The Scoggins Report: May 2012 Pitch Sales Scorecard

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

The Scoggins Report

by Jason Scoggins & Cindy Kaplan

May 14, 201

May 2012

Pitch Sales Scorecard

This week’s edition of the Scoggins Report was a blast to pull together, thanks to the incredibly vibrant pitch market: There were 13 pitch sales in the past four weeks. The spec market has been on a tear, too, as you can see from the combined numbers below: There were 13 spec sales in the past four weeks as well. Any way you slice it, 2012 is still outpacing 2011: This year’s combined numbers are up 18% over 2011.

Here are our favorite highlights since the April 9 edition of the Pitch Sales Scorecard:

• Four new studio buyers made this week’s Scorecard, including New Line, which bought two.

• Universal and Warner Bros. have been on a buying spree. Each studio bought three pitches in the past four weeks, plus Universal bought one spec and Warner Bros. bought two.

• UTA and WME each sold an impressive 5 pitches since the last Scorecard. UTA is now tied for second with CAA among the agencies, but WME is still way ahead (50% ahead, to be exact).

We’ll be back next week with the Spec Market Scorecard.

Overall Pitch Numbers

Here are overall pitch sales numbers through May 12 on their own...

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Total

2011

 2012 Pitch Sales

8

7

8

14

2

39

106

 2011 Pitch Sales

4

8

13

7

8

15

10

4

5

10

8

14

106

...and here are combined spec and pitch sales numbers for the same period.

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Total

2011

 Specs

12

9

17

11

2

51

119

 Pitches

8

7

8

14

2

39

106

 2012 Total

20

16

25

25

4

90

225

 2011 Totals

7

21

28

16

15

28

20

9

12

30

16

24

225


Pitch Sales By Genre

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Total

%

 Action/Adventure

1

1

5

7

17.9%

 Comedy

2

4

1

4

1

12

30.8%

 Drama

1

1

2

5.1%

 Horror

1

1

2

5.1%

 Sci-fi

3

1

2

2

8

20.5%

 Thriller

2

1

2

2

7

17.9%


Pitch Sales By Buyer - Studios

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Total

2011

 Columbia

2

3

1

6

9

 Disney

1

1

9

 DreamWorks

1

1

2

 Fox

1

1

8

 Fox Searchlight

1

1

0

 New Line

2

2

4

 New Regency

1

1

2

 Paramount

1

3

1

5

12

 Universal

1

1

1

3

1

7

12

 Warner Bros.

2

1

3

6

1

Here are the combined pitch and spec purchase numbers for studios that have bought at least one of each:

Pitches

Specs

Total

2011

Columbia

6

6

12

16

Disney

1

2

3

11

Fox

1

1

2

16

New Regency

1

1

2

2

Paramount

5

2

7

17

Universal

7

4

11

19

Warner Bros.

6

4

10

30

Pitch Sales By Buyer - Other Buyers

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Total

2011

 Bazelevs

1

1

1

 Davis Entertainment

1

1

0

 Imagine

1

1

0

 Indian Paintbrush

1

1

2

1

 Overbrook

1

1

0

 Reel FX

1

1

0

 Square One

1

1

0

Here are the combined pitch and spec purchase numbers for other buyers that have bought at least one of each:

Pitches

Specs

Total

2011

Bazelevs

1

1

2

1

Indian Paintbrush

2

2

4

1

Each of the following production companies has been attached to at least one pitch sale so far this year. Companies in bold are new or were attached to an additional pitch sale since the last scorecard.

1stAveMachine

Bluegrass Films

Break Media

Captivate Entertainment

Carousel

Di Novi Pictures

Disruption Entertainment

Electronic Arts

Fake Empire

Grady Twins Productions

Hartbeat Productions

JC23 Entertainment

Imagine

Katzsmith Productions

LBI Entertainment

Mark Gordon Company (2)

Offspring

Our Stories Films

Overbrook Entertainment

Original Film

Palermo Productions

Panay Films

Point Grey Pictures

Roth Films (2)

Ryan Murphy Productions

Strange Weather Films

Vertigo Entertainment (2)

Viking Funeral

The Walsh Co.

Pitch Sales by Seller - Agencies

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Total

2011

 CAA

1

3

2

2

8

25

 ICM

1

2

1

4

14

 Paradigm

1

2

1

4

4

 UTA

1

1

6

8

13

 Verve

1

1

5

 WME

4

1

1

4

2

12

28

Here are the combined pitch and spec sales numbers for agencies that have sold at least one of each:

Pitches

Specs

Total

2011

CAA

8

4

12

50

ICM

4

6

10

27

Paradigm

4

4

8

14

UTA

8

3

11

30

Verve

1

3

4

9

WME

12

17

29

5

The following 44 agents have been involved with at least one pitch sale in 2012. People in bold are new or sold an additional pitch since the last scorecar

Three:

Ida Ziniti (Paradigm)

Mike Esola (WME)

Two:

Danny Gabai (WME)

David Karp (WME)

David Kramer (UTA)

Geoff Morely (UTA)

Jason Burns (UTA)

Julien Thuan (UTA)

Matt Rosen (CAA)

Rowena Arguelles (CAA)

Sarah Self (WME)

One:

Billy Hawkins (CAA)

Bill Zotti (CAA)

Blake Fronstin (WME)

Blair Johan (UTA)

Brett Loncar (CAA)

Brian DePersia (WME)

Brian Kend (CAA)

Bryan Besser (Verve)

Christopher Smith (Paradigm)

Dan Erlij (UTA)

Dan Rabinow (CAA)

Elia Infascelli-Smith (WME)

Emile Gladstone (ICM)

Jay Baker (CAA)

Jay Mandel (WME)

Jeremy Zimmer (UTA)

Jon Levin (CAA)

Kevin Huvane (CAA)

Larry Salz (UTA)

Mark Ross (Paradigm)

Matt Rice (UTA)

Michael Sheresky (UTA)

Nicole Clemens (ICM)

Ramses Ishak (UTA)

Rebecca Ewing (UTA)

Rob Herting (Verve)

Robert Lazar (ICM)

Scott Carr (UTA)

Scott Greenberg (CAA)

Sharon Jackson (WME)

Todd Hoffman (ICM)

Trevor Astbury (Paradigm)

Valarie Phillips (Paradigm)

Pitch Sales by Seller - Management Companies

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Total

2011

 3 Arts

1

1

6

 Anonymous

1

1

7

 Apostle

1

1

3

 Caliber

2

2

0

 Circle of Confusion

2

1

3

6

 The Collective

1

1

0

 Energy

1

2

3

0

 Fourth Floor

1

1

0

 Generate

1

1

1

 The Gotham Group

1

1

5

 Kaplan/Perrone

1

1

2

5

 Larry Kennar

1

1

0

 Magnet

1

1

3

 Management 360

2

1

3

5

 Mosaic

1

1

2

5

 Principato-Young

1

1

2

 Rich Demato

1

1

0

 Tom Sawyer

1

1

Here are the combined pitch and spec sales for management companies that have sold at least one of each in 2012.

Pitches

Specs

Total

2011

3 Arts

1

1

1

6

Anonymous

1

5

6

9

Apostle

1

1

2

3

Circle of Confusion

3

1

4

11

Energy

3

4

7

7

Fourth Floor

1

1

2

0

The Gotham Group

1

1

2

8

Kaplan/Perrone

2

1

3

10

Mosaic

2

1

3

5

Principato-Young

1

1

2

4

The following 28 managers have been involved with at least one pitch sale in 2012. People in bold are new or sold an additional pitch since the last scorecard.

Three:

Britton Rizzio (Circle)

Brooklyn Weaver (Energy)

Two:

Guymon Casady (Mgmt 360)

One:

Aaron Kaplan (K/P)

Adam Marshall (Caliber)

Alex Lerner (K/P)

Bob Sobhani (Magnet)

Dallas Sonnier (Caliber)

Darin Friedman (Mgmt 360)

David Milner (3 Arts)

E. Brian Dobbins (PYE)

Elana Barry (Anonymous)

George Heller (Apostle)

Gregory Shephard (Circle)

Jeff Silver (Fourth Floor)

Jennie Frisbie (Magnet)

Jeremy Platt (Generate)

Jesse Hara (Tom Sawyer)

Joy Gorin (Anonymous)

Julian Rosenberg (Caliber)

Jill McElroy (Mgmt360)

Larry Kennar

Michael Lasker (Mosaic)

Paul Young (PYE)

Peter McHugh (Gotham)

Rich Demato

Sean Perrone (K/P)

Zach Tann (Magnet)

About The Scoggins Report:

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.