The definitive spec script database: 1991–2012

I have been tracking the Hollywood spec script market for decades. I come by this honestly as I sold a spec script back in the halcyon days of the late 80s, so obviously I was intrigued by the ebbs and flows of that sales arena, and continue to be to this day.

For all those years I kept files, some on computers, some hard copy of who sold what to whom, determining as best I could from the news sources at the time, primarily the trades.

Then along came GITS. Almost immediately I started tracking and posting Spec Script Sales as they happened. All you need to do to see the fruit of these labors is slide your cursor over to the right-hand column of this blog where you will note: 2008 Spec Script Sales Analysis, 2009 Spec Script Sales Analysis, 2010 Spec Script Sales Analysis, 2011 Spec Script Sales Analysis.

But what about all that information in my files stretching back to the early 90s? I kept intending to aggregate it all year-by-year, but my busy life kept getting in the way. It got to the point I doubted it would ever happen.

Enter two young, smart and eager Black List interns: Mikal McLendon and Evelyn Yves. I approached them with a proposition: Could you go through all these files and create a comprehensive list of spec script sales dating back to the beginning of the information I had available?

Fortunately Mikal and Evelyn said yes.

And so I am excited to announce that due to the hearty efforts of these two young people plowing through information I provided them, GITS now has a Master List of spec script sales from 1991–2012 complete with title, logline, writer, agency, and buyer. To my knowledge, no one else has this information and GITS readers will have access to it beginning in June when I will be running a month-long daily (Monday-Friday) series analyzing each year’s results and trends.

Why is this information important? Several reasons:

* As a screenwriter, now you will have a long-term view of sales trends that could help you decide what type of spec script you choose to write next.

* As a screenwriter, there may be story concepts of previously sold specs that inspire you to come up with a ‘similar but different’ idea.

* As a producer, maybe some of those old titles become projects you look into resurrecting. We are talking hundreds and hundreds of story concepts strong enough for somebody to plunk down major coin to acquire.

* As an agent or manager, you may have to reconsider some of the conventional wisdom about how the spec script market is never going to be like the ‘old days.’ Yes, there were some really hot years for spec script sales — 2 in particular — but the sales figures in 2011 and 2012 are at the high end of the annual average of sales stretching back to 1991. In other words, we may be entering a new golden age of spec scripts.

* As a movie lover, you will be amazed at what types of stories sold as specs, how many [or few] specs got produced as movies, how many of those movies succeeded or failed, and generally fill in whole gray areas of 20+ years of Hollywood history from the vantage point of writers who originated thousands of spec projects which studios and production companies acquired.

So look for that: Starting Monday, June 4th, I will be doing a daily post resulting in a complete list of every spec script that sold from 1991 through the first half of 2012. It represents a fascinating aspect of Hollywood history… and smart writers will take advantage of the information.

Thanks again to Mikal McLendon and Evelyn Yves for their initiative in helping to compile the GITS Spec Script Master List (1991–2012).

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