2013 Spec Script Sales Analysis: Buyers

Yesterday we looked at 2013 spec script sales by genre. Today we break down the numbers per major studios, mini-majors, subsidiaries, and financiers to see which were the most and least active in the script acquisition market. The totals:

6
Universal

4
BCDF Pictures
Lionsgate
Thunder Road
Warner Bros.

3
20th Century Fox
CBS Films
Lotus Entertainment
Millennium
Paramount
Screen Gems
Sony

2
1984 Private Defense Contractors
Aldamisa Films
Focus Features
Fox 2000
Gulfstream Pictures
QED International
Relativity Media
The Solution
Voltage Pictures

1
42
108 Production
1492 Productions
1821 Pictures
Altitude Entertainment
Atmosphere Entertainment
Big Beach Films
Blumhouse Productions
Boies/Schiller Film Group
Bold Entertainment
Bon Aire Productons
Boundless Pictures
Chernin Entertainment
CIMA Productions
Content Films
De Line Pictures
Dimension Films
Electric Entertainment
Fox Searchlight
Gold Circle Films
Good Universe
Incognito Pictures
Legendary Pictures
Mammo Media
Mandeville
Maven Pictures
Media Rights Capital
MGM
Michael De Luca Productions
New Line
Nostromo Films
Ocean Blue Entertainment
Odd Fellows Entertainment
Pantelion Films
Paramount Insurge
Participant Media
Preferred Content
Romain Philippe Equity
Sentinel Pictures
Sierra/Affinity
Skydance Productions
Solipsist Films
Sourian Productions
The Exchange
Treehouse Pictures
Vendome Pictures
Wayfare Entertainment
Working Title

Look at these numbers from the years 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 per each major studio:

Disney 5 / 1 / 2 / 1 / 2 / 0
DreamWorks 6 / 4 / 1 / 2 / 1 / 0
Paramount 1 / 5 / 4 / 4 / 12 / 3
Sony Pictures 8 / 4 / 1 / 7 / 9 /3
Twentieth Century Fox 5 / 3 / 1 / 7 / 3 / 3
Universal 6 / 6 / 1 / 6 / 9 / 6
Warner Bros. 8 / 8 / 8 / 15 / 7 / 4

The numbers per major studios in the spec script market were pretty poor. Every studio with the exception of 20th Century Fox acquired less spec scripts in 2013, some markedly so such as Paramount and Sony.

Last year the major Hollywood studios were involved in 23 of the 100 spec script deals which amounts to 23% of total transactions, compared to 43% in 2012, 38% in 2011, 33% in 2010, 45% in 2009 and 43% in 2008. That is the lowest percentage since I started this blog… and substantially so.

Reverse the perspective and what we are looking at is the continued emergence of the independent financiers, filling the void left by reluctant buyers among the major studios.

Here is a breakdown of acquisitions by genre at major, mini-major studios and subsidiaries:

20th Century Fox
Capsule — Science Fiction
Tranquility Base — Science Fiction Drama
The Unseen — Horror

Paramount
Agatha — Action Adventure
Attach — Science Fiction
Little Black Dress — Drama

Sony
Inheritance — Legal Thriller
Unleash the Mules — Drama (Columbia)
The Politician — Comedy

Universal
One Night on the Hudson — Comedy
Little Evil — Comedy
Don’t Mess With Texas — Action Comedy
Soldiers of the Sun — Science Fiction
Untitled Amy Schumer Project — Comedy
Section 6 — Spy Drama Thriller

Warner Bros.
Bermuda Triangle — Action
The Asterisk — Action
Nemesis — Action Thriller
Untitled Uziel & Krasinski Project — Action Adventure

CBS Films
Omega Point — Science Fiction
Other People’s Love Letters — Romantic Comedy
Split — Thriller

Dimension Films
Ink and Bone — Thriller

Focus Features
Deprivation — Action Thriller
Rose — Thriller

Fox 2000
Highrise — Thriller
Depth of Field — Sports Drama Comedy

Fox Searchlight
Sorta Like a Rock Star — Drama

Legendary Pictures
Reminiscence — Science Fiction Thriller

Lionsgate
Endangered — Action Adventure
Spinback — Action Thriller (Summit)
You’ll Be the Death of Me — Comedy (Summit)
Time Tweaker — Science Fiction

Millennium Films
Criminal — Action
The Strategist — Thriller
The Civilian — Action

New Line
The Lost — Action Comedy

Paramount Insurge
Fetch — Comedy

Participant Media
From Here to Albion — Thriller

Relativity Media
House Arrest — Comedy
Jump — Romantic Dramedy

Screen Gems
Cat Fight — Comedy
The Unsacred — Thriller
Patient Zero — Action Thriller

What do you take away from this information?

Tomorrow: Agents and managers.

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