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Script Pipeline

Dec 20 2017
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6th Annual 2017 First Look Project Results

By First Look Project Results

SCREENWRITING Action/Adventure Dead Man’s Gulch by Rob Rex – Winner Rob Rex is a screenwriter from Telluride, Colorado — which is important, because it says a lot about the influences that shape his writing. Known to most for its world-class skiing, extreme sports, and year-round festivals, Rob has found (or was born with) a particular fascination with Telluride’s Wild West history of bank robbers, outlaws, miners, and bootstrappers. But there’s more to it than that. The dramatic peaks and vertical cliff faces — formed over millennia and blanketed by a night sky so dark that you can see the Milky Way with your naked eye — evoke grander schemes and otherworldly muses. Thus, both history and science-fiction intermingle in much of Rob’s work. Rob has won a number of awards for his writing. His dual wins in Script Pipeline’s First Look Project (Action/Adventure and Sci-Fi) mark the first time in…

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Dec 05 2017
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Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – Screenplay

By Essential Reading - Screenplays and Pilots

Tragedy is, unfortunately, universal. What isn’t universal, though, is how we cope with it. Take Mildred Hayes. Seven months ago, her daughter was gruesomely murdered, and her local police department doesn’t so much as have a lead. Fed up with their lack of effort, Mildred rents three billboards on a dirt road asking the chief of police why no arrests have been made and unapologetically drags her entire town into her grieving process. With Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, writer/director Martin McDonagh, continuing in the tradition of his previous films In Bruges and Seven Psycopaths, has created another strong dark comedy with even stronger characters at its heart. Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand in a committed performance), on paper, could come across as abrasive, but everything she does is a direct result of her daughter’s death and her need for closure and Mildred’s profane, outrageous attitude provides levity and humor to…

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Dec 04 2017
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November 2017 Script Sales

By Script Sales

Spec scripts made a strong showing in November. Kicking things off, Lakeshore Entertainment picked up Mark Hogan’s spec The New Mrs. Keller, which has been described as a Hitchcockian techno-thriller. Escape Artists snagged Let Her Speak, a true-story spec based on Texas state Senator Wendy Davis’s 11-hour filibuster to stall anti-abortion legislation. Sandra Bullock is attached to star. New Republic Pictures and Will Packer Productions are teaming up for Green Rush. Written by Matt Tente, the crime spec follows an ex-con who schemes with his daughter to steal millions of dollars worth of medical marijuana taxes from city hall. Amy Pascal’s Pascal Pictures picked up Envoy, a sci-fi/thriller spec written by Kat Wood. The script follows a military intelligence specialist who attempts to become the first-ever human representation to alien life. Finally, Sentient Entertainment scooped up Tony Mosher’s drama/thriller spec Sirius about two members of a Danish special forces dog…

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Nov 08 2017
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October 2017 Script Sales

By Script Sales

This year, script sales slowed down in the month of October. Misher Films picked up Craig Luck and Ivor Powell’s sci-fi spec Bios. Set on a post-apocalyptic Earth, the film will follow a robot tasked with protecting his creator’s dog. Currently, Tom Hanks is attached to star, and Miguel Sapochnik is attached to direct. Meanwhile, Stay Gold Features and Rosa Entertainment have teamed for Heart of the Beast. The drama/thriller spec, written by Cameron Alexander, follows a former Navy SEAL and his combat dog as they try to survive after an accident in the Alaskan wilderness. Moving away from stories about dogs, QC Entertainment and Good Universe have picked up Max Landis’s horror script Decon about a young medical prodigy who is pushed to their breaking point over the course of one night after joining a team that treats the most dangerous and gruesome diseases. Other script sales: – Bob’s…

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Nov 08 2017
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The Big Sick – Screenplay

By Essential Reading - Screenplays and Pilots

Now that we’re nearing the end of 2017, studios have begun releasing scripts for potential Oscar contenders, and one film that received early and near-universal praise upon its release was The Big Sick. After watching the film, it’s easy to see its appeal. Directed by Michael Showalter and written by real-life couple Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani (based on the true story of how they met), The Big Sick effortlessly balances comedy and drama without doing a disservice to either and touches on compelling themes along the way. Set in Chicago, the film follows Kumail (played by Nanjiani himself), an aspiring stand-up comedian and current Uber driver, and Emily (played by Zoe Kazan), a grad student studying psychology, as their relationship starts. However, after five months, Emily breaks up with Kumail after she learns he still hasn’t told his traditional Pakistani family that he is dating a white woman….

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Oct 12 2017
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September 2017 Script Sales

By Script Sales

Echo Lake Productions and Royal Viking Entertainment have picked up Sean Sorensen’s spec We Interrupt This Program, based on the true story of Orson Welles’ famous radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds and the ensuing panic. Disney has picked up Tarell Alvin McCraney’s musical romance script Cyrano the Moor, which will combine elements from Cyrano de Bergerac and Othello. David Oyelowo and Jessica Oyelowo are set to produce. Phoenix Pictures is moving forward with A Country of Strangers, Sean Armstrong’s 2012 Black List script. The story follows the true story of a 40-year investigation into the disappearance of three young children in Australia. Murray Miller’s untitled buddy cop comedy has found a home at Universal. John Cena and Kumail Nanjiani will star, Ruben Fleischer will direct. Finally, Lisa Jones is set adapt Danielle McGuire’s non-fiction book At the Dark End of the Street for Invisible Pictures. Julie Dash to direct….

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Oct 12 2017
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Hidden Figures – Screenplay

By Essential Reading - Screenplays and Pilots

At times, it feels as though Hollywood has exploited every moment in history for the sake of a movie. It’s becoming rarer and rarer to find a historical figure who hasn’t had their story portrayed in a film in some way, so nowadays, when a film zeroes in on an interesting event that few know about, it’s typically worth mentioning. However, director Theodore Melfi’s Hidden Figures goes a step further. The movie uses an event many people know about, John Glenn’s orbit around the Earth, as its backdrop but tells it from a perspective few were aware of. Scripted by Allison Schroeder and Melfi and based on Margot Lee Shetterly’s book of the same name, Hidden Figures follows Katharine Johnson, an African American woman who calculated the trajectories that made Glenn’s mission possible, and her African American coworkers Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson during a time Virginia and NASA were…

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Sep 11 2017
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August 2017 Script Sales

By Script Sales

Hyde Park Entertainment has picked up Lee Batchler and Janet Scott Batchler’s drama spec Jack and Dick. The story will follow John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon’s careers as friends and political rivals leading up to their presidential debate. Ashok Amritraj and Alan Gasmer are set to produce. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. is moving forward with Josh L. Gordon’s untitled sci-fi/thriller. Set in a near-future world where advances in artificial intelligence are threatening the human race, Gordon’s spec follows a young engineer who finds herself involved in a billionaire’s plan to alter the fate of humanity. Next up: Tyler MacIntyre and Chris Hill’s horror/thriller spec Nightlight has found a home at Columbia Pictures. Nightlight follows a 10-year-old boy who fends off invaders when he’s left home alone. Tyler MacIntyre is set to direct as well. Finally, Screen Gems and Royal Viking Entertainment are teaming for Peter A. Dowling’s Exposure. His action/thriller spec centers on an African…

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Sep 11 2017
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Legion – Pilot

By Essential Reading - Screenplays and Pilots

Within the last decade, some might argue that comic book movies have become needlessly ubiquitous. Just looking at the major studios’ upcoming slates can give the impression that Hollywood is simply in the superhero business, eschewing thoughtful character-driven films for tentpoles that feel almost interchangeable. The fate of the world is in jeopardy, special effects–ridden fight scenes ensue, hero saves the day, see you again next summer. The most successful superhero movies have either bucked that formula or twisted it to provide something fresh (take, for example, Deadpool‘s meta satire, Wonder Woman‘s feminist themes, or Logan‘s gritty western noir), but perhaps, none have done so more successfully than Legion. Created by Noah Hawley of FX’s Fargo and based on Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz’s Marvel character, Legion ostensibly takes place in the X-Men universe, but the series plays more akin to a psychological, almost Lovecraftian or Lynchian horror movie than anything…

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Sep 06 2017
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Mandalay Pictures Developing Script Pipeline Contest-Winning TV Pilot

By Uncategorized
The Devil in Evelyn, winner of the 2016 First Look Project (Teleplay), was picked up for development by Mandalay Pictures in September 2017. Script Pipeline set up the writers, brothers Ben and Tyler Soper, with meetings after extensive circulation to Pipeline's industry network. "Script Pipeline's First Look Project was an awesome experience," Ben and Tyler said. "From our first phone call, they became our personal champions and proceeded to surprise us again and again with the extent of their support.  Thanks to them, we had meetings with a manager and production companies and are now developing our pilot with Mandalay Entertainment.  Entering this contest moved our careers forward in an unprecedented way and was the smartest thing we did all year!" A favorite of Script Pipeline judges, the horror/comedy expertly weaves genres and manages to overcome the hurdle of grounding relatable themes in an entirely unreal context. "Probably one of the most...
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Aug 23 2017
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Kubo and the Two Strings – Screenplay

By Essential Reading - Screenplays and Pilots

Pixar may be getting all the gifs and Buzzfeed articles (deservingly so), but in the background, Laika has been quietly producing some of the greatest animated films ever made. Known for mastering the painstaking process of stop-motion animation, Laika got their start with Henry Selick’s excellent adaptation of Coraline, and they haven’t slowed down since. Although they only have four films to their name, their relatively small oeuvre could easily rank among Pixar’s best. Laika continued their streak last year with the criminally under-watched Kubo and the Two Strings. Written by Marc Haimes and Chris Butler and directed by Travis Knight, Kubo follows a young boy named Kubo who plays a magical shamisen. He sets off on a journey with a talking monkey and a samurai who was turned in a beetle to avenge his mother’s death. So the story may follow the archetypical “hero’s journey” as described by Joseph…

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Aug 23 2017
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July 2017 Script Sales

By Script Sales

Screenwriters made a strong showing in July, with many projects finding homes over the course of the month. Voltage Pictures snagged Brian Edward Hill’s untitled horror/thriller spec. The script has been described as a supernatural take on Se7en but with a female lead. Miramax picked up Jason Markarian and John Mirabella’s spec The Armstrongs. The action/comedy follows a divorced couple in witness protection who have to team up when their son is kidnapped. Eli Roth is set to produce Casey La Scala’s 1974, a thriller spec inspired by true events about a man convicted of murdering his parents and siblings. La Scala is set to direct as well. New Line Cinema purchased Super-Intelligence, an action/comedy spec written by Steve Mallory. Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone are also set to produce. Finally, Lionsgate acquired Shay Hatten’s action spec Ballerina, which follows a female assassin out for revenge. The script might become…

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Aug 22 2017
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10th Great TV Show Idea Contest Results

By Great TV Show Idea Contest Results

Grand Prize Winner Fucking Robots by Emily McGregor & Sam Weller Emily McGregor is a Tucson, AZ native who moved to California to attend the Chapman University film program and to escape the constant barrage of cheesy Kokopelli art. Emily recently directed MiTu’s original pilot “Beauty School” which screened at CES 2017. She’s worked with Pepsi, Univision, and NickMom on multiple campaigns as writer and director. As VP of Production for Comediva, a production company laser-focused on female comedy, she wrote and directed hundreds of sketches, web series, and branded videos, many of which you’ve seen on HuffPost, NY Times, CNN, Good Morning America, Mashable, and Gizmodo. Emily has also sold a half-hour comedy series to Amazon Studios. Sam Weller is a writer and comedian originally from St. Louis, MO who performs at The Pack Theater in Los Angeles, and you can catch him online making appearances on Project Alpha livestreams…

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Aug 22 2017
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12th Great Movie Idea Contest Results

By Great Movie Idea Contest Results

Grand Prize Winner The Maidservant Cap by Jeff Opdyke Jeff Opdyke is a Louisiana-born writer who has traveled the world for his jobs (62 countries, six continents). He spent 17 years at The Wall Street Journal and seven with a Florida-based newsletter traveling globally to write about geo-politics, economics and investing. He has also written eight books under his own name and two as a ghostwriter for others. He graduated from Louisiana State University in 1989 with a B.A. in journalism. He recently chucked everything in his life to relocate to California to attend UCLA, with an eye toward pursuing a lifelong dream of writing for television and movies. He’s currently at work on a comedy pilot. Wherever he lives, you should probably flee, since he moved to Los Angeles just in time for the Rodney King Riots, which he covered for the Orange County Register; he was in New…

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