Spec Script Deals: 1991-2025

A Go Into The Story eBook... and it's free!

Recently, I floated the possibility in social media that I might aggregate the 2,500+ spec script deals I had tracked since 1991 into a readable resource.

The response was overwhelming!

So, I set a kick off date (September 8) and have been hard at work editing it as an eBook. Here are some details:

• There are 2,560 individual listings of spec script deals.
• The eBook covers a period of 35 years (1991-2025).
• It is 517 pages long.
• Each listing includes (where applicable): Title, Logline, Writer, Genre, Agent, Management, Studio, Production Company, Date, Notes.
• Notes include reported sales price, talent attachments, writers who are "first-timers".
• 96% of the listings include a logline or story summary.
• Beginning in 2008 when I launched my blog Go Into The Story, I began providing an annual analysis of that year's spec deals including Genre, Buyers, Agents & Managers, Top Sales, and First-Timers. There are analyses for every year from 2008-2025.
• Beginning in 2012, each listing includes an active link which takes you to the corresponding Go Into The Story article about that specific spec deal.

Here is an example of a listing:

60. Title: The Post Logline: Script deals with the Washington Post’s role in exposing the Pentagon Papers in 1971, and how the Post’s editor Ben Bradlee and publisher Kay Graham challenged the federal government over their right to publish them. Writer: Liz Hannah Genre: Historical Drama Management: Echo Lake Entertainment Studio: Pascal Pictures Date: 10/31/16. Notes: First-timer.

If you are interested in screenwriting, this eBook is an indispensable resource for multiple reasons, the most significant one being this: loglines and story summaries. Use them to spark variations to create similar but different story concepts.

It's also just a fascinating read as it provides an historical record of some of the most impactful changes in the Hollywood movie acquisition and development process (e.g., shifts in genre focus, the rise of the streamers, the emergence of managers).

When I floated this idea, several people I know in the business suggested I put the information behind a paywall.

I decided not to do that for reasons I explain in the eBook.

"Spec Script Deals: 1991-2025" is free.

Go here to download your copy: LINK.