Spec Script Sale: “The Disciple Program”

Universal acquires thriller spec script “The Disciple Program” from first-time screenwriter Tyler Marceca. From Deadline:

The spec is described as a Manchurian Candidate-style thriller in which a man’s wife dies and he discovers that it was no accident and investigates the murder. Multiple bidders chased the script.

Those bidders included Warner Bros. and New Regency.

Marceca got on the Hollywood radar quickly with his first script. He entered it in a screenwriting competition months ago, and the script got spread around Hollywood and producers and studios liked what they saw. He got hundreds of phone calls, but had no representation. He met around and signed with WME, Anonymous Content and attorney David Fox. They pulled back the script so that it could be honed and so that the agency could package talent around it.

ScriptShadow fans know a lot of the backstory on this and if you’d care to provide your take of Carson’s involvement, please do in comments. Suffice to say there are alternate avenues to break into Hollywood including script contests and screenwriting bloggers… but as always it comes down to writing a great script.

Deal is reported to be mid-to-high six figures.

As noted, Marceca is repped by WME and Anonymous Content.

By my count, this is the 48th spec script sale of 2012.

There were 39 spec sales by this date last year.

The 48th spec script didn’t sell last year until June 29.

Spec script sales are up 23% year-to-date compared to 2011.

Congratulations, Tyler Marceca!

UPDATE: While Deadline gets it wrong, THR gets it right and notes ScriptShadow’s involvement in the script’s emergence in Hollywood:

The real story here is Marceca. An unsigned writer from Brooklyn, he wrote ten pages as part of a screenwriting contest run by The Writer’s Store. He later completed the script and submitted it to an online script review site called Script Shadow.

In most cases, the site features scripts that are already making the rounds throughout Hollywood. Disciple Program came out of left field and in February became the only amateur screenplay to reach the site’s top-ten list.

That caused a veritable feeding frenzy at the talent agencies, management companies and studios. According to one insider, two separate parties said they repped the writer even though they didn’t. Other sources say Warners made a bid on the script but then WME signed Marceca, pulling back the script and deciding to package it first.

With Walhberg and Tyldum attached, WME finally took the package out late last week.

Credit where credit is due: ScriptShadow helped build heat on this project. Score one for a first-time writer and a prominent screenwriting blogger.

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