The Scoggins Report is our bi-weekly analysis of the feature film development business. The numbers in the reports are comprehensive but by no means official statistics. You can download the PDF of this week's edition here, and details on each of the people, companies and projects in the article are available to subscribers of ItsontheGrid.com, a division of TheWrap. Follow the site's Twitter feed here, and the Facebook page is here.
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Those aren’t typos below -- March was a monster month in the spec market: 16 spec sales and a 39 percent sales rate are by far the highest monthly figures since the 2007-2008 WGA strike. The next two highest months were April 2010 (13) and February 2009 (12). Every studio except Disney and Warner Bros. came on strong (Columbia bought three specs and Universal and Fox bought two each), and eight non-studio buyers got into the game as well, notably Mandate and Montecito.
The major agencies dominated the marketplace: UTA absolutely crushed it, with five sales, followed by CAA and ICM with three each. UTA’s Julien Thuan and ICM’s Adam Weinstein each had great months individually, with two sales each. Elsewhere, H2F’s Chris Fenton continued his hot streak with two sales in March, for a total of three so far in 2011.
Congratulations, everyone. Here are March’s raw numbers:
Be sure to keep an eye out for the Spec Market Scorecard in two weeks. As of this writing, there’s a three-way tie for most spec sales between CAA, UTA and WME, and there’s a four-way tie for second place among the major studios (DreamWorks, Fox, Universal and Warner Bros., with two each). Columbia leads the pack with four.
Weekly Activity Breakdown
Week of February 28:
• 4 scripts hit the tracking boards, 1 of which sold (“Monsters of the Midway”)
• 3 additional sales were reported (“In the Belly of the Whale,” “Dirty Grandpa” and “The Slackfi Project”)
Week of March 7:
• 6 scripts hit the boards, 1 of which sold (“Agent Ox”)
• 3 additional sales were reported (“The Last Drop,” “The Nameless” and “The Last Witness”)
Week of March 14:
• 5 scripts hit the boards, none of which sold
Week of March 21:
• 3 scripts hit the tracking boards, 1 of which sold (“The Big Stone Grid”)
• 1 additional sale was reported (“Genneris”)
Week of March 28:
• 6 scripts hit the boards, 1 of which sold April 1 (“Wild Guns”) and will show up in next month’s Roundup
• 7 additional sales were reported (“Savages,” “Crosshair,” “Besties” and “Rounds,” plus “Meet the New Boss” and ”Timelock,” which went out in February, and “Maggie,” which sold April 1 and will be included in next month’s Roundup).
The Genre Breakdown grid and listings of every sold spec are on the next two pages.
