FilmFunds Tracking Report: May 2012 Spec Market Roundup

FilmFunds Tracking Report
by Jason Scoggins & Cindy Kaplan
June 4, 2012

May 2012

Spec Market Roundup

That’s more like it. As you can see from the below, despite getting off to a slow start May’s total monthly spec sales ended way up over last year’s numbers. We’re back up above 2011’s total through the end of May, too. So we’ve got that going for us. Which is nice.

Here are our favorite highlights from last month’s spec market activity:

Three different buyers bought 2 specs each in May: Millennium, Paramount and Universal. Interestingly, that puts each company at 4 spec purchases for the year as well, which makes Millennium the number one non-studio buyer so far and ties Paramount and Universal with Warner Bros. for second place among the studios. Columbia Pictures remains in the lead, with 6.
UTA had a great month, with 3 spec sales in May, but WME and Original Artists were close behind, with 2 each. UTA’s total of 6 for the year so far ties the agency in second place with ICM, ahead of third place CAA, APA and Paradigm’s 4 but well behind dominant first place WME’s 18.

Here are May’s overall numbers, with year over year comparisons with Mays past:

1 Total Sales in May

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

Weekly Activity Breakdown

Week of April 30

1 script hit the boards and has not yet sold
1 other sale was reported (“The Current War”)

Week of May 7

7 scripts hit the boards, none of which has sold
2 additional sales were reported (“Dear Satan” and “Interrogation”)

Week of May 14

2 scripts hit the boards, 1 of which has sold (“The Disciple Program”)
2 additional sales were reported (“2” and “My Owner’s Wedding”)

Week of May 21

3 scripts hit the boards, none of which has sold
4 additional sales were reported (“Untitled Campbell/Stuecken Project,” “The Gun Eaters,” “The Man in the Rearview Mirror” and “Playing Dirty”)

Week of May 28 (Memorial Day)

3 scripts hit the boards, none of which has yet sold
1 additional sale was reported (“Transmission”)

Genre Breakdown

One of May’s sales (“Interrogation”) originally went out in April. Two (“The Current War” and “The Gun Eaters”) originally went out in 2011; both made The Black List.

Spec Sales (alphabetical by title)

Writer: Barry Levy

Reps: UTA (Charlie Ferraro, Keya Khayatian, David Park) and Evolution (Stephen Gates, Stephan Marks)

Buyer: Universal

Genre: Thriller

Attachments: Langley Park’s Kevin McCormick and Jason Alisharan will produce.

Notes: Sara Scott will oversee for Universal.

Logline: A New York detective must figure out which twin brother actually robbed a bank and stole sensitive counterfeiting information, when both confess to the crime.

Untitled Campbell Stuecken Project

Writers: Josh Campbell & Matt Stuecken

Reps: UTA (Charlie Ferraro), Madhouse (Adam Kolbrenner) and Energy (Brooklyn Weaver)

Buyer: Paramount

Genre: Sci-fi

Attachments: J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk will produce through Bad Robot.

Notes: Lindsey Paulson Weber will oversee.

Logline: Under wraps.

The Current War

Writer: Michael Mitnick

Reps: WME (Simon Faber) and Fourth Floor (Jeff Silver)

Buyer: Bazelevs

Genre: Drama

Attachments: Film Rites’ Steve Zaillian and Garrett Basch will produce with Bazelevs’ Timur Bekmambetov. Bekmambetov will direct.

Notes: 2011 Black List script. Michele Wolkoff and Alan Kahmoui will oversee for Bazelevs.

Logline: Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse compete to create the first sustainable electrical current.

Dear Satan

Writer: Dan Ewen

Reps: APA (Chris Ridenhour, Will Lowery) and Elements Entertainment (Christopher Pratt)

Genre: Comedy

Buyer: Fox

Attachments: The Farrelly brothers will direct and produce through Conundrum Entertainment.

Logline: Follows a young girl who accidentally misspells Santa and instead invites Satan to bring her a toy for Christmas.

The Disciple Program

Writers: Tyler Marceca

Reps: WME (Rich Cook, Philip D’Amecourt) and Anonymous Content (Bard Dorrs, Michael Sugar)

Buyer: Universal

Genre: Thriller

Attachments: Steve Levinson and Mark Wahlberg will produce through Leverage Entertainment. Wahlberg is set to star. Morten Tyldum (“Headhunters”) to direct.

Logline: A man begins an investigation into his wife’s mysterious death, only to find that it goes much deeper than he imagined.

The Gun Eaters

Writers: Jordan Goldberg & Alex Paraskevas

Reps: UTA (Rebecca Ewing, Keya Khayatian) and Oasis (David Lonner, Benjamin Rowe)

Buyer: Paramount

Genre: Thriller

Attachments: Oasis’ Lonner and Rowe will produce.

Notes: 2011 Black List script

Logline: Four hardened New York detectives race to apprehend a relentless spree-killer who’s executing victims from Queens to Southampton in the span of a single day.

Interrogation

Writer: Adam Rodin

Reps: The Bohrman Agency (Caren Bohrman)

Buyer: WWE Studios

Genre: Thriller

Attachments: WWE’s Vince McMahon will produce.

Notes: Went out in April.

Logline: In the vein of “The Usual Suspects.” An unorthodox interrogator goes mano-a-mano with the prime suspect in a mysterious ticking time bomb situation.

The Man in the Rearview Mirror

Writers: Andy Pagana & Justin Thomas

Reps: Verve (Rob Herting, Bill Weinstein) and Industry (Michael Botti, Andrew Deane)

Buyer: Latitude Productions and Lascaux Films

Genre: Thriller

Attachments: Curtis Burch will produce with Bob and Judy Gass.

Logline: “Rear Window”-esque story set in the 1950s. Follows a man, his wife and her mother who pursue a suspected kidnapper at high speeds on the freeway.

My Owner’s Wedding

Writers: Robert Cary & Jonthan Tollins

Reps: Alan Gasmer & Friends (Alan Gasmer)

Buyer: Millennium

Genre: Romantic comedy

Attachments: Cary, Tollins and Millenium’s Mark Gill will produce. Avi Lerner, Trevor Short, Boaz Davidson, John Thompson and Alan Gasmer will executive produce.

Notes: Jessica Biel is reportedly in talks to star.

Logline: Centers on two eligible young women, the man both of them want, and his dog. The latter will go to any length to make sure his owner ends up with the right girl.

Playing Dirty

Writer: Richard Blaney & Gregory Small

Reps: Original Artists (Chris Sablan, Jordan Bayer, Matt Leipzig) and 59 Management (Marti Blumenthal)

Buyer: Millennium

Genre: Thriller

Attachments: Mandalay Pictures’ Cathy Schulman and Adam Stone will produce with Millennium’s Mark Gill.

Logline: A young law student learns to let loose and explore his adventurous side after meeting a sexy and mysterious stranger. After some exhilirating nights of debauchery, car chases and threesomes, things go awry when the student finds himself the target of her psychotic plans.

Transmission

Writer: Michael Hurst

Reps: Original Artists (Chris Sablan, Jordan Bayer, Matt Leipzig) and New Wave (Josh Adler, Mike Goldberg)

Buyer: Fox International

Genre: Found footage sci-fi

Attachments: Hurst will direct.

Logline: Under wraps, but is about an apocalypic infection.

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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