Script Sales

Hollywood winded down in December for the holidays and the new year, which meant the last month of 2016 ended up a slow one for script sales. But it wasn’t completely silent. Amazon Studios picked up Jack Thorne’s action/adventure spec The Aeronauts, based on the true story of balloon pilot Amelia Wren and scientist James Glaisher and their hot-air balloon adventure. Twentieth Century Fox acquired The State, written by Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani. The action/thriller spec follows a father in a desperate race to rescue his son. Anthony Jaswinski’s action/thriller spec Highway One, which follows an Afghanistan veteran with PTSD who resorts to extreme measures after her daughter is kidnapped, found a home at DreamWorks. Working Title Films is set to produce Luke Garrett’s The Englishman, a drama/thriller spec about East Germany’s Ministry for State Security. Paul Dano in talks to star, Edward Berger (Deutschland 83) attached to direct….

November was a great month for spec sales. Centropolis Entertainment acquired Scarletville, a thriller spec by Jason Young about a diner owner who delays a deadly criminal with twisted stories until the police arrive. Electric Entertainment will produce Steven Altiere’s sci-fi/fantasy spec Countdown. Dean Devlin (Stargate, Independence Day) will direct and produce. Greg Berlanti (Supergirl, The Flash) to produce Free Guy. The action/comedy spec, written by Matt Lieberman, follows a bank teller who realizes he’s just a background character in a realistic video game and is the only one who can save the world. Amazon Studios is moving forward with Holland, Michigan, a dark comedy spec written by Andrew Sodroski. Finally, Bridesmaid and Spy director Paul Feig will produce Charlie Kesslering’s sci-fi/comedy spec Turned On. More script sales: – Adam McKay (The Big Short) to write/direct a biopic based on former Vice President Dick Cheney. – The Wedding Crashers sequel…

October had a strong showing for spec material. Connor Martin’s road comedy Federal Offense found a home at Boundless Pictures. The spec pits three best friends and a foul-mouthed grandfather against a drug kingpin, gangsters, bounty hunters, and the law. Chevy Chase to star. LD Entertainment is moving forward with Ben Bolea’s buddy comedy spec The Miserable Adventures of Burt Squire about a family man in a midlife crisis and an unhinged sea captain who end up shipwrecked in the Atlantic Ocean. Participant Media and Robert De Niro’s Tribeca Productions will produce The Price of Liberty, Michael Russell Gunn’s spec thriller about a diplomat trying to prevent potential terrorist attack after the fall of the Soviet Union. Michael Bay, Andrew Form, and Brad Fuller will produce Alex R. Johnson’s drama/thriller spec Northeast Kingdom for Paramount and Bay’s company, Platinum Dunes. The plot follows a young woman who enlists the help of…

First up, a Pipeline success story! Script Pipeline “Recommend” writer Matt J. O’Neill has sold his currently untitled sports drama to NBC. LeBron James to produce under his company SpringHill Entertainment (Survivor’s Remorse). Green-Light International and Imprint Entertainment have acquired Zika Agiashvili’s spec The Silver Arrow, a heist thriller about thieves searching for a legendary pre–World War II racecar, the Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrow. Oscar-nominated cinematographer Phedon Papamichael to direct. Madhouse has acquired the spec biopic American Rebel. Written by Christopher Cosmos, the story follows Deborah Sampson, who disguised herself as a man to fight in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Amy Pascal to produce. Other script sales: – Marty Katz to produce Ray Gideon and Bruce Evans’s Roy Orbison biopic, The Big O. – Scott Rudin Productions has acquired Mindy Kaling’s untitled talk show screenplay. Kaling and Emma Thompson attached to star. – Terence Winter to write Andy…

To kick things off, Script Pipeline 2010 Screenwriting Competition–winning script Prom Queen, written by Debbie Chesebro and Tyson FitzGerald, has been optioned by Jeremy Garelick’s production company Classy Films. FilmNation Entertainment and Temple Hill Productions will team to produce Dan Fogelman’s spec romance screenplay Life Itself, described as a multigenerational love story that follows characters in various locations over a few decades. Fogelman will also direct. Eva Longoria and her company UnbeliEVAble Entertainment will produce writer/director Lauren Iungerich’s comedy My Daughter’s Quinceañera, which follows a single father as he plans his daughter’s dream party. Finally, Lakeshore Entertainment is set to produce The Wedding Year, a spec script written by Donald Diego. The romantic comedy follows a female millennial who has to go to fifteen weddings in the same year. Other script sales: – Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly to star in writer/director Etan Cohen’s mystery/comedy Holmes and Watson. –…

July was a slower month for script sales. . . . Ivan Reitman’s Montecito Picture Company will produce Cassie Daniels and Mark Bartosic’s comedy spec Besties, a comedy about a woman and her three best friends who set off on a road trip to break up the wedding of her childhood crush. Amblin and Madhouse Entertainment will team up to produce Pete Bridges’ sci-fi/action spec The Fall, which follows a newly divorced couple trying to get to the suburbs on foot, where their children are home alone during an alien invasion. New Line has acquired the rights to The Cold War, based on David Wolman and Julian Smith’s article about a turf war between ice cream trucks. Fox 2000 acquired Ted Melfi’s Fruit Loops, which has been described as being in the same vein as One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. More script sales: – Kirsten Dunst and Nellie Kim…

June was a good month for spec scripts across all genres. First up was Lucas Carter’s action/comedy The Gun Show. The script, which follows a cop who wakes up after a 20-year coma and is assigned to investigate the death of his old partner, was picked up by Paramount. STX Entertainment and Getaway Productions are teaming to produce 17 Bridges, a detective thriller written by Adam Mervis. Thunder Road Pictures acquired two properties in June: the spy action/drama Burn Run, written by Mitchell LaFortune and based on real events, and Trigger Warning, described as a female version of First Blood and written by Josh Olson and John Brancato. Matthew Orton’s political thriller Reason of State is moving forward with Black Bear Pictures, Silvertown Films, and Wildgaze Films. The supernatural thriller Mary, written by Anthony Jaswinski, found a home at Tooley Productions and EMJAG Productions. Finally, Moonfall, a disaster spec written by…

Black Bear Pictures and Bristol Automotive acquired Graham Moore’s spec script The Last Days of Night. The legal thriller will dramatize Thomas Edison’s lawsuit against rival George Westinghouse, whom Edison sued for one billion dollars in 1888, and will be based on Moore’s novel. Sony acquired a thriller pitch from Lori Evans Taylor about a couple whose new tenant begins to invade their lives. Akiva Goldman to produce. Emily Carmichael to write Powerhouse for Amblin Entertainment, based on an original story by Colin Trevorrow–Carmichael to direct, and Trevorrow, Steven Spielberg, and Simon Winberg set to produce. Archer Gray Productions acquired Sebastian Silva’s family thriller Captain Dad; Silva to also direct, and Catherine Keener and Michael Cera to star, with Will Ferrell in negotiations. Finally, CBS Films is moving forward with Tamara Chestna’s romantic comedy Revenge Wedding, in which a woman (with the help of her best friend) decides to turn her…

Twentieth Century Fox picked up Stuber, a comedy spec from Script Pipeline Screenwriting Contest Winner Tripper Clancy for mid-six figures. Jonathan M. Goldstein and John Francis Daley (Horrible Bosses, Spider-Man: Homecoming) will produce. Two biopic specs are moving forward: Cliff Hollingsworth’s Done It All, based on the life of Merle Haggard, at GMH Productions, and Hayley Schore and Roshan Sethi’s Exposure, centering on Rosalind Franklin whose contributions to the discovery of DNA went uncredited before her death, at Entertainment One Films International. Lionsgate acquired Joshua Friedlander’s dramedy spec Couple Up, which centers on an unhappily married couple who see what life would be like if they had never met. Finally, Benderspink and Fox will produce Joe Greenberg’s elevated sci-fi spec Man Alive. Other script sales include: – Ben Jacoby to write The First Omen, prequel to The Omen, for Fox. David Goyer to produce. – Sam Esmail’s 2008 Blacklist script…

                     Many high-profile projects were acquired in March. Dan Harmon will produce Isaac Adamson’s Black List script Bubbles, a Michael Jackson biopic told from the point-of-view of his chimp Bubbles. It will be a stop-motion animation film. A pair of specs from Max Landis (Chronicle) were picked up in March: Deeper, a mystery/thriller about a disgraced astronaut, by Phantom Four Films and Addictive Pictures, and Bright, a fantasy centering on orcs, fairies, and police officers, by Netflix. The latter sold for $3 million. Paramount is moving forward with BenDavid Grabinski’s Bravado, about a former soldier who takes a job as a police officer. Anonymous Content picked up the drama spec Letters From Rosemary, written by Nick Yarborough and based on Rosemary Kennedy and the lobotomy that left her permanently incapacitated. Emma Stone set to star. Other script sales include: – Disney gave Script Pipeline…

Treehouse Pictures acquired Katie Silberman’s romantic comedy spec Set It Up about two assistants who try to get their nasty bosses out of their hair. Emilia Clarke attached to star. Bold Films is moving forward with the superhero drama spec Samaritan written by Bragi Schut. The film centers around a young boy and a mysterious old man twenty years after a superhero defeats a supervillain and has gone missing. Tyler Marceca’s thriller specs Burnt Offering and Malpractice have found homes at Armory Films and Endurance Media, respectively. Burnt Offering is described as being Prisoners meets Silence of the Lambs while Malpractice centers around a disgraced surgeon who becomes involved in a terrorism plot. Finally, FilmNation Entertainment has acquired Oliver Kramer’s legal thriller spec Leverage, a murder mystery centered on Wall Street. Other script sales include: – Tim Rasmussen and Vince Di Meglio to write It’s a Small World for Disney, to be…

January was a slower month for script sales. Elston Films optioned Justin Kremer’s 2013 Black List spec Bury the Lead. Independent Pictures is moving forward with Delia Ephron’s The Book. Meg Ryan will direct. Skydance Productions and Mockingbird Pictures will co-produce Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese’s Life, in which astronauts discover traces of life on Mars that may be more intelligent than they expected. Jared and Jarusha Hess to write NickToons for Nickelodeon. The movie will be based on various Nickelodeon cartoon characters, and Jared Hess will also direct. Other script sales include: – Drive‘s Nicolas Winding Refn is teaming with Spectre writers Neil Purvis and Robert Wade for an as-of-now untitled action/thriller with an Asian setting. – Screenwriter Mark Boal and director Kathryn Bigelow are reteeming for an untitled film set during the 1967 Detroit riot. – Fox 2000 has picked up Melisa Wallack’s pitch for The Fixer, which is based on the life…

Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions picked up Claire, a thriller spec by Brad Ingelsby. Claire follows a mother who protects her daughter after she falls in with the wrong crowd. Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire will produce Wayne Lemon’s spec The Havana Affair, a true-story thriller about the CIA’s Operation Mongoose. Amazon Studios is moving forward with Max Hurwitz’s Black List spec Forgive Me, a biopic about 60 Minutes’  Mike Wallace and his struggles with depression. Finally, Jason Bateman will produce Jesse Zwick, Allan Haldeman, Emerson Davis, and Michael Weintraub’s untitled crime script based on Operation Pandora’s Box, a sting operation that resulted in Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca’s resignation in 2014. Other script sales include: – Christopher Nolan to write/direct Dunkirk for Warner Bros. The film will be set during WWII and is based on a true story. – David Koepp has signed on to script a Bride of Frankenstein remake/reboot for Universal. – Evan…

Hollywood moved a little slower this month, as is to be expected for the holiday season. MGM picked up Matthew Orton’s untitled historical thriller spec about Mossad agents trying to capture Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. Chuck Hayward’s sorority dramedy Ain’t No Half Steppin found a home at Broad Green Pictures. The story follows a black sorority girl who agrees to teach black Greek stepping to stereotypical white sorority girls who are about to lose their charter. Good Universe is moving forward with Jessie Andrews’ dramedy script Empress of Serenity about a lawyer forced to take a cruise to bond with his estranged father. Bill Hader to star, Andrews to also direct. Max Landis’ Deeper is moving forward at Phantom Four Films and Addictive Pictures. The psychological thriller focuses on a disgraced astronaut on a mission to reach the bottom of an oceanic trench and the mysterious forces he encounters. Finally, Casey Affleck will produce and direct…

Fox picked up Brian Duffield’s spec Underwater, a thriller following a crew after an earthquake destroys their underwater station. Fox also bought Ascension, a sci-fi spec written by Shannon Triplett focusing on a scientist after Earth’s gravity disappears. Matthew Vaughn (X-Men: First Class) to possibly produce and direct. Focus Features acquired Matt King’s drama/thriller spec Boomtown about a sinister criminal conspiracy in North Dakota oil boom country. And New Line optioned Gregg Rossen and Brian Sawyer’s female-driven heist spec Met Gala Heist. Other script sales: – Dennis Kelly to pen the sequel to World War Z, based on an earlier draft by Steven Knight. – Olivia Milch has been tapped to write an all-female remake of Ocean’s Eleven. George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh to produce, Gary Ross to direct, and Sandra Bullock to potentially star. – 42 to produce the thriller In Darkness, written by Anthony Byrne and Game of Thrones‘ Natalie Dormer. Dormer to star, Byrne to direct. – Universal picked up Ori Guendelmann…