FilmFunds Tracking Report: June 2012 Spec Market Roundup

The FilmFunds Tracking Report is a compilation of sales and trends in the industry. The Report is reprinted at ScriptMag.com by permission of the authors.

FilmFunds Tracking Report
by Jason Scoggins & Cindy Kaplan
July 2, 2012

June 2012

Spec Market Roundup

As you can see from the below grid, the Spring selling season sure ended with a bang: June’s 16 spec sales ended up tied with March for the most in a single month. Plus, 2012’s mid-year total (77) is up a whopping 28.3% over 2011’s (60).

Here are our favorite highlights from last month:

• Paramount bought 4 specs, the most by a single buyer in one month since Warner Bros. bought 4 in October 2011. Even more impressive, Paramount’s combined 7 spec purchases in May and June is the most by a single buyer in a two month span in at least five years (since before we started tracking specs).

• UTA’s outstanding 4 spec sales in June (10 total for the year so far) puts the agency solidly in second place behind WME (which sold 2, extending its total to 20). Gersh had a great month, too -- its 3 sales in June puts its total at 5 for the year so far and keeps the agency competitive with CAA and ICM (6 each) and Original Artists and Paradigm (5 each).

• New Wave’s 3 sales in June (6 so far for the year) helped it take a slight lead over its two primary management company rivals. Anonymous Content and Energy Entertainment have each sold a total of 5 so far this year.

Here are June’s overall numbers, with year-over-year comparisons to Junes past.

1 Total Sales in June

2 Sales percentage of scripts that came out and sold in June

Weekly Activity Breakdown

Week of May 28

• 3 scripts hit the boards, none of which has sold (all three went out in May)

• 2 additional sales were reported: 1 in June (“Two Night Stand”) and 1 in May (“Transmission”)

Week of June 4

• 5 scripts hit the boards, one of which has sold (“Glimmer”)

• 4 additional sales were reported (“Bethlehem,” “The God Particle,” “Marrow” and “Trigger”)

Week of June 11

• 5 scripts hit the boards, none of which has sold

• 5 additional sales were reported (“Atom and Eve,” “The Codex,” “Monster Problems,” “The Quiet Ones” and “Wunderkind”)

Week of June 18

• 8 scripts hit the boards, only one of which has sold (“Acolyte”)

• 4 additional sales were reported (“Draft Day,” “Holiday Spin,” “Match” and “Mixtape”)

Week of June 25

• 3 scripts hit the boards, none of which have yet sold

Genre Breakdown

One of June’s sales (“Marrow”) originally went out in April. Another (“Wunderkind”) went out in May. Three scripts (“Bethlehem,” “Holiday Spin” and “Two Night Stand”) originally went out in 2011; “Two Night Stand” made The Black List. One script (“Mixtape”) went out in 2009 and made that year’s Black List.

Spec Sales (alphabetical by title)

Acolyte

Writer: Derek Kolstad

Reps: UTA (Charlie Ferraro) and New Wave Entertainment (Mike Goldberg, Josh Adler)

Buyer: Voltage Pictures

Genre: Thriller

Attachments: Voltage’s Nicholas Chartier and Craig J. Flores will produce.

Logline: Centers on a rogue government agency that blackmails ordinary citizens into committing acts of terror. The agency comes under attack when the wife of a retired operative is mistakenly kidnapped and the former operative sets out to take the agency down.

Atom and Eve

Writers: Ethan Furman & Adam Farasati

Reps: Gersh (Lee Keele) and Magnet Management (Zach Tann, Jennie Frisbie)

Buyer: Code Entertainment

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Attachments: Code’s Bart Rosenblatt, Eugene Musso and Al Corley will produce with Content Engine’s Seth Jaret. Frisbie and Tann will executive produce with Jonathan Dana.

Logline: Follows a recently jilted young computer scientist who needs to impress her family by pretending that her humanoid artificial intelligent robot is actually her boyfriend.

Bethlehem

Writer: Larry Brenner

Reps: CAA (Martin Spencer, Rand Holston)

Buyer: Universal

Genre: Horror

Attachments: Roth Films’ Joe Roth and Palak Patel will produce. Cedric Nicholas-Troyan (VFX Supervisor/2nd Unit Director, “Snow White And The Huntsman”) will direct.

Notes: Project hit the market in September 2011.

Logline: Follows a group of humans who turn to a helpful vampire to help shepherd them to safety from a pack of not-so-friendly vampires.

The Codex

Writer: Michael Cravotta

Reps: New Wave Entertainment (Mike Goldberg, Josh Adler)

Genre: Action adventure

Buyer: Amazon Studios

Logline: “Da Vinci Code” meets “National Treasure”

Draft Day

Writers: Rajiv Joseph & Scott Rothman

Reps: CAA (Chris Till, Bill Zotti), Gersh (Lee Keele) and Kaplan Perrone (Aaron Kaplan, Josh Goldenberg)

Buyer: Paramount

Genre: Comedy

Attachments: Ivan Reitman to direct and produce through The Montecito Picture Company along with Ali Bell and Tom Pollock.

Logline: Centers on the general manager of the Buffalo Bills as he spends the day of the NFL draft frantically trying to get the number one pick for his team.

Glimmer

Writer: Carter Blanchard

Reps: Paradigm (David Boxerbaum) and Madhouse (Adam Kolbrenner)

Buyer: DreamWorks

Genre: Thriller

Attachments: Madhouse’s Kolbrenner and Robyn Meisinger will produce and Ryan Cunningham will executive produce.

Notes: Sold for seven figures.

Logline: An Amblin-esque found footage film

The God Particle

Writer: Oren Uziel

Reps: WME (Sharon Jackson) and Circle of Confusion (Britton Rizzio)

Buyer: Paramount

Genre: Sci-fi

Attachments: Bad Robot’s J.J. Abrams will produce.

Logline: After a physics experiment with a large hadron collider causes the Earth to seemingly vanish completely, the terrified crew of an orbiting American space station is left floating in the middle of now-even-more-empty space. When a European spacecraft appears on their radar, the Americans must determine whether it’s their salvation or a harbinger of doom.

Holiday Spin

Writer: Albert Leon

Reps: Original Artists (Chris Sablan, Matt Leipzig, Jordan Bayer)

Buyer: Lifetime

Genre: Dramedy

Notes: Went out to studios in November 2011.

Logline: Set over the holidays in the world of competitve ballroom dancing aka DanceSport. Centers on a reluctant young dancer who is forced to embrace his gift when he finally meets his estranged father and falls in love with the girl of his dreams. “Save the Last Dance” in the world of competitive ballroom dancing.

Marrow

Writer: Erik W. Van Der Wolf

Reps: The Muraviov Company (Kathy Muraviov)

Buyer: Train Bridge Films

Genre: Thriller

Notes: Went out in April.

Logline: Centers on a woman who discovers that a bone marrow transplant has given her a new personality and memories -- including the memory of how her donor was murdered.

Match

Writers: Ben Shiffrin & Dan Antoniazzi

Reps: UTA (Charlie Ferraro) and The Gotham Group (Jeremy Bell)

Buyer: Millennium

Genre: Comedy

Attachments: Scott Sanders Productions’ Scott Sanders and Mara Jacobs will produce. Bryan Kalfus will executive produce.

Logline: A dating website executive plots against a rival company that beefs up its clients’ profiles to help them find hookups.

Mixtape

Writer: Stacey Menear

Reps: WME (Cliff Roberts) and Parallax Talent Management (Jim Wedaa)

Buyer: Maven Pictures

Genre: Comedy

Attachments: Tom Vaughan will direct. Maven’s Trudie Styler and Celine Rattray will produce with Wedaa.

Notes: 2009 Black List script.

Logline: After a 12-year old girl who’s being raised by her aunt discovers and destroys a mixtape that belonged to her mother, she sets out on a quest to track down each of the songs listed on the tape’s case.

Monster Problems

Writer: Brian Duffield

Reps: Gersh (Devra Lieb, Bayard Maybank) and Circle of Confusion (Zachary Cox, David Engel, Noah Rosen)

Buyer: Paramount

Genre: Comedy

Attachments: Shawn Levy to direct and produce through 21 Laps.

Notes: Billy Rosenberg and Dan Cohen to oversee for 21 Laps. Reportedly sold for low against mid six figures.

Logline: A post-apocalyptic road movie in the vein of “Mad Max” and “Zombieland” with a John Hughes-esque love story.

The Quiet Ones

Writer: Vik Weet

Reps: UTA (Charlie Ferraro, Max Michael) and New Wave Entertainment (Mike Goldberg, Josh Adler)

Buyer: New Regency/Shine

Genre: Horror

Attachments: EMJAG to produce.

Logline: In the vein of “Paranormal Activity.” Three students walked into a house. Ninety minutes later, all three of them were dead. This is what happened.

Trigger

Writer: Max Enscoe

Reps: Original Artists (Chris Sablan, Matt Leipzig, Jordan Bayer)

Buyer: Chapman Filmed Entertainment

Genre: Thriller

Attachments: Travis Knox to produce. Bob Yari, William Immerman, Adam Rosenfelt, and Brian Pitt to executive produce. Basel Owies to direct.

Logline: A character-driven thriller that examines two men fixated on what triggers the enormity of evil: A father, whose life is destroyed in pursuit of a monster, and a son, caught in a deadly charade as he tries to unravel his father’s obsession.

Two Night Stand

Writer: Mark Hammer

Reps: UTA (James Kearney, Tim Phillips, Carolyn Sivitz) and The Safran Co. (Tom Drumm)

Buyer: Flynn Picture Co.

Genre: Romantic comedy

Attachments: Beau Flynn, Adam Yoelin, and Ruben Fleischer will produce.

Notes: 2011 Black List script

Logline: A man and woman are trapped in his apartment after a one night stand becuase of a terrible snowstorm outside. They’re forced to get to know each other way more than any one night stand should.

Wunderkind

Writer: Patrick Aison

Reps: H2F (Chris Fenton)

Buyer: Paramount

Genre: Thriller

Attachments: Bad Robot’s J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk will produce. H2F’s Fenton and Chris Cowles will executive produce and Brian McCurley will associate produce.

Notes: Hit the market at the end of May.

Logline: Set in the 1970s and follows a young Nazi hunter with the CIA and an older Nazi hunter working for the Mossad who become reluctantly intertwined in their hunt.

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.