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 Reportby Jason Scoggins…
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.

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