FilmFunds Tracking Report: June 2012 Spec Market Scorecard

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
June 18, 2012

2012 Spec Market Scorecard

as of June 16, 2012

Here’s an interesting stat: If the same number of specs sell in the second half of 2012 as have sold so far in the first half, 2012’s total will end up 17.6% over 2011’s, which we’re sure you recall (because we won’t let you forget) was the highest number of spec sales in at least five years. That’s more or less what happened last year, too: Half of 2011’s 119 specs sold from January to June, and the rest sold from July to December.

Whether that happens or not, there are two weeks left in the June and we’re already 10 spec sales up over 2011’s first half tally. Here are our favorite highlights of this week’s Report:

• 17 specs have sold since the last Spec Market Scorecard, four weeks ago.

• Paramount’s been on a buying spree over the past two months -- the studio’s 6 purchases in May and June so far jumps it into first place among the buyers, ahead of Columbia Pictures’ 6 and Universal’s 5.

• On the agency side of the ledger, Original Artists and UTA were both on a tear over the past four weeks, with four spec sales each. WME added another three notches to its belt.

• There’s an excellent horse race shaping up among management companies: New Wave’s three sales over the past month puts it in a tie for first with Anonymous and Energy, each of which sold one during the same period for a total of five. Honorable mentions this month go to Circle of Confusion and Madhouse, each of which sold two specs since the past Scorecard.

Enjoy the grids.

2012 Overall Numbers

The first grid below shows sales of scripts that originally went out this year. In addition to those,16 scripts have sold this year that originally went out prior to 2012. Here are the spec sales numbers through June 18 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

Arad Productions

Bad Robot (3)

Bavariapool

Benderspink

Blumhouse Productions

Bobker/Kruger Films

Chernin Entertainment

Circle of Confusion

Content Engine

Conundrum Entertainment

Davis Entertainment

EMJAG

Film 44

Film Rites

Henceforth Pictures

Imagine Entertainment

Intrigue

Langley Park

Leverage Entertainment

Mad Chance Productions

Mandalay Pictures

Matt Tolmach Productions

Michael De Luca Productions

Movie Package Company

MXN

Mythology Entertainment

Original Film (2)

Payam Films

Platinum Dunes

Quadrant Pictures

Robert Cort Prods/Barnstorm Pics

Roth Films

Ruby Films

South Creek Pictures

Strike Entertainment

Sunswept Entertainment

Underground Films and Mgmt

Valiant Entertainment

Vertigo Entertainment

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 70 agents have been involved with at least one spec sale in 2012:

Five:

Chris Sablan (Original)

Jordan Bayer (Original)

Matt Leipzig (Original

Four:

Charlie Ferraro (UTA)

Mike Esola (WME)

Three:

Dan Cohan (WME)

David Boxerbaum (Paradigm)

Rich Cook (WME)

Two:

Bayard Maybank (Gersh)

Devra Lieb (Gersh)

Keya Khayatian (UTA)

Max Michael (UTA)

Nicole Clemens (ICM)

Rob Herting (Verve)

One:

Aaron Hart (Verve)

Adam Kanter (CAA)

Adam Levine (Verve)

Adam Weinstein (ICM)

Adriana Alberghetti (WME)

Amanda Urban (ICM)

Bill Weinstein (Verve)

Bryan Besser (Verve)

Caren Bohrman (Bohrman)

Carolyn Sivitz (UTA)

Chris Donnelly (WME)

Chris Ridenhour (APA)

Cliff Roberts (WME)

Craig Brady (CAA)

Dan Vantresca (Gersh)

Danny Greenberg (WME)

Dar Rollins (ICM)

David Karp (WME)

David Park (UTA)

David Saunders (APA)

David Stone (WME)

Debbie Deuble-Hill (APA)

Geoff Morley (UTA)

Ida Ziniti (Paradigm)

James Kearney (UTA)

Jeff Gorin (WME)

Joseph Cohen (CAA)

Julien Thuan (UTA)

Kathleen Remington (ICM)

Kimberly Hodgert (CAA)

Lars Theriot (ICM)

Lee Keele (Gersh)

Lisa Harrison (WME)

Mark Ross (Paradigm)

Martin Spencer (CAA)

Matt Rice (UTA)

Michael Sheresky (UTA)

Nigel Meiojas (ICM)

Philip d’Amecourt (WME)

Philip Raskind (WME)

Ramses Ishak (UTA)

Rand Holston (CAA)

Rebecca Ewing (UTA)

Rob Carlson (WME)

Roger Green (WME)

Ron Bernstein (ICM)

Ryan Saul (APA)

Scott Carr (UTA)

Scott Greenberg (CAA)

Sharon Jackson (WME)

Simon Faber (WME)

Stuart Manashil (CAA)

Tim Phillips (UTA)

Todd Hoffman (ICM)

Trevor Astbury (Paradigm)

Will Lowery (APA)

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 60 managers have been involved with at least one spec sale:

Five:

Brooklyn Weaver (Energy)

Josh Adler (New Wave

Mike Goldberg (New Wave)

Two:

Adam Kolbrenner (Madhouse)

Bard Dorros (Anonymous)

Bryan Brucks (Brucks)

One:

Adam Goldworm (Aperture)

Alan Gasmer (Gasmer and Friends)

Alex Goldstone (Anonymous)

Alex Lerner (Kaplan/Perrone)

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)

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)

Jesse Silver (Mindframe)

Jewerl Ross (Silent R)

Jonathan Hung (Hung)

Kailey Marsh

Kathy Muraviov

Kelly Roberts (Anonymous)

Lawrence Mattis (Circle/Confusion)

Lee Stollman (Gotham)

Lindsay Williams (Gotham)

Markus Goerg (Heroes & Villains)

Marti Blumenthal (59 Management)

Michael Botti (Industry)

Michael Sugar (Anonymous)

Mikhail Nayfeld (Heroes & Villains)

Mikkel Bondesen (UFUSE)

Nick Fariabi (Mindframe)

Noah Rosen (Circle/Confusion)

Paul Young (Principato Young)

Peter Principato (Principato Young)

Rosalie Swedlin (Anonymous)

Scott Leddy (Empirical)

Stephen Gates (Evolution)

Stephen Marks (Evolution)

Steve Golin (Anonymous)

Tom Drumm (The Safran Co.)

Will Rowbotham (Prolific)

Zach Tann (Magnet)

Zachary Cox (Circle/Confusion)

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.