser Cohen to direct. Weaver and Anna Halberg to produce.

Notes: Went out in March accompanied by a rip-o-matic.

Logline: Centers on a multi-national black-ops mission inspired by real events. In the vein of Black Hawk Down, set on a Somali pirate ship.

Untitled Scott Rosenberg Action Comedy

Writers: Scott Rosenberg

Reps: WME (Adriana Alberghetti, Ari Greenburg)

Buyer: Disney

Genre: Action comedy

Attachments: John Jacobs’ Smart Entertainment will produce.

Notes: Sold for seven figures.

Logline: Under wraps.

Stuff of Legend

Writers: Shawn Christensen

Reps: Verve (Bryan Besser) and Caliber Media (Dallas Sonnier)

Buyer: Disney

Genre: Fantasy adventure

Attachments: Commercial and music video director Pete Candeland to helm. Mandeville Films’ Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman will produce with David Manpearl. FilmEngine’s Jake Wagner will executive produce.

Notes: Based on the graphic novel by Mike Raicht & Brian Smith and illustrated by Paul Wilson III. Will be a live action/CGI hybrid.

Logline: Toy Story meets The Chronicles of Narnia. Set in 1944, centers on a boy who is abducted by the Bogeyman and dragged into a realm called “The Dark.” The boy’s puppy rallies his toys to follow his master in a rescue mission. Once in the closet, each toy becomes menacingly large and agile, and engages in a war with the Bogeyman’s forces, comprised of the other toys stored in the closet, a mix of medieval knights, cowboys and toy soldiers.

Temple of Heaven

Writers: Chad St. John

Reps: CAA (Spencer Baumgarten & Billy Hawkins)

Buyer: Warner Bros.

Genre: Action adventure

Attachments: Jason Reed and Michael Andreen will produce.

Logline: Under wraps, but said to be based on aspects of Chinese mythology.

About FilmFunds Tracking Report:

FilmFunds Tracking Report, formerly known as 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.