Life On The Bubble

Teaser: Spec Market Scorecard (July 2010)

I'm about to upload the Spec Market Scorecard for July to bit.ly and send it out to my email list.  If you're not already on that list and want a copy of the Scorecard, use the signup form for The Scoggins Report toward the top of the right-hand column of this blog.

In the meantime, check out the following (depressing) stats:

• Only half of the studios that bought scripts through mid-July 2009 have bought any this year (8 out of 16).
• Of the eight who’ve bought scripts so far in 2010, only 1 (Paramount) has bought more specs this year than last; four have bought fewer.
• All in, the studios have bought less than half as many scripts this year as they had by mid-July last year (13 vs 28).

I've broken out all of the details on the Scorecard, which should start making the rounds tomorrow.

 

Half full, or half empty?

If you're already on the mailing list to receive the Scoggins Report on a regular basis, there should be an email from me in your inbox with a link to the latest edition -- the Spec Market Scorecard through April 17, 2010.  If you're not on the list and want to be, use the sign-up form at the top of the upper right column of this page.

As I write in the introduction of the Scorecard, I've always been a "glass half full" kind of guy, but the numbers so far this year are a real bummer.  Here are the datapoints I'm finding most frustrating:

• A third fewer buyers have purchased scripts so far this year compared to last (14 vs 21);
• Two major buyers have yet to break out their checkbooks in 2010 (big Fox and Warner Bros.); and
• The major studios and their labels have bought roughly half as many specs so far this year as they had by this point last year.

In the four weeks between the last two Scorecards, not one of the big buyers have bought a spec script. So what do you think?  Can you seen any light at the end of the tunnel?

Reminder: Go to blog.itsonthegrid.com for spec and OWA posts

New Spec: I Hope I Do, by Greg Shouse

THE HANGOVER meets THE PROPOSAL with a little DATE NIGHT mixed in.  Click through for details, and here's the link to trackingb.com's post.

via blog.itsonthegrid.com

Just a reminder that new and updated spec and OWA posts will be at blog.itsonthegrid.com instead of LOTB from now on.  I have another new spec from today to add over there later tonight, as well as a couple of interesting OWAs to note that haven't been discussed elsewhere.

Spec Update: Man At Arms, by Jeremy Lott

UPDATE 11/12:  This is in everywhere -- Original, Stuber, Sean Daniel, Mark Gordon and Temple Hill have 18 territories between them.  Use the trackingb.com link below to see the breakdown.  We'll include the data on the grid if/when it gets set up.

The project and rep info is on the grid, but check out TrackingB.com's post for the tone and log (we don't plagiarize at IOTG).  We'll let you know if/when they post updated tracking info, and will update IOTG's records if/when it gets set up.

via blog.itsonthegrid.com

If you haven't subscribed to the blog.itsonthegrid.com feeds, this is the kind of info that's going to get posted there on a daily basis.