Spec Script Deals Analysis 2016: First-Timers

As we continue our analysis of spec script sales in 2016, today we check out the first-timers, writers who broke into the business by setting up a spec script.

Man Alive — Joe Greenberg / Twentieth Century Fox — 4/22/16

Described as elevated science fiction.

American Rebel — Christopher Cosmos / Pascal Pictures — 9/23/16

Based on the true story of Deborah Sampson, who risked her life during the Revolutionary War by disguising herself as a man and joining the Continental Army.

Federal Offense — Connor Martin / Boundless Pictures — 10/3/16

Three best friends lose a drug kingpin’s stash before finding themselves on the lam from gangsters, bounty hunters and the law after breaking their foul-mouthed grandfather out of his nursing home.

Silent Night — James Luckard / Fox International Productions — 10/14/16

It’s 1941 in Berlin — the heart of the escalating Nazi empire — as a brutal serial killer roams the blacked-out streets, targeting young women. Determined to keep the nation focused on the war effort, Nazi leadership tasks homicide detective Alex Lang with tracking down the murderer.

Hummingbird — John McClain / Fundamental Films — 10/27/16

A female black-ops assassin discovers she’s more than just a hired gun but an entirely new breed of weapon.

The Post — Liz Hannah / Pascal Pictures — 10/31/16

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.

Yuba — Eamon O’Sullivan / Netflix — 11/2/16

Yuba is a gritty Western with two main characters, set in the Gold Rush era. At that time, the Yuba river valley often was cited as the most lawless lands of the Old West.

Congratulations to all the first-timers!

[Note: The list above does not include the many writers who used a spec script to gain representation and/or land an assignment base on their spec as a writing sample.]

2016 Spec Script Deal List
2016 Spec Script Deals Analysis: Genres
2016 Spec Script Deals Analysis: Buyers
2016 Spec Script Deals Analysis: Agents and Managers
2016 Spec Script Deals Analysis: Top Sales

Tomorrow: Gender Breakdown.