Life On The Bubble

Spec Market Roundup - December 2010 (with link to the PDF)

If you're on my mailing list, you know I totally phoned it in last week when it came time to put together the Spec Market Roundup for December.  Between working on a fairly big deal related to itsonthegrid.com (details to come, knock wood) and pre-loading for NYE, it was all I could do to list last month's sold specs, tracking board style.  I even neglected to schedule the mailing until today.

Below are links to the Roundup as well as the year-end Spec Market Scorecard, in case it slipped through the cracks over the holidays.  Enjoy.

 

Spec Market Roundup - December 2010 -- http://bit.ly/dQQjmc

 

Spec Market Scorecard - Year-End 2010 -- http://bit.ly/dVVgYO

Updated: Spec Market Roundup -- November 2010 (link: http://bit.ly/eFvoxP)

Just published the November 2010 edition of the Spec Market Roundup to my mailing list.  The (admittedly brief) intro is below, and I'll update this post with the link to the Google Doc on Monday.  If you want it now, though, sign up for the free Scoggins Report using that form toward the top of the right-hand column -- a link to the most recent edition is included in the confirmation email. here's the link to the Google Doc:  http://bit.ly/eFvoxP

Have a great weekend.

#####

Spec Market Roundup:  November 2010
By Jason Scoggins
December 2, 2010


The Fall selling season wrapped up in November more or less on par for the year, with one splashy multi-million dollar sale (Dan Fogelman’s “Imagine”), one surprising sale (“Tiki” – surprising because it’s a spec animated comedy, not a common category of spec sale in and of itself, let alone to Disney), and the continuation of Relativity’s and Warner Bros.’ push toward original material.  WME and Anonymous both finished the year strong, with two spec sales each last month.  Here are November’s raw numbers:

• 22 specs hit the tracking boards, none of which sold
• 4 additional spec sales were reported

I’m looking forward to putting together the year-end Scorecard in a couple of weeks with mixed emotions (sorrow and anger? sickness and health? something like that…).  In the meantime, enjoy those holiday parties.

Teaser: Spec Market Roundup (October 2010)

I'll be publishing the Spec Market Roundup for October tomorrow morning.  To whet your appetite, the intro is below.  As always, if you're not on my mailing list but want the report as soon as it goes out, sign up using that form in the right hand column.  If you do it before the end of the day, you'll get sent a link to the last edition (the Spec Market Scorecard, through October 17).

#####

Figures.  Just as Warner Bros. and Relativity start to have a bit of an influence on the spec market (even Disney bought one last month!), the Fall selling season is starting to wind down.  Here are October’s raw stats:

• 38 specs hit the tracking boards, none of which sold
• 6 additional spec sales were reported, including one from April 2010

Speaking of seasons winding down, in honor of the recent end of the mid-term election cycle I thought I’d hit the spec market highlights Talking Points Memo-style:

• Disney’s first spec purchase of the year last month was also the first of the Rich Ross/Sean Bailey regime, which has been in place for almost exactly a year.

 

• Relativity bought its fifth spec of the year, the most of any studio except Warner Bros., and two ahead of the next biggest buyer (Paramount).

 

• Warner Bros. bought six specs in the last six weeks in October, bringing its total for 2010 to eight.  That’s the highest number of spec purchases by a single buyer since the writers’ strike.

 

[UPDATED]: How to make AOL relevant again (plus the link to Spec Market Roundup)

I noticed the link FilmNewsBriefs.com included this morning in its post about the August 2010 Spec Market Roundup points to the main LOTB page rather than to the report itself.  So two quick things:  If you want to get on the list to receive the report when it publishes every other Friday, sign up using the form to the right (don't worry, I respect your privacy).  And second, here's a link to the PDF of the Roundup: http://bit.ly/dgVcsn

As you'll see, the intro is a bit off-topic -- as I was compiling the Roundup last week, I couldn't stop thinking about the prospect of AOL pursuing a proper filmed entertainment content strategy, and suddenly I'd written a mini-rant.  As promised at the end of the intro, below is my five-point take on how AOL can make itself relevant again.  I'm not going to spend any more time dissecting why it makes sense for AOL to strategize around TV-style original programming (it does), just how I think they should go about it.

Focus on what works (i.e., professionally produced, primetime network TV-style programming).

As AOL spools up its filmed entertainment venture, they're going to be tempted to go after quantity at the expense of quality, since their current frame of reference (not to mention their "print" content strategy) is all about pageviews. That approach would doom this initiative from the start; I think the company should ignore supershortform (under 5 minutes) and user-generated content altogether.

Sure, the odd Justin Bieber video can go viral and generate 175 million views, but you can't build a programming strategy around it. (Unless you do a Justin Bieber series. Which would be pretty smart, actually; see below.) Successful networks don't just aggregate eyeballs, they cultivate passionate viewers who return to their favorite shows week after week and talk about them at every opportunity.  By focusing on good stories, well told, AOL will be able to build a reliable, consistent audience around its programming.

Hire a team of development pros (and empower them).

Of course, the whole "good stories, well told" thing is far easier said than done.  And it's going to be impossible if AOL doesn't hire development executives who are currently in the TV packaging trenches. As I wrote in my Roundup, Jim Wiatt's a smart, connected guy, but he hasn't operated at that level in a long, long time.  I have my doubts that he even knows who's getting it done on a day-to-day basis in the TV business; when you interact exclusively with network and studio heads, you lose track of who's even on the roster below the EVP's.

Regardless, ultra high level strategic advice is all well and good, but it's pretty obvious that AOL needs to hire a czar of original programming, someone who's currently high enough in the TV development food chain to have been pulling the trigger for a bit, but not so high that she has started spending more time on internal politics than development.  I'd start by looking at VPs at the broadcast and cable networks, with an eye out in particular for someone with a reputation for good taste, demonstrably strong relationships all over town and an entrepreneurial streak.  

Once the ideal candidate has been poached, AOL's czar is going to need (at the very least):

• Greenlight authority (with oversight, obviously, but the czar needs to be able to go with her gut);
• A small, hand-picked team of seasoned executives (no one can do that job solo);
• To be based in Los Angeles (because this is where the bulk of the talent is); 
• A mid-term definition of success (Internet time is off the table; this initiative is going to take at least two and probably three or four years to gain traction); and
• A big enough development and production budget to make Hollywood take the venture seriously (this project will require the town's buy-in from the outset).

 

Don't just swing for the fences.

It would be foolish to ignore the star-driven nature of the entertainment business, and I think the czar should make a splashy deal or two at the outset in the time-honored tradition of all new studio heads. (For example, a non-scripted Justin Bieber show, plus big deals with a couple of hallowed TV names like Lorre, Whedon, Cowell and Burnett.) That said, you can't hit a grand slam if you don't have runners on the bases. So in addition to the headline-grabbers, AOL should make a series of smart (read: inexpensive) deals with seasoned TV writers and new-comers alike and give them an unprecedented amount of creative freedom in exchange for the inevitable small production budgets and limited series orders. Remember, though: Quality, not quantity. For reference, keep in mind the many cable networks that have successfully reinvented themselves over the past decade (think FX and Showtime, just to name two). 

Build apps (and give them away).

By this point AOL will have jumped into the TV business with both feet, the entertainment industry as a whole will be competing to do business with it, and the company will face another temptation:  Locking that great new content inside the AOL website. One would think they'd have learned their "walled garden" lesson a while back, but Apple's version is so successful that AOL will almost certainly think about reinstating it. I think this would be a fatal mistake; AOL is not Apple, and shouldn't try to be.  iTunes is a platform, first and foremost; AOL needs to be a content provider first and a distributor second.  

Rather than forcing people to view AOL content at AOL.com, the much smarter play would be to make that content as available as possible (short of torrents):  In addition to creating a dedicated environment for their shows inside AOL, the company should do deals with iTunes, Google TV, Facebook, Netflix, Hulu, on-demand cable and satellite and so on.  Ultimately, AOL's venture should be a library play, not an advertising play.

Further, apps are here to stay -- AOL should get busy building a set of intuitive and beautiful ones, and then make them free on iTunes and the Android Market (and the Blackberry's AppWorld, assuming RIM gets its act together in the next year). They should steal the Netflix model, in other words.

Get started.  Immediately.

And that's basically my prescription.  Simple, right?  At its core, the strategy has two prongs:  

• Embrace TV, stem to stern.  
• Go big or go home.  

As I pointed out in the Roundup, AOL is better positioned than most of its competitors to take advantage of this opportunity.  But they'll need to act quickly; Microsoft is almost as well positioned, and they've shown their willingness and ability to change strategic course dramatically. I think we're at as big an inflection point for online content as Microsoft was in 1995 when it started orienting the entire company around the Internet.  And I think it's not hyperbole to say the future of AOL could hinge on its strategies and tactics in this space over the next year or so.

In any case, I'm looking forward to hearing what AOL's CEO, Tim Armstrong, has to say on the subject next week at TheWrap.com's entertainment and media conference, TheGrill.  If you care about this stuff and you're not planning to go, you should -- the speaker line up is impressive.  Click here to check it out.

Teaser: Spec Market Roundup (July 2010)

I sent the Spec Market Roundup for July off to my mailing list this morning.  If you didn't get yours or if you want it and future editions (an updated Spec Scorecard will come out at the end of next week), use the signup form for The Scoggins Report toward the top of the right hand column of the blog. The intro paragraphs from the July Roundup are below.

*****

Ah, summer.  I considered taking a break this month and rounding up July and August together next month, since everyone’s either on vacation right about now or wishes they were.  But since July’s stats are not all that far off May’s (that’s a bad thing, in case you haven’t been paying attention over the past couple of months), I went ahead and pulled the below together.  Here are the raw numbers:

• 16 specs hit the tracking boards, none of which sold
• 1 recent spec sold (from June 2010)
• 1 ancient spec sold (from 2008)

Year over year numbers are similar:  In July 2009, 16 specs hit the market, 1 of which sold, and 4 additional sales were reported.

Spec Market Roundup - June 2010

I'm about to send out the Spec Market Roundup for June -- if you're not on my mailing list and want to get it directly this afternoon instead of waiting for a friend to forward it to you, sign up for The Scoggins Report via that form toward the top of the right column.

By the way, the Spec Market Scorecard (year-to-date through July 15) will go out next week, and I'm planning to do a couple of OWA Scorecards (year-to-date through the end of June) over the next month while the spec market goes quiet down for the summer.  That said, there's been a bit of activity in that arena this week, so I may do a July report after all instead of the July/August combo I'd planned.

Have a great weekend!

- scoggins

Teaser: Spec Market Roundup for April 2010

I wrapped up the Spec Market Report for April last night -- it publishes in the BOSI newsletter tomorrow and will get slipped to my email list later today.  If you're not already on that list, you can sign up now using the form toward the top of the right column of the page.  In the meantime, here's the teaser quote from the beginning of the new article:

"...Since the intro of the last edition of the Scoggins Report was such a downer, let's kick this one off with some good news:  Last month saw the highest number of spec sales in nearly a year, and six buyers who hadn't purchased a spec yet this year got their checkbooks out for the first time.  Here are April's raw numbers..."

The Spec Market Reports are back for 2010!

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for...

I just published the first Spec Market Roundup of 2010, covering January and February.  This year, I'm doing things slightly differently:  Rather than posting the copy here in the body of the blog, I'm making each and every edition available by PDF.  All you have to do is sign up to receive it via that little form at the top of the right column.  The minute you do, you'll get redirected to the Google Doc page where you can download it with aplomb, and you'll be signed up to receive them every time they come out from here to eternity.

Sure, we're getting your email address and will be sending you IOTG-related emails once in a while, but we'll keep those to a minimum, and we won't ever share, sell or otherwise expose your information to anyone. And besides, an extra email from yours truly periodically is a small price to pay for such a great report, don't you think?

Spec Market Roundup - November 2009

[Shameless plug:  All of the below projects, people and company links in the below report point to their detail pages in www.itsonthegrid.com.  Subscription required.]

Spec Market Roundup:  November 2009
By Jason Scoggins
December 2, 2009


Here’s the cliché you knew was coming:  Not with a bang but a whimper.  

As usual, the 2009 Spec Market effectively ended as of the week of Thanksgiving.  (There will be a few intrepid souls who take scripts out between now and Sundance 2010 -- as of this writing there are three in the marketplace for the week of November 30 -- but conventional wisdom says all thoughts of buying have been banished by visions of sugar plums and the Wailea Four Seasons.)  November’s numbers were on par with what we’ve come to expect from this discouraging year:

• 17 new specs hit the market, 3 of which sold
• 14 of the 17 went out wide, none of which sold
• 2 scripts from the ancient past (in spec market terms) also sold

It’s safe to say the fork has been well stuck in the tactic of taking a spec out wide.  The ratio for the year to date is 18 sales out of 369 scripts (5%), but that’s front-loaded by the numbers from January through April (15 sales out of 195 scripts, or 7.69%).  Since May 1, just 3 out of the 174 scripts that went wide have sold (1.72%).  I’ll update the stat in my year-end reports and continue to track it in 2010, but I’ll stop commenting until it becomes a “Man Bites Dog” story again.

Weekly Spec Script Breakdown:

Week of November 2:

• 3 scripts went wide, none of which have sold
• 3 additional sales were reported (1 recent, 1 from Feb 2009, 1 from July 2008)

Week of November 9:

• 8 scripts went wide, none of which have sold
• 1 script went direct to buyers and sold (to Summit, the week of Thanksgiving)

Week of November 16:

• 3 scripts went wide, none of which have sold
• 1 additional sale was reported

Week of November 23:

• No activity (week of Thanksgiving)

Genre Breakdown, Attachments

1 – Action
2 – Comedy
1 – Sci-Fi
1 – Thriller

Producers continued to be the common denominator among the month's sales -- the three that came out and sold in November each had major producers attached, and one had an up-and-coming star on board (Isla Fisher, to “Desperados”).  One of the two additional sales (“Dirty Old Men”) had Morgan Freeman attached to star and produce, in addition to a director/producer team in Peter Segal and Michael Ewing.
 

 
Buyers and Sellers

Three of the month’s five purchases were made by the major studios this year:

·      Lionsgate bought Andrew Knauer’s “Last Stand” from WME and Energy Entertainment for Lorenzo di Bonaventura to produce.

·      Universal bought Ellen Rapoport’s “Desperados” from CAA and Management 360 for Isla Fisher to star and Jason Blum and Mark Gordon to produce through Gordon’s eponymous company.

·      Warner Bros. bought Josh Cagan’s & Greg Coolidge’s “Dirty Old Men” from CAA and H2F for Morgan Freeman to star and produce with Lori McCreary through his Revelations Entertainment banner, with Peter Segal in talks to direct and produce with his Callahan Filmworks partner Michael Ewing.

“Dirty Old Men” originally went out in February 2009, at which point Freeman was already on board.  The sale was announced in The Hollywood Reporter on November 1, which means it actually sold in October, but for the sake of consistent methodology we’ll count it in November. (I'd link to the THR article but apparently they've put their archives behind their subscription wall.)

The other two purchases in November were made by other Buyers (I’ll probably bump Summit into the “major studio” category for 2010):

·      Summit bought Ben Magid’s “Invasion” from WME and Energy Entertainment for Eli Roth and Eric Newman to produce (presumably through their Arcade Films banner) with Participant Media, which is reportedly bringing production financing to the project.  

·      Phoenix bought Brian McGreevy & Lee Shipman’s 2008 Black Listed script “Once Upon A Time In Hell” from Paradigm and Mad Hatter Entertainment.  The script originally went out in July 2008.  This is Phoenix’s first spec purchase in 2009.

November had some highs and lows for McGreevy & Shipman -- Paradigm went out with their spec "Future Perfect" during week 2, which went into 8 territories through 5 producers, but hasn't sold as of this writing.

 

You can see the agency and management company breakdown from the above, but to recap:  On the agency side, CAA and WME had two sales each, and Paradigm finally got on the board for 2009 as well.  On the management company side, Energy had its first two sales of the year, H2F and Management 360 each had their second sales of 2009, and Mad Hatter had its first.

 

Clearly, the Mike Esola (WME)/Brooklyn Weaver & Jake Wagner (Energy) combination is as strong as ever.  Esola had a phenomenal month; in addition to being responsible for both of WME’s two sales, he set up an Alan Cohen & Alan Friedland pitch called "High School Reunion" at Universal, with Imagine producing.  Separately, Brooklyn told me a few weeks ago that his company’s focus on filling open writing assignments this year (as opposed to last year’s focus on specs) has worked out exceedingly well, too.  Congratulations to all.


About The Scoggins Reports:
The Scoggins Reports (Jason Scoggins’ monthly Spec Market Roundups and Spec Market Scorecards) are terribly unscientific analyses of the feature film spec script market based on information culled from a variety of public and non-public sources.  The numbers do not include pitch sales or the film rights to underlying material.  These are by no means official statistics, merely a fairly complete summary.  Past editions can be found in the archives of The Business of Show Institute as well as on Scoggins’ website: www.lifeonthebubble.com. 

Details on each person, project and company in the Reports can also be found at www.itsonthegrid.com, a subscription-supported, web-based database of feature film development information that Jason recently helped launch.  For daily posts of new and updated spec script, OWA and ODA information, check out the IOTG blog here:  blog.itsonthegrid.com.

About Scoggins:
Jason Scoggins is a partner at Protocol, a literary management and production company.  He manages writers, directors and producers of film and TV alongside Protocol’s founding partners Brian Inerfeld and John Ufland.  Follow him here:  twitter.com/itsonthegrid.

Shameless plug: Check out www.itsonthegrid.com

I just posted the Spec Market Roundup for October, and since that always means a bump in traffic here, I wanted to post a reminder to check out www.itsonthegrid.com, the new feature film development website that launched last week.

Spec Market Roundup - October 2009

Spec Market Roundup:  October 2009
By Jason Scoggins
November 5, 2009


The new normal.  That's how I've started to think about the state of the spec market.   Roughly the same number of scripts (44, on average) have come out in each of the last 5 selling months (that is, not including July and August), and roughly the same number (5) have sold (including the summer, interestingly) each month since May.  I'll have updated month-by-month breakdowns in the next Spec Market Scorecard.  For now, here are October's core numbers:

• 46 new specs hit the market, 5 of which sold
• 40 of the 46 went out wide, 1 of which sold

No surprise, the demise of the wide spec continues unabated.  Just 3 out of the 160 scripts that went wide between May 1 and October 31 have sold.  I'm getting as tired of that statistic as you probably are, but I'll soldier on with it through the end of the year.

What was interesting about October was the wild fluctuation in the number of specs that came out each week, as you can see from the below breakdown.  The trend seems to be continuing in November:  As of this writing, just 2 specs had come out in the first week of November, but I assume another dozen or so will come out next week (unless the holiday break comes early this year).

Weekly Spec Script Breakdown:

Week of September 28:

• 3 scripts went wide but didn't sell
• 1 additional sale were reported

Week of October 5:

• 16 scripts went wide, none of which have sold
• 1 additional sale was reported

Week of October 12:

• 4 scripts went wide, none of which have sold
• 1 script went to select producers but didn't sell
• No additional sales were reported

Week of October 19:

• 5 scripts went wide, none of which have sold
• 1 script went to select producers but has not sold
• 1 additional sale was reported

Week of October 26:

• 12 scripts went wide, 1 of which sold
• 1 additional sale was reported

Genre Breakdown, Attachments

2 – Adventure
2 – Comedy
1 – Thriller

Producers continued to be the common denominator among the month's sales, and two had director elements as well; see project details, below.


Buyers and Sellers

From the outside looking in, last month's purchases were fairly straightforward.  Each of the five purchases was made by major studios or their labels:  One each for Disney, DreamWorks, Fox, Paramount and Screen Gems.  The producers associated with each of them were, respectively:  Millar/Gough, Pariah, Chernin, Benderspink and Rainforest Films.  Of note was the Fox/Chernin project (Sam Laybourne's "Rehab," out from UTA), which was that production company's first since spooling up from scratch over the summer.

On the reps' side, the agents were the usual suspects:  One sale each for Gersh, Original Artists (which set up a pitch with DreamWorks Studios the same day they sold Richard Blaney & Alex Gregory's spec script "Someone In The Dark" to the company, with Gavin Polone and Marc Haimes producing and Carlos Brooks directing), UTA and WME. 

There was one newcomer to my managers' grid in October (Sukee Chew's Hopscotch Pictures, which set up Jordan & Aaron Kandell's "Doginson Crusoe" at Disney), along with two familiar names.  Circle of Confusion helped Gersh land Megan Hinds & Dave Lease's "The Black Phantom" at Screen Gems, with Rob Hardy's Rainforest Films producing and Doug Aarniokoski directing.  And Benderspink, along with WME, set up Marc Haimes' "Jitters!" at Paramount.  Benderspink and Haimes are on separate by equally impressive rolls this year.  In addition to "Jitters!," the company also set up a pitch at DreamWorks last month, which marks 13 pitches and specs they've set up this year as producers.  "Jitters!" is Haimes' second spec sale of 2009 (J.C. Spink and Charlie Gogolak sold his "Elevator Men" to Summit back in February).


About The Scoggins Reports:
The Scoggins Reports (Jason Scoggins’ monthly Spec Market Report and Spec Market Scorecard, as well as his weekly Spec Market Recap) are terribly unscientific analyses of the feature film spec script market based on information culled from a variety of public and non-public sources.  The numbers do not include pitch sales or the film rights to underlying material.  These are by no means official statistics, merely a fairly complete summary.  Past editions can be found in the archives of The Business of Show Institute (http://www.thebusinessofshowinstitute.com/newsletter/past-newsletters.html) as well as on Scoggins’ website:  http://www.lifeonthebubble.com.  Details on each person, project and company in the Reports can also be found at http://www.itsonthegrid.com, a subscription-supported, web-based database of feature film development information that Jason recently helped launch. 

About Scoggins:
Jason Scoggins is a partner at Protocol, a literary management and production company.  He manages writers, directors and producers of film and TV alongside Protocol’s founding partners Brian Inerfeld and John Ufland.  You can follow his daily posts and tweets here:  http://twitter.com/jscoggins.

Reader question: Wide vs Naked Specs

It's been a while since I did a "What the heck are you talking about?" Q&A post.  I got a question via email from a reader today that I thought was worth echoing here.

I have a quick question regarding your analysis; you say “2 of the 140 scripts have sold” and then the chart below it shows that there has been many more sales since the beginning of May.  Is this only for “naked” specs?  And what do you mean by that?

Here is the text (for your reference), below.
--
The only reason to take a naked spec out wide right now is to introduce a writer to the
town on a wholesale basis (that is to say, there's no good reason to take out a naked
spec right now). The dismal statistic continues unabated: Just 2 of the 140 scripts that
have gone out wide since May 1 have sold. That's a ridiculously low percentage:
1.4%, not far off (statistically speaking) the percentage of scripts sold during the WGA
strike.
--

Good question.  Here's the answer:  

The key qualifier is "...that have gone out wide since May 1."  That is to say, specs that get sent out to the whole town, as opposed to getting slipped to select producers.  I started looking at that metric back in the Spring when I was wondering what the numbers suggested was the best strategy to sell a spec in this market climate.  It was the original impetus for my Spec Market Reports in the first place, hence all the chatter and ongoing numbers about wide versus select scripts in the marketplace.

To answer the other question, naked specs are scripts that don't have any attachments when they hit the marketplace.  Most scripts that go wide are also naked.  Regardless, whether a producer or actor or director is attached from the outset or not, the projects that have been getting set up this year have been narrowly targeted to specific buyers, and thus haven't hit the big, private or public, subscription-supported tracking boards at all until they're announced in the trades.  

Scoggins Endorses: www.phonesheet.com

I've mentioned this in passing a few times over the past couple of months, but I want to haul out the megaphone to promote a friend's product:  www.phonesheet.com.  If you make or receive more than a handful of phone calls a day, you're going to want to sign up for this service.  And if you do, be sure to enter the promo code "scoggins" -- you'll get 10% off the already-so-low-you-won't-believe-it monthly fees.

Those of you already working in the entertainment business will know exactly what the site is/does just from the name.  For those of you unfamiliar with the term, phonesheets are the tools everyone in Hollywood uses to keep track of incoming and outgoing phone calls.  Back when I started as an assistant at ICM, the old school paper-based phonesheets were just getting converted over to electronic (usually FileMaker Pro-based) versions.  Lots of us assistants still had to keep track of calls with pen and paper and various colors of highlighters, believe it or not -- hundreds of marks and codes per day indicating "left words" and "returns" and so on.  (Ah, the joy of call dumping at the end of the day so your boss could start the next day's phonesheet with a clean sheet of paper.)

One of the guys who designed and built those FileMaker Pro phonesheets was Jan Zands, who earlier this year launched his new service.  www.phonesheet.com is the supercharged, web-based version of your now-old school desktop-based phonesheets.  I've been beta-testing it for the past six months or so, and it's totally badass.  Here are some of the things I love about it:

1. Since it's web-based, you can access your phonesheet wherever you are.
2. More than one person can access a given phonesheet simultaneously (no charge for additional users of a given phonesheet), which means my assistant can update it for me as well.
3. Its color-coding is completely intuitive (watch the demo video on the site to see the thought process behind it): red = incoming calls I need to return, blue = calls I've made/returned, green = outbound calls I want to make.
4. If your contact list is in Outlook or Entourage, it's easy to upload your whole address book.

PLUS...there's a mobile version of the service for Blackberries called Phonesheet2Go that's a game-changer (the iPhone version is already in the works; in the meantime, you can access your phonesheet with your iPhone through Safari).  Every call I make or receive gets logged right there on my phone and automatically syncs with the web-based version.

There's a lot more to love about www.phonesheet.com than just the above, but you should check out the demo yourself.  Regardless, the pricing is pretty perfect:  $6.95/month (when you sign up for 6 months; $9.95/month otherwise), plus $2.95/month if you use the mobile version.  Again, if you enter "scoggins" as the promo code you'll get 10% off those prices for the first year.  And there's absolutely no downside thanks to the 30-day free trial they're currently offering.

Bottom line, whether you're working in Hollywood or not, if any part of your day is spent working the phones, you've at least got to check this thing out.  Trust me, you'll thank me later.

Spec Market Recap - Week of 10/12/2009

Spec Market Recap - Week of 10/12/2009
by Jason Scoggins
October 21, 2009

Interesting see-saw effect over the past couple of weeks: It was slow the week of the 27th (4 scripts), then super busy the week of the 5th (17 scripts), and slow again last week (5 scripts).  This week is proving pretty slow again -- only six scripts out as of the end of the day Tuesday.

Feels good to be caught up.  On to the Spec Market Scorecard. Lots of data to crunch...


10/15/2009

THE ART OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY
Writer: Nathan Dewitt
Reps: CEC (Will Rowbotham) and New School Media (Brian Levy)
Log: There is danger afoot, nature is out of balance. Yet the world rests at ease knowing Hemingway Barnes has already saved them, most likely. But this time, the world’s greatest adventurer, and damn handsome man, has been captured – bound at the whim of a madcap geneticist bent on commanding an army of animals – and there is only one man who can save him: his only son…..who doesn’t even know he exists.
Notes: Trackingb.com has who's taking it in where.

COWGIRL BANDITS
Writer: Michael Tabb
Reps: WME (Elia Infascelli) and Kaplan/Perrone (Sean Perrone)
Log: A young THELMA & LOUISE. (One of Trackingb.com's commenters provided a more detailed logline.)
Notes: Writer is repped by APA (Ryan Saul) and Justin Silvera Management (Justin Silvera). Leighton Meester and Amber Heard attached to star; Jessica Manafort attached to direct (repped by Perrone); Paul Schiff producing.


10/13/2009

THE PLAN
Writer: Vik Weet
Reps: Abstract Entertainment (Mike Goldberg & Josh Adler)
Genre: Horror
Log: A group of four horror-buffs, who years ago playfully outlined the perfect plan for surviving a zombie attack, must come together and put their plan into action when a virus spreads, turning the infected into vicious monsters. In the vein of 28 DAYS LATER.


10/12/2009

HELL’S ACRE
Writers: Damian Nieman & Shane Clark
Reps: APA (David Boxerbaum)
Genre: Horror
Log: In the vein of TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and HALLOWEEN with a dash of THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY, HELL’S ACRE spins the true story of "The Bloody Benders" - a family of twisted and perverse German immigrants who confined and butchered nearly two dozen people over three months in their cabin lair just outside of Cherryvale, Kansas before they mysteriously disappeared.
Notes: Out to select producers.

MAN UP
Writers: James Leary, Mike Meredith & Kirk Pynchon
Reps: The Pitt Group (Garth Friedrich)
Genre: Comedy
Log: A clueless, chauvinistic family man who can't relate to women makes a wish that causes all of the ladies in his life to start acting like men, which causes havoc in his life.
Notes: John Tantillo producing, looking to partner. TrackingB.com has who's taking it in where.

Spec Market Recap - Week of 10/5/2009

Spec Market Recap - Week of 10/5/2009
By Jason Scoggins
October 20, 2009

Busy week, two weeks ago.


10/7/2009

THE PARROT SALESMAN
Writers: Melvin Kling Jr. & Mark Saunders
Reps: The Muraviov Company (Kathy Muraviov)
Genre: Comedy
Log: When a spoiled parrot is inherited by a couple struggling to make ends meet, he starts a web business on the sly, hoping to become rich again and leave his new family behind.

SOUL SUCKERS
Writer: Shane Morris
Reps: Paradigm (Scott Henderson)

BANZAI BOY
Writers: Curt & Scott Burdick
Reps: Barry Perelman Enterprises (Barry Perelman)
Genre: Dramedy Romance
Log: Teen romance, sports comedy/drama. A troubled teen finds true love, a real home, and athletic success in a foreign land.

THE DESTINY OF DEAN MCQUEEN
Writer: Randy Leon
Reps: ICM (Harley Copen)
Genre: Horror Comedy

SONS OF CAMELOT
Writers: Chad Rouch & Dale Lucas
Reps: House of Scribes (Seth El)
Log: Twenty years after SIr Lancelot betrays King Arthur through his affair with Guinevere, a quest for the Holy Grail unites the sons of the two knights against the evil legion of Arthur's illegitimate son who returns with bloodlust to claim the Grail and throne.

THE OTHER KINGDOM
Writer: Phil Eisner
Reps: The Callamaro Literary Agency (Lisa Callamaro) and Untitled Entertainment (Jennifer Levine)
Genre: Horror
Log: Patients at a hospital battle for survival as an epidemic turns people into savage flesh hungry killers.
Notes: Eisner attached to direct.

UNDER YOUR BED
Writer: Jeff Walton
Reps: UTA (Charlie Ferraro) and H2F (Chris Fenton)
Log: Over the course of one night in NYC, a young boy teams up with the boogeyman under his bed to protect his bedroom, the city and the world from something far worse.
Notes: Heard...di Bonaventura into Paramount, ContraFilm into New Line and Summit, Gran Via into Walden, plus someone into Fox. [Also, according to a commenter on trackingb.com, one of the Fox studios was making an offer, but the poster wasn't sure which one, nor for whom.]


10/6/2009

IN THE BASEMENT
Writer: Tom Hanada
Reps: Ken Park (producer)
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Log: In the vein of INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE meets SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. TrackingB.com has a logline.
Notes: Ken Park to produce.

REHAB
Writer: Sam Laybourne
Reps: UTA
Genre: Comedy
Log: A man fakes going to rehab to reconnect with a former high school sweetheart, now a rock star in rehab for her excesses.
Notes: Sold to Fox for Chernin Entertainment and Will Gluck to producer; Gluck may direct. Debbie Liebling to supervise for the studio.

THE BETRAYED
Writer: David Benullo
Reps: Quattro media (Jim Strader)
Log: A contemporary COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO
Notes: TrackingB.com has who's taking it in where (it's a pretty extensive list of buyers).

THE PINKERTONS
Writers: Kevin Abrams & Adam Moore
Reps: WME (Craig Kestel) and Energy Entertainment (Jake Wagner)
Log: Origin story of the first detective agency, the Pinkertons; based on true events. Tone is SHERLOCK HOLMES meets THE UNTOUCHABLES.
Notes: TrackingB.com has who's taking it in where.

BLANK SLATE
Writers: Doug Cook & David Weisberg
Reps: CAA (Martin Spencer) and Benderspink (J.C. Spink, Jill McElroy and Brian Spink)
Genre: Thriller
Log: FRANKENSTEIN twist on BOURNE IDENTITY. When a CIA agent goes off the radar and then turns up dead, her superiors have her memories surgically transferred to another person so they can find out what happened. The "volunteer" they select is a female life-sentence prisoner, effectively putting a highly trained agent in the body of a psychotic killer. The prisoner, who has hitherto been an emotional and cognitive “blank slate” due to a brain trauma, also takes on the agent’s smarts and manages to escape. She struggles to survive, experiencing emotions for the first time and making use of details in memory flashbacks (i.e. expensive jewelry hidden in the house, mad money, etc), ultimately uncovering the mystery of the agent’s death.
Notes:
- Beyonce was at first rumored to be attached to star, then not, but Katherine Heigl was (unconfirmed as of this writing).
- Hearing Atlas into Sony, Relativity and Warner Bros.; Original into Universal and Summit; Thunder Road into Lionsgate; Escape Artists into CBS Films; Dark Horse into Spyglass; Appian Way into New Regency; Barry Josephson into Fox and Fox 2000; Roth into Paramount.
- Hearing 6 of the above buyers had passed as of the week of October 12.
- TrackingB.com hears there's an offer in from someone.

MOTOR CITY TAKEDOWN
Writer: Marc Schwartz
Reps: APA
Genre: Action Comedy
Log: An aspiring teen game designer becomes a human guinea pig in his idol’s twisted quest to create the perfect game. Crazy adventure/comedy in the tone of Pineapple Express.

THE TO DO LIST
Writers: Matthew Kaplan & Jason Leinwand
Reps: Kaplan/Perrone (Bryan Miller)
Log: Feeling that he'll be trapped in adulthood if he accepts a promotion at work, Joe Saucerman decides to use his two week vacation to complete an old list of childhood goals that he never accomplished, including streaking at Fenway Park, frolicking with the penguins at the aquarium, kissing the girl of his dreams and punching Rusty Shavers in the face. THE BUCKET LIST for a younger generation.
Notes: Recently came out of option from Warren Zide. TrackingB.com has many additional details; script was originally a semi-finalist in the site's 2nd annual screenplay contest.

FIRE WITH FIRE
Writer: Tom O'Connor
Reps: UTA and Industry Entertainment (Andrew Deane)
Genre: Thriller
Notes: Hearing Stuber, Thunder Road, Mad Chance, ContraFilm and Original are taking territories.


10/5/2009

GHOST LIGHTS
Writer: Michael Canales
Reps: Oceanside Entertainment (Christopher Ryan)
Genre: Horror Thriller (paranormal)

JUST SAY YES
Writer: Jeff Lowell
Reps: UTA (David Kramer, Jon Huddle, Doug Johnson) and Management 360 (Daniel Rappaport)
Log: The story of a relationship told over a series of failed wedding proposals.
Notes: TrackingB.com hears there may be an offer in (click through to see who).

Spec Market Recap - Week of 9/28/2009

Spec Market Recap - Week of 9/28/2009
By Jason Scoggins
October 20, 2009


I've been heads down on the side-project-that-shall-remain-nameless-for-another-couple-of-days. That's the last time I let my grid go for so long without updating/posting. Promise.

10/2

DOGINSON CRUSOE
Writers: Aaron & Jordan Kandell
Reps: Hopscotch (Sukee Chew)
Genre: Family
Log: A little girl never gives up looking for her dog, who was washed overboard during a storm. Live action.
Notes: Hearing sold to Disney week of 9/28, for Millar/Gough Ink to produce.


10/1

BACK-UP
Writers: Mark Amato & David Newman
Reps: Will Entertainment (Garrett Hicks)
Genre: Comedy
Log: If Danny doesn't land a paying gig as a singer before his 24th birthday, he's promised to join his girlfriend's family business making potato chips. Desperate, he applies everyone and does get a job -- as a female backup singer for a pop star on a comeback tour. As Danica, he finds fame and fortune and, as a woman, becomes the man he's always wanted to be.


9/30

FAT CAMP
Writer: Aimee Pitta
Reps: Rebecca Green (producer)
Genre: Comedy
Log: A CITY SLICKERS-type buddy comedy that follows the misadventures of three best friends who get suckered into going to a "fitness camp" (aka fat camp) after one of them has a heart attack and is given an ultimatum by his wife.
Notes:  Green producing, looking to partner.

 
9/29

DETACHED
Writers: Stewart Hopewell & Timothy Long
Reps: ICM (Harley Copen) and Abstract Entertainment (Mike Goldberg & Josh Adler)
Genre: Thriller
Log: After answering an online ad for a discount vacation to Mexico, an expectant couple is kidnapped, the wife forced into labor, and the baby stolen. Left for dead, the husband has six hours to unravel the conspiracy and find his newborn son before it's too late.


9/27
RUBICON
Writers: Ric Roman Waugh & Michael Lerner
Reps: ICM (Nicole Clemens)
Genre: Action Thriller
Log: When a female reporter's husband is gunned down by a mexican drug cartel, she hires her ex-lover (a special ops vet) and his team of mercenaries to go to Mexico and get revenge.
Notes: Originally went out March 13, 2009; sold to Relativity for Atlas (info as of 9/27); Waugh to direct.

Spec Market Roundup - September 2009

Spec Market Roundup: September 2009
By Jason Scoggins
September 30, 2009


The spec market returned to form in September after the summer break, but not in a good way, unfortunately. The number of new specs on the market was on par with May, but only half as many scripts sold. Worse, not a single spec that went wide this month sold. I feel obligated to trot out the now-familiar statistic: Only 2 out of the 119 scripts that went wide between May 1 and September 30 have sold.

I know from reading a number of those specs that not all of them were good enough and that a big chunk probably wouldn't have sold even in a healthy market. There were also two or three that had significant attachments and were building momentum toward the end of the month and therefore may well get set up in October. But still -- 1.7%? What a let-down. Here are September's core numbers:

• - 39 new specs hit the market, 4 of which sold

• - 33 of the 39 went out wide, none of which sold

• - 1 additional sale was reported (a spec that went wide in March)

For those of you checking my math, 38 specs are accounted for below (32 wide, plus 6 select, not including the sale last week of "Rubicon," which came out in March). The final script was the only one that went out wide on Tuesday the 29th. Since Monday the 28th was a company-town holiday (Happy New Year, everyone) and the spec market has been very slow this week, I'll include its breakdown in the October Roundup instead.


Weekly Breakdown:

Week of August 31:

• - 1 script went wide but didn't sell

• - 1 script went to select producers and sold

• - No additional sales were reported

Week of September 7:

• - 6 scripts went wide, none of which sold

• - 1 additional sale was reported

Week of September 14:

• - 13 scripts went wide, none of which have sold

• - 1 script went direct to buyers but has not yet sold

Week of September 21:

• - 12 scripts went wide, none of which have sold

• - 1 script went to select producers but has not sold

• - 3 additional sales were reported, including one that went wide in March

Genre Breakdown, Attachments
1 – Action
1 – Drama
1 – Sci-Fi
2 – Thrillers

All of September's sales had producers of various stature attached, but none had heavyweight director or actor elements.


Buyers and Sellers

Two major studios made spec purchases in September: Paramount, its third of the year, and CBS Films, its second. Relativity, Mandate and Gold Circle Films were the other three buyers, with one each. Gold Circle's purchase ("Mercy," by Chris Sparling, from UTA and Kaplan/Perrone for The Safran Company to produce) was its first in 2009, as was Mandate's ("Dream On," by Jason Ubaldi, from ICM and Tom Sawyer Entertainment for Laurence Mark to produce). Relativity, by contrast, has now purchased 3 specs this year, on par with DreamWorks and Paramount (in fact, fewer than only Sony, Universal, and Warner Bros., each of which has purchased 5 specs this year).

ICM had a good month, with one out of their three specs selling ("Dream On," mentioned above), plus the sale of a script that originally went wide in March ("Rubicon," by Ric Roman Waugh and Michael Lerner, to Relativity for Atlas to produce). The three other usual suspects each had one sale as well: CAA (1 out of 3 in September), UTA (1 for 1) and WME (1 for 6).

Three management companies were involved in three of the five sales in September. "Dream On" was Tom Sawyer's first spec sale in 2009. Kaplan/Perrone had its fourth ("Mercy," mentioned above), which ties the company with Benderspink for the most spec sales by a management company in 2009. And Circle of Confusion had its second for the year in "Sleeper Spy," which CBS Films bought for Arnold and Anne Kopelson to produce. Even though Kopelson reportedly purchased a previous version of the script in 2008 (the then-titled "Advanced Placement," by the WME- and Circle of Confusion-repped Tony Jaswinski), they apparently redeveloped it so extensively that it qualifies as a new sale.


About The Scoggins Reports:

The Scoggins Reports (Jason Scoggins’ monthly Spec Market Report and Spec Market Scorecard, as well as his weekly Spec Market Recap) are terribly unscientific analyses of the feature film spec script market based on information culled from a variety of public and non-public sources. They do not include pitch sales nor the film rights to underlying material. These are by no means official numbers, merely a fairly complete summary. Past editions can be found in the archives of The Business of Show Institute (http://www.thebusinessofshowinstitute.com/newsletter/past-newsletters.html) as well as on Scoggins’ website: http://www.lifeonthebubble.com.

About Scoggins:

Jason Scoggins is a partner at Protocol, a literary management and production company. He manages writers, directors and producers of film and TV alongside Protocol’s founding partners Brian Inerfeld and John Ufland.

Spec Market Recap - Week of 9/21/2009

Spec Market Recap - Week of 9/21/2009
By Jason Scoggins
September 29, 2009

Thirteen specs came out last week, not including one that went straight to buyers on Friday last week that I didn't hear about until Monday. Here's the genre breakdown:

2 - Action
9 - Comedy
2 – Horror
1 – Thriller


9/24/2009

UNDERGROUND
Writer: Jeff Park & Steve Lieber
Reps: Illuminati (Ford Gilmore)
Genre: Thriller
Log: PANIC ROOM set underground, in a network of caves.


9/23/2009

BIBLE SCHOOL
Writer: Barak Hardley
Reps: Principato/Young (Joel Zadak)
Genre: Comedy
Log: Coming of age comedy based on real life events about a directionless, agnostic teenager who reluctantly attends a Bible school in remote Wyoming.

DRIVE HARD
Writer: John Sullivan
Reps: Energy (Brookly Weaver)
Genre: Comedy
Log: LICENSE TO DRIVE meets SUPERBAD.
Notes: David Henrie attached to star (would shoot during his March hiatus from WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE). See trackingb.com for who's got it so far.

GUNRUNNER
Writer: Stevie Long
Reps: Code Entertainment (Rich Freeman)
Genre: Action/thriller.
Log: See title.

REALITY JANE
Writer: Jay Renfroe
Reps: AEI (Michael Kuciak)
Genre: Comedy (unconfirmed)
Log: A jaded reality producer falls in love with a guy whose life she ruined on her in-your-face dating show.
Notes: TrackingB.com has submission info.

PROBING TED BUTLER
Writer: Elliot Own
Reps: Magnet Management (Bob Sobhani)
Genre: Comedy
Log: An underappreciated family man suffers blackouts which turn out to be alien abductions, leaving him with extraordinary abilities he cannot control.


9/22/2009

THE POSSESSED
Writer: Mark Davidson
Reps: Insignia Entertainment (Alex Robb)
Genre: Horror
Log: THE EXORCIST meets THE OMEN meets DOUBT. Besieged by a series of mysterious events, the life of a young boy hangs in the balance as a former priest, wrongfully convicted of abuse, seeks to expel the satanic force hell-bent on destroying all that is good.
Notes: Rigoberto Castaneda directing.

GAME GIRL
Writers: Neal Boushell & Sam O'Neal
Reps: Preferred Artists (Brad Rosenfeld)
Genre: Comedy
Log: It's a dream come true when a video game player's sexy fantasy girl comes out of the game and into his life, until he realizes her dream is to replace his wife...and she's programmed to win at all costs. Think a comedy version of FATAL ATTRACTION with Lara Croft as the girl.

BANDOLEROS
Writer: Michael Steinberg
Reps: Anonymous (Jeff Okin)
Genre: Action
Log: Think TRUE ROMANCE meets BONNIE AND CLYDE. (TrackingB.com has an expanded logline; check out the comments.)

THE MOST INTERESTING MAN IN THE WORLD
Writer: Jeff Morris
Reps: WME (Mike Esola & Rich Cook) & Art/Work Entertainment (Julie Bloom)
Genre: Comedy
Log: When GEORGE (39) loses his job, he decides not to tell his family and instead takes on a boarder, BUD (early 60s), to earn some extra money. Bud quickly proves to be a better husband and father to George’s wife, SUSIE, and children, LUCAS and BRITTANY, because of his lifetime of amazing adventures. George tries to outperform Bud at every turn – whether water skiing, bowling, fishing, etc. – but it all ends in disaster. He eventually proves that Bud’s a parolee, but loses his family’s respect in the process. George learns the error of his ways, makes friends with Bud and apologizes to his family.

THE DIVERSIFICATION OF NOAH MILLER
Writers: Sam Pitman & Adam Cole-Kelly
Reps: WME (Mike Esola) & Management 360 (Darin Friedman)
Genre: Comedy
Log: In a post-Obama world, a white man attempts to diversify his kid by befriending a black man.
Notes: Per TrackingB.com, this went in to buyers over the weekend with Tyler Perry attached to star; Radar & 34th Street Films producing.


9/21/2009

KINGDOM COME
Writer: Chris Sivertson & Alex McAulay
Reps: Aperture Entertainmetn (Adam Goldworm)
Genre: Supernatural Horror
Log: When the entire staff of an isolated reform school disappears in the middle of the night, the rebellious students must not only survive each other, they must come face to face with a much darker force lurking in the icy wilderness. Supernatural LORD OF THE FLIES with echoes of THE SHINING.
Notes: Aperture attached to produce.

THE DOUCHEBAG
Writers: Matt Wolpert & Ben Nedivi
Reps: CAA (Bill Zotti & Michael Kives)
Genre: Comedy
Log: A college senior is forced to face his own douchiness after his 
desperate plan to finally fit in goes awry.

50 DATES IN 50 STATES
Writer: Annie Hendy
Reps: Heroes and Villains (Markus Goerg, Mikhail Nayfeld)
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Log: After realizing that her perfect match may not live in Cincinnati, young Catherine is convinced by her sisters to embark on a whirlwind tour of the United States to finally find the man of her dreams.
Notes: Heroes and Villains Entertainment is attached to produce and looking to partner.

Spec Market Recap - Week of 9/14/2009

Spec Market Recap - Week of 9/14/2009

By Jason Scoggins

September 21, 2009

Now we're talking. Thirteen specs came out last week, in a wide array of genres: Comedy (5), Horror (2), Sci-Fi (2), Action (1), Adventure (1), Fantasy (1) and Thriller (1).

9/17/2009

5150
Writer: Ed Neumeier
Rep: APA (David Saunders)
Genre: Sci-Fi Action
Log: Recruited for black ops by the CIA, a psychologically traumatized Marine sniper finds himself on the frontline of a secret cold war against aliens who have taken over the world and co-opted the United States Government.

WINCHESTER
Writer: Dan Vado
Reps: Mosaic (Brent Lilley)
Genre: Adventure
Log: Inspired by real events -- William Winchester's widow is told by a psychic that as long as she continues to build on her house, the souls of all those killed by the "Winchester rifle" will cease haunting her and her family. Today, the house sits as a national landmark-with doors that lead nowhere and secret compartments/hallways still being discovered. Millions of tourists continue to visit each year. It is considered the "World's Most Haunted House."
Notes: Tone is fun and spooky; four quadrant adventure film in the vein of The Haunted Mansion (the ride). Comic coming out from Slave Labor Graphics in October.

THE TREES
Writer: Tyler Hisel
Rep: Insignia Entertainment (Alex Robb)
Genre: Horror
Log: In the vein of SIGNS and THE VILLAGE, inspired by true events. Isolated and threatened, a mysterious force hidden within the trees outside the small town of Laytonsville, Maryland, strikes fear in the townsfolk as Sheriff Paul Shields attempts to overcome the demons of his past while protecting those that he loves.

DIABLO
Writer: Mike Reiss
Reps: Original Artists (Jordan Bayer) & Rothman Brecher Agency (Jim Ehrich)
Genre: Horror comedy
Log: Comedic teen slasher movie.
Notes: As of 9/18: TrackingB.com has who's taking it where.

9/16/2009

SINGULARITY
Writer: T.S. Nowlin
Reps: WME (Mike Esola) and Energy (Brooklyn Weaver/Adam Marshall)
Genre: Sci-Fi Thriller
Log: In the vein of MINORITY REPORT; centers on the convergence of man and internet/ computerization.
Notes: As of 9/16: Heard Heyday, Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, GK Films and Parkes/MacDonald had territories. TrackingB.com had updated information as of 9/17.

POP SMEAR
Writer: Josh Greenberg
Reps: Anonymous (Lenny Beckerman)
Genre: Comedy
Log: An intern at an MTV-type network is enlisted to wrangle all the prominent pop musical acts for a benefit concert. (Spoofs the music industry and all the pop musicians you can imagine.)

WASTE
Writer: Minerva Finkley
Reps: Gravel Road Entertainment (John Broker)
Genre: Comedy (unconfirmed)
Log: An obsessed owner of a crime scene clean-up company manipulates evidence of several brutal crimes in order to coerce her ex-boyfriend to get back together with her.

9/15/2009

MY SISTER IS MARRYING A DOUCHEBAG
Writers: Wendy and Lizzie Molyneux
Reps: WME and Kaplan/Perrone
Genre: Comedy
Log: See title.
Notes: In seemingly everywhere. Check trackingb.com for who's taking it in where.

GRIFF
Writer: Steve Bloom.
Reps: APA (David Saunders)
Genre: Fantasy Adventure
Log: Magical adventure ala HARRY POTTER; a troubled boy helps a mythical creature return home after being stranded in New York City.
Notes: TrackingB.com has an enhanced logline.

MIGHTY WINGMAN
Writer: LaRon Tate
Rep: Brillstein (Jai Khanna & Todd Sellers)
Genre: Comedy
Log: A passive guy, tired of being the loser wingman in a friendship since childhood, attempts to best his best friend and become the flashy, main guy in their dynamic duo.

GROOMZILLA
Writers: Winston Beigel & Melissa Rauch
Rep: Gersh (Jennifer Konawal) and Brillstein (Brad Petrigala)
Genre: Comedy
Log: A sports bar owner puts his engagement in jeopardy when his hidden obsession with planning the wedding of his dreams is revealed. He'll stop at nothing to make his special day perfect.

EL GRINGO
Writer: Jonathan Stokes
Rep: Instrumental Lit (Anthony Vasto)
Genre: Action Comedy
Log: Popcorn action comedy version of NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.
Notes: TrackingB.com has an enhanced logline.

9/14/2009

BLACK RIVER
Writer: Ransom Riggs
Reps: Heroes and Villains Entertainment (Mikhail Nayfeld/Markus Goerg)

Genre: Thriller (supernatural)

Log: An elevated supernatural thriller about a young townie who unwittingly unleashes a demonic spirit on her fellow classmates. In the vein of The Ring

Spec Market Recap - Week of 9/7/2009

Things are starting to heat back up a bit now that school's back in session.  I tracked six specs last week (4 Comedy, 2 Action), not including a sale that was reported in the trades and a sale from July I hadn't previously seen (it hit a fan site on Tuesday; see below).  

THE SPECS

9/10/2009

CRITT'R DONE
Writer: Corey Roederer
Reps: Verve Entertainment (Spencer Robinson)
Genre: Comedy
Log: A good-natured, redneck exterminator pretends to be a sophisticate to help his daughter get into a prestigious college but gets more than he bargained for when he is mistaken for a hitman.
Notes: Out wide.


THINK BIG
Writer: Brian & LeeAnne Adams
Reps: Innovative Artists (Michael Pio)
Genre: Action Adventure
Log: In the vein of JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH and HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS. A mishap at a state fair causes objects and animals to grow to immense size. The disaster leaves three fairgoers lost in the supersized wreckage of the fairgrounds and forced to explore this huge world to find a way home.
Notes: According to TrackingB.com, Raimi is producing the writers' previous spec (COVER TO COVER, taken out in January 2009 by Pio when he was still at ICM). Out wide, and was already into at least one buyer as of Thursday the 10th; check TrackingB.com for details.


CHANCE OF SHOWERS
Writer: Gerry Swallow
Reps: WME (Kimberly Bialek)
Genre: Comedy
Log: Four married guys, who believe the only time their wives let them have fun is when there is a bachelor party for a friend, conspire to throw him the bachelor party to end all bachelor parties for an imaginary friend. When their wives begin to doubt their friend’s existence, they hire a lonely greenskeeper to fill the role. He soon finds love, happiness and a brand new life as the incredible Chance Showers.
Notes: 


GROOMSDAY
Writer: Robin Matlin
Reps: Niad Management (Jennifer Graff)
Genre:  Comedy (I'm assuming)
Log: With his fiance out of commission, a groom takes on planning the big day, only to become a creature worse than the most hideous bridezillas.
Notes: Niad producing, looking to partner.

9/9/2009

UNTITLED BILLY RAY PROJECT
Writer: Billy Ray
Sellers: ICM (Bruce Kaufman) and Management 360 (Guymon Casady)
Genre: Comedy
Log: Comedy about a made up sport in the vein of BASEKETBALL.
Notes:

DREAM ON
Writer: Jason Ubaldi
Reps: Tom Sawyer Entertainment (Rachel Miller) and ICM (Ava Jamshidi)
Genre: Drama (teen)
Log: An aspiring Olympic gymnast discovers the underground hip-hop scene in Atlanta.
Notes:  Per The Hollywood Reporter, sold to Mandate for Laurence Mark and Tom Sawyer's Rachel Miller to produce (script is based on Rachel Miller's concept). Mandate's Nathan Kahane will executive produce and Mary Lee will co-produce. Laurence Mark's David Blackman will executive produce and Tamara Chestna will co-produce.

9/8/2009

CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Writer:  Kate Tremills
Reps: Bohrman (Caren Bohrman)
Genre:  Action Thriller
Log:  A female BOURNE-like American photojournalist shooting an assignment in Tehran becomes trapped. Targeted as an instigator and isolated from her team, she relies on local assistance only to discover her ally is a key player in an unraveling political game.
Notes:    

SUPERMAX

Writers: Christopher Allen Nelson & Mitch Rouse
Reps: 
Genre: Horror Action
Log: Takes place in a Maximum Security Prison for the Super-Natural as a skilled guard must join forces with a lethal inmate after a riot ensues in order to fight his way through various monsters and mad-men in order to survive.

Notes: Sold to Sony IN JULY for a reported six figures (http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/17320) for Broken Road (Todd Garner and Sean Robins) to produce. Doug Belgrad and DeVon Franklin will supervise for the studio. Writers are actors as well.