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.
Genre Breakdown*
Spec Sales (alphabetical by title)
Agent Ox
Writers: Daniel Kunka
Reps: ICM (Harley Copen, Adam Weinstein)
Buyer: Columbia
Genre: Sci-Fi
Attachments: Original Film’s Neal Moritz will produce.
Besties
Writers: Kelly Fremon
Reps: ICM (Ava Jamshidi) and Kaplan/Perrone
Buyer: Gracie Films
Genre: Comedy
The Big Stone Grid
Writers: Craig Zahler
Reps: UTA (Julien Thuan) and Caliber Media (Dallas Sonnier)
Buyer: Columbia
Genre: Thriller
Attachments: Michael De Luca Productions’ Michael De Luca will produce.
Notes: Josh Bratman will oversee for De Luca. Sam Dickerman and Lauren Abrahams will supervise for Columbia.
Crosshair
Writers: Morgan Foehl
Reps: WME (Mike Esola), CAA (Matt Rosen) and Wirehouse (Jessica Jordan)
Buyer: Summit
Genre: Thriller
Attachments: Mandeville Films and Top Cow will produce.
Notes: Top Cow’s Marc Silvestri and Jeff Katz wrote the source material graphic novel.
Dirty Grandpa
Writer: John Phillips
Reps: ICM (Adam Weinstein, Aaron Hart)
Buyer: Universal
Genre: Comedy
Attachments: Josephson Entertainment’s Barry Josephson will produce.
Genneris
Writers: Nic Kelman
Reps: CAA
Buyer: DreamWorks
Genre: Sci-Fi
In the Belly of the Whale
Writers: Steven Doxey, Scott Hinckley & Brandon Sean Pearson
Buyer: Ten Thirty-One Pictures
Genre: Thriller
Notes: Writers sold the script after meeting Ten Thirty-One’s Levi Oberly at InkTip’s Pitch and Networking Summit last Fall. Project will begin filming in Alaska this summer.
The Last Drop
Writers: Phillip Murphy & Brandon Murphy
Reps: WME (Mike Esola) and Benderspink (Jill McElroy, Langley Perer)
Buyer: Mandate
Genre: Comedy
The Last Witness
Writers: Stefan Jaworski
Reps: Paradigm (Trevor Astbury, Valarie Phillips, Ida Ziniti)
Buyer: Fox
Genre: Thriller
Attachments: John Davis’ Davis Entertainment will produce.
Notes: Peter Kang will oversee for Fox
Meet the New Boss
Writers: Brian Gatewood & Alex Tanaka
Reps: UTA (Charlie Ferraro, Keya Khayatian) and Industry (Eryn Brown)
Buyer: Fox
Genre: Comedy
Attachments: Chernin Entertainment’s Peter Chernin will produce.
Monsters of the Midway
Writers: Jeff Lowell
Reps: UTA (Jon Huddle, Doug Johnson, David Kramer) and Management 360 (Daniel Rappaport)
Buyer: The Montecito Picture Company/Cold Spring Pictures
Genre: Action Comedy
The Nameless
Writers: Chris Bullett
Reps: Gersh and ROAR
Buyer: Valhalla Pictures
Genre: Thriller
Rounds
Writers: Chris Borelli
Reps: UTA and H2F (Chris Fenton)
Buyer: Nasser Entertainment and Caliber Media
Genre: Thriller
Attachments: Steve Austin is attached to star.
Savages
Writers: Don Winslow, Shane Salerno and Oliver Stone
Reps: CAA
Buyer: Universal
Genre: Thriller
Attachments: Oliver Stone will direct and produce through his Ixtlan prodco along with his frequent producing collaborators Moritz Borman and Eric Kopeloff. Salerno will executive produce.
Notes: Based on Don Winslow’s novel, which Stone optioned himself in March 2010. Winslow wrote the first draft while Stone completed Wall Street 2. Project is scheduled to shoot this summer; offers are currently out to Aaron Johnson, Taylor Kitsch and Benicio del Toro to star.
The Slackfi Project
Writers: Howard Overman
Reps: UTA (Julien Thuan, David Flynn) and The Agency (Jago Irwin)
Buyer: Columbia
Genre: Sci-Fi Comedy
Attachments: Matt Tolmach Productions’ Matt Tolmach will produce.
Timelock
Writers: Terry Miles
Reps: H2F (Chris Fenton)
Buyer: IM Global
Genre: Thriller
Attachments: Terry Miles will direct. H2F will produce along with Automatik Entertainment. Alliance Films will distribute.
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