Pitch Sale Scorecard – Stats through July 13, 2011

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Since we’re several days away from pulling together our mid-month spec numbers, this installment of the Scoggins Report is an update of the Pitch Sales Scorecard we put out in April. As you go through the below grids, remember that no one has perfect data on how many pitches actually make the rounds every year. All of the below are simply the projects that we’ve heard about so far this year.

That said, we’ve heard about a bunch, and the numbers are impressive: There have been nearly two dozen pitch sales since our last report. There’s plenty to chew on below, but here are our favorite highlights:

• There’s a three-way tie for first among the studios so far this year: Paramount, Universal and Warner Bros. have each purchased 7 pitches in 2011. By contrast, the three have bought 3, 3 and 6 specs so far this year, respectively. The biggest spec buyer this year, Columbia Pictures, has only picked up 3 pitches so far.

• CAA has absolutely dominated the pitch market so far in 2011, with 14 sales. WME is not all that far behind, with 11. Together, the two giants account for 60% of all pitch sales, and the gap between their numbers and everyone else is huge. UTA, which is number one in spec sales so far this year, is a distant third in pitch sales, with 6.

Below are the grids, followed by the list of pitch sales since April 15.

Each of the following production companies has been attached to at least one pitch sale so far this year. Items in bold are new since the last report:

21 Laps
3 Arts
33andout (2)
Apatow Productions
Atlas
Broadway Video
Bruckheimer
Chernin (2)
Color Force
Contrafilm
Di Bonaventura
Dickhouse
The Donners’ Company
Evergreen Media
Gary Sanchez
The Gotham Group
Imagine (2)
The Jinks/Cohen Company
Leverage
Lightstorm
Little Stranger, Inc.
Laurence Mark Productions
Original Film (2)
Overbrook
Panay Films
Rat Entertainment
ROAR
Roth Films
The Safran Company
Smokehouse
Stuber
Thunder Road (2)
Weston
Wonderland

Pitch Sales: April 15 through July 13 (Alphabetical by Title)

 

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Amnesty
Writer: Max LandisGenre: Thriller
Reps: WME and Circle of Confusion
Buyer: Universal
Attachments: Ron Howard will direct and Brian Grazer will produce through Imagine Entertainment.

The Best of Me
Writer: Nicholas Sparks (source material)
Genre: Drama
Reps: UTA and The Park Literary Group
Buyer: Warner Bros
Attachments: Denise Di Novi and Sparks will produce. Sparks’ lit agent, Theresa Park, will co-produce.
Notes: Project is based on Sparks’ forthcoming novel, which will be published on October 11, 2011.

Best Lem
Writer: Nick Kurzon
Genre: Comedy
Reps: Verve and 3 Arts Entertainment (Oly Obst)
Buyer: Indian Paintbrush

Untitled Bieber/Wahlberg Project
Writer: Ian Edelman
Genre: Drama
Reps: ICM (Harley Copen)
Buyer: Paramount
Attachments: Justin Bieber and Mark Wahlberg are attached to star. Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson will produce through Leverage along with Beiber’s manager, Scooter Braun.

Untitled Cook/Weisberg Female Action Pitch
Writers: Douglas Cook & David Weisberg
Genre: Action comedy
Reps: CAA (Adam Kanter) and Benderspink (JC Spink, Jill McElroy)
Buyer: Summit
Notes: Went out in April, sold in June. Project was formerly called “Bitches 11.”

Blood Brothers
Writers: Eric Nazarian & Sergei Bodrov
Genre: Thriller
Reps: CAA, UTA and The Arlook Group
Buyer: Chernin
Attachments: Channing Tatum is attached to star and produce with Reid Carolin through 33andout along with Nazarian and Bodrov. Bodrov (“Mongol”) will direct.

Conjuring
Writers: Carey & Chad Hayes
Genre: Thriller
Reps: Circle of Confusion (Ken Freimann)
Buyer: New Line
Attachments: James Wan (“Insidious,” “Saw”) is attached to direct. The Safran Company’s Peter Safran and Evergreen Media’s Tony Derosa-Grund will produce.
Notes: Walter Hamada will oversee for New Line. Went out in March, sold in June.

Untitled Cyrano de Bergerac Project
Writers: John Whittington and Gary Ross (story)
Genre: Comedy
Reps: WME and CAA
Buyer: New Regency
Attachments: Nina Jacobson and Allison Thomas will produce through Color Force. Gary Ross is attached to direct.
Notes: Bryan Unkeless will oversee for Color Force.

Untitled Dan Fogelman Project
Writer: Dan Fogelman
Genre: Drama
Reps: WME
Buyer: Warner Bros.
Attachments: Tom Cruise is attached to star.
Notes: Purchase price was reportedly $2m against over $3m.

Untitled Gaius Julius Caesar Pitch
Writer: Chris Boal
Genre: Action adventure
Reps: CAA and Madhouse Entertainment
Buyer: Warner Bros.
Attachments: Basil Iwanyk will produce through his Thunder Road banner.

Untitled Glickert Sci-Fi Thriller
Writer: Bobby Glickert
Genre: Sci-Fi thriller
Reps: WME and Merhab Management
Buyer: Universal
Attachments: Bobby Glickert will direct and produce with Justin Lin and Stuber Pictures’ Scott Stuber.
Notes: Jeff Kirschenbaum and Jay Polidoro will oversee for Universal. Michael Clear, Nick Nesbitt, and Jone Mone will oversee for Stuber.

Letter of Last Resort
Writer: Peter Landesman
Genre: Thriller
Reps: CAA
Buyer: Paramount
Attachments: 3 Arts’ Erwin Stoff will produce.

Untitled McCarthy/Mumolo Project
Writers: Melissa McCarthy & Annie Mumolo and Ben Falcone (story) (“Bridesmaids”)
Genre: Comedy
Reps: UTA, CAA, The Schiff Company and Thruline
Buyer: Paramount
Attachments: Broadway Video’s Lorne Michaels will produce with John Goldwyn.

Untitled Michael Gordon Project
Writer: Michael Gordon (“300,” “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra”)
Genre: Unknown (…though one presumes it’s big. And awesome.)
Reps: CAA and Kaplan/Perrone
Buyer: GK Films
Attachments: GK Films’ Graham King and Tim Headington will produce.

Myth
Writers: Will Staples
Genre: Sci-Fi action
Reps: ICM and Brian Lutz Management (Brian Lutz)
Buyer: Fox
Attachments: di Bonaventura Pictures’ Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Sam Worthington will produce; Lightstorm Entertainment’s James Cameron will executive produce.

Untitled Paul Feig/Judd Apatow Comedy
Writer: Paul Feig
Genre: Comedy
Reps: CAA
Buyer: Universal
Attachments: Feig (“Bridesmaids”) is attached to direct. Apatow Productions’ Judd Apatow will produce.

Save the Date
Writer: Tom Gormican
Genre: Romantic comedy
Reps: WME and Underground
Buyer: Columbia
Attachments: Toby Ascher will executive produce and Neil Moritz will produce through Original Film.

Shadow Runner
Writer: Hossein Amini
Genre: Thriller
Reps: WME (Adriana Alberghetti, Philip d’Amecourt)
Buyer: Columbia Pictures
Attachments: Chris Hemsworth is attached to star. Beau Flynn and Tripp Vinson will produce through their now-shuttered Contrafilm banner. Will Ward will produce for ROAR. Amini will executive produce.
Notes: Hannah Minghella will oversee for the studio. Project is based on a New York Post article by Ginger Adams Otis. Pitch originally went out in April, sold in June.

Untitled Space War Project
Writer: Aaron Guzikowski
Genre: Sci-Fi action
Reps: Verve and Madhouse
Buyer: Warner Bros.
Attachments: Sam Worthington is attached to star. Basil Iwanyk will produce through Thunder Road.

Untitled Spike Jonze/Charlie Kaufman Project
Writer: Charlie Kaufman
Genre: Comedy
Reps: WME (Sharon Jackson)
Buyer: Warner Bros.
Attachments: Joaquin Phoenix is attached to star, Spike Jonze is attached to direct. Megan Ellison will produce through her Annapurna Productions along with frequent Jonze collaborator Vincent Landay.
Notes: Pitch originally went out in December 2010. Annapurna bought the project in March, Warner signed on in July.

Swear to God
Writers: Alan Cohen & Alan Freedland (“Due Date”)
Genre: Comedy
Reps: WME and Mosaic
Buyer: Warner Bros.
Attachments: Will Ferrell and Adam McKay will produce through their Gary Sanchez Productions banner.

Terminal D
Writer: Brian Horiuchi
Genre: Thriller
Reps: Gersh and Untitled
Buyer: Route One Films
Attachments: Route One’s Chip Diggins, Russell Levine and Jay Stern will produce alongside Naomi Despres.

True North
Writer: Rob Pearlstein
Genre: Comedy
Reps: CAA (JP Evans) and Brillstein (Naren Desai)
Buyer: Warner Bros.
Attachments: Brian Grazer will produce through Imagine with Ed Helms, who is also attached to star.
Entertainment.
Notes: Anna Culp, Erin Fredman, and Kim Roth will oversee for Imagine; Greg Silverman and Jon Berg will oversee for Warner Bros.

The Vanguard
Writer: Chris Boal
Genre: Adventure
Reps: CAA and Madhouse
Buyer: Warner Bros.
Attachments: Alexander Skarsgard (HBO’s “True Blood”) is attached to star and produce with Atlas Entertainment’s Chuck Roven, Richard Suckle, Andy Horwitz, and Jake Kurily.
Notes: Jon Berg and Chris Gary will oversee for the studio.

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