Top Spec Script Deals

If you’re lacking motivation to write today, pay a visit to this Wikipedia site and check out the biggest pay-dates in spec script history:

$4 million:

• The Long Kiss Goodnight by Shane Black

$3 million:

• Basic Instinct by Joe Eszterhas
• Medicine Man by Tom Schulman
• The Ugly Americans (Eurotrip) by Alec Berg, David Mandel and Jeff Schaffer
• Bad Dog (unproduced) by Dale Launer
• Married in the Morning (unproduced) by Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan
• Panic Room by David Koepp. $2 million against $3 million.

$2.75 million:

• Mozart and the Whale (The Newports) by Ronald Bass. $2 million against $2,750,000.
• Vito (In Production) by Zie Rad.

$2.5 million:

• The Sixth Sense by M. Night Shyamalan
• Twister by Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Crichton
• Jade by Joe Eszterhas
• A Knight’s Tale by Brian Helgeland
• Untitled Will Davies Romantic Comedy (unproduced) by Will Davies
• Jackson (unproduced) by Brandon Camp and Mike Thompson
• The Superconducting Supercollider of Sparkle Creek, Wisconsin (unproduced) by David Koepp and John Kamps. ‘$2.5 million against $3.25 million with an additional deferred bonus of $1.5 million for Koepp.
• Deja Vu by Terry Rossio and Bill Marsilii. (screenplay sold for $5 million)[1]

$2.25 million:

• Untitled Disney Family Comedy (unproduced) by Kevin Bisch
• They Came From Upstairs (unproduced) by Mark Burton
• You, Me and Dupree by Mike LeSieur
• The Break-Up by Vince Vaughn, Jeremy Garelick and Jay Lavender

$2 million:

• The Arrangement (unproduced) by Kevin Bisch
• Stalker: A Love Story (unproduced) by Michael Carnes and Josh Gilbert
• The Worst Man (unproduced) by Michael Carnes and Josh Gilbert
• Manhattan Ghost Story (unproduced) by Ronald Bass, based on the novel by T.M. Wright.
• Radio Flyer by David M. Evans
• Forever Young by Jeffrey Abrams
• Showgirls by Joe Eszterhas
• Sacred Cows (unproduced) by Joe Eszterhas
• Reliable Sources (unproduced) by Joe Eszterhas
• Courage Under Fire by Patrick Sheane Duncan
• Tennessee (Pearl Harbor) by Randall Wallace
• River Road (unproduced) by Andrew Niccol
• The Mark (unproduced) by Rob Liefield
• Untitled Tim Herlihy Comedy (unproduced) by Tim Herlihy
• The Game by John D. Brancato and Michael Ferris
• Untitled Firestein-Pesce Action Project (unproduced) by Les Firestein and PJ Pesce
• Executive Search (unproduced) by Gerald Di Pego
• Going West (Switchback) by Jeb Stuart
• Untitled Michael McCullers Buddy Comedy (unproduced) by Michael McCullers
• Alpha (unproduced) by David Benioff
• Ghost Town by David Koepp and John Kamps
• Male Pattern Baldness (unproduced) by Joe Eszterhas. $2 million against 4.5 million.

$1.8 million:

• RPM (unproduced) by J.H. Wyman
• Stay by David Benioff

$1.5 million:

• Evan Almighty by Bobby Florsheim and Josh Stolberg. $1.5 million against 2.5 million.
• The Sweetest Thing by Nancy Pimental

$1.3 million:

• Monster-In-Law by Anya Kochoff. $1.3 against $2.3 million.

$1.25 million:

• 99 Problems (unproduced) by Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont. $1.25 against $2 million.

$1.1 million:

• Milk Money by John Mattson, bought outright by Paramount in 1992.

$1 million:

• Foreplay (unproduced) by Joe Eszterhas. $1 million against $3.5 million.
• The Cheese Stands Alone (unproduced) by Kathy McWorter.

$750,000:

• Steinbeck’s Point of View (unproduced) by Brandon Camp and Mike Thompson. $750,000 against $3,750,000 with an additional potential $2 million bonus cast contingent.
• Man-Witch by Bobby Florsheim and Josh Stolberg. $750,000 against $1.5 million.

Amazing how many of these projects never got produced. Some of them understandable: “Sacred Cows” by Joe Eszterhas is about a President who is found having sex with a cow; although Eszterhas made claims in the past that several name directors had been attached to make the movie, I assume somebody at MGM actually took the time to stop a development meeting and say, “Hel-lo! A President. Having sex with a cooooooowwwwww.” 

What are your reactions to the list?

[Originally posted August 18, 2008]

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