MOVIE IDEA Winner Eyecatcher by Jun Shimizu Runner-up Tis of Thee by Brodrick Haygood, Rob Alicea, & Scarlett Carmago TV IDEA Winner A-Pop by Richard Scott Runner-up Hellgate by RB Ripley
Here are some of the most notable script sales from June 2020: – Searchlight Pictures has picked up Stefani Robinson’s pitch Black Mozart, based on the true story of Chevalier de Sant-Georges. Stephen Williams is attached to direct. – Lionsgate, Good Fear, and Mangata have picked up Stephen Herman’s horror spec The Culling. David F. Sandberg is attached to direct. – Thunder Road Pictures picked up Doug Simon’s 2019 Black List script Breathe, a sci-fi/thriller. – Will Packer Productions and Universal Pictures have acquired One and Done, written by Chad Sanders and Chris Spencer. The sports drama script follows a top high school athlete who decided to attend an HBCU. – Brendan O’Brien has been tapped to script the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot for Nickelodeon Animation and Point Grey Pictures. – Christina Hodson will script the next entry in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise for Walt Disney Pictures…
Winner Killing Che by Alexander Vargas Alexander was born and raised in Miami, Florida—a mutt of Cuban and Swedish upbringing (his parents met on a dare, which may or may not be his next feature). Less than a month after graduating from the University of Miami almost 10 years ago, he took the plunge across the country to Los Angeles to pursue screenwriting. Not knowing where to start, he landed an internship at several production companies while tutoring kids on the weekends. Eventually, the stars aligned for an assistant position at a talent management company where he cut his teeth covering scripts for clients. He went on to other production companies and continued to plow through the weekend read, covering as many scripts as possible. He credits doing coverage as the single most helpful tool in learning how to write screenplays. He stayed inspired and motivated thanks to his supportive…
Winner X by Estevan Estevan is a queer/Latinx writer, actor, and director. After receiving his BFA in Film & Television Studies from The University of Arizona, Estevan began his career as a Manager of Television Development & Programming at dick clark productions, penning red carpet specials for live entertainment programs including The Golden Globes, E! Live from the Red Carpet at the Oscars, The Grammys, Billboard Music Awards, American Music Awards, The Streamy Awards and more. Recently he worked as the Writers’ PA on season 2 of the Bad Boys franchise spinoff series LA’s Finest for Jerry Bruckheimer Television and Sony/Spectrum/Fox. In 2020, Estevan served as the Writers’ Assistant on Long Slow Exhale from from EP/Showrunner Pam Veasey for Hello Sunshine/Made Up Stories and Paramount TV/Spectrum/BET. A proud, gay, Mexican-American kid from Phoenix, AZ, Estevan grew up shaped by the quick wit of queer culture and the tough Spanglish love of…
Here are some of the most notable script sales from May 2020: – Jamie Lee Curtis and Russell Goldman’s climate change horror script Mother Nature was acquired by Blumhouse. Curtis will make her feature directorial debut. – Taika Waititi and Krysty Wilson-Cairnstaika will write a Star Wars spinoff for Disney and Lucasfilm. Waititi will also direct. – Paramount Pictures and di Bonaventura Pictures picked up Mattson Tomlin’s sci-fi/drama/dystopian spec 2084. – Paramount Pictures, Weed Road Productions, and The Tea Shop & Film Company are teaming for Flight. Miles Chapman’s spec is a contained thriller set on an international flight, based on an idea by Johannes Roberts. Roberts will also direct. – Paramount Pictures and Fully Formed Entertainment won out in a bidding war for Daniel H. Wilson’s sci-fi spec The Blue Afternoon That Lasted Forever, based on his short story. – Good Films Collective will produce Petter Skavlan’s true-story drama…
Winner of the Script Pipeline First Look Project with his pilot Power Suit, Nick Roth had a varied career in the industry before becoming a full-time screenwriter. Following his contest win, Pipeline executives connected him with management at Zero Gravity, who saw the clear potential in his high-concept TV project set in the world of 1980s Hollywood. Before we get into the pilot, you told us a story of writing a screenplay with your father (a veteran TV director) in China over the course of several months. . . . How formative was that for you, creatively and professionally speaking? So I decided to pursue screenwriting full-time a little over seven years ago, and since then, I sort of have had the beginnings of two completely separate writing careers. In one, I spent about six years as a writers’ PA, assistant editor, researcher, middle school substitute Latin teacher, etc., and…
In recent years, the lines between comedy and drama have become increasingly blurred, at least in the television world. It’s not uncommon to see hourlong series that more closely resemble comedies and half-hour shows that are for all intents and purposes dramas. This current trend was kickstarted almost fifteen years ago with shows like Weeds and Desperate Housewives that, while being ostensibly comedies, often leaned more heavily toward the drama side of the coin. Demand for this type of series has only increased, and dramedy has become a surprising enduring and successful genre for female-led series. Just look at last year’s Emmy nominations — Fleabag, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Russian Doll each straddles that line and all were met with critical acclaim. Also add Dead to Me to that list. The series, created by Liz Feldman, is a (dark) comedy about grief. Two women meet in a therapy group for…
Here are some of the most notable script sales from April 2020: – Paramount Pictures and Gina Rodriguez’s I Can and I Will Productions have acquired Ryan Firpo’s sci-fi/comedy spec The Aliens Are Stealing Our Weed. Along with producing, Rodriguez is attached to star. – Anthony McCarten’s Whitney Houston spec I Wanna Dance With Somebody found a home with Primary Wave and Muse of Fire Productions. Stella Meghie is in talks to direct. – Lionsgate, along with Zaftig Films and Vertigo Entertainment, picked up John Fuqua and Glenn Ficarra’s zombie spec 16 States. – See-Saw Films, Anonymous Content, and Screen Australia are moving forward with Thomas Wright’s crime/thriller The Unknown Man. Wright will direct, and Joel Edgerton and Sean Harris are set to star. – David Callaham will write the live-action Hercules remake/adaptation for Disney. Anthony and Joe Russo will produce. – Paramount Animation, Hasbro Studios, and eOne have tapped…
Moviemaker magazine named Script Pipeline as a “submission-worthy” competition in 2020. Excerpt from the Greg Gilman article: “Evan Daugherty has adapted Snow White, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Tomb Raider, and He-Man for the big screen, but he didn’t get his big break while working in Hollywood. He lived in Dallas when he funneled a fresh spec script, Shrapnel, through Script Pipeline’s 2008 screenwriting competition, and won. “I decided to actually fly out to L.A. for the ceremony. I had no expectation of winning,” he told Script Pipeline. “I was just using it as an excuse to visit some L.A. friends. So, when I was announced as one of the Grand Prize winners, it was a real shock.” The win helped him land a manager, an agent, and his first job—writing a draft of Warner Bros.’ Masters of the Universe film. Shrapnel became the Robert De Niro-John Travolta film Killing Season. And he also sold Snow White and the Huntsman, a…
Here are some of the most notable script sales from March 2020: – Paramount Pictures and Original Film have picked up Murder in the White House, a crime/mystery/thriller spec written by Jonathan Stokes. After the President is murdered during a private dinner, a female Secret Service agent has until morning to identify the killer to prevent a peace agreement from failing. – Over with Warner Bros. and J.J. Abrams’s Bad Robot, The Pinkerton found a home. Daniel Casey’s spec is described as a supernatural revenge-western hybrid. – The faith drama When We Pray is moving forward with Cinema Libre Studio, Fight to Fame Films, and Fast Mouse Films. The script was written by Jamie Foxx and Donald Ray Caldwell, and Foxx will also direct. – Loos Change Films has optioned Max Goodson’s drama script The Rescuer, which follows a young pastor torn between turning his church into a glitzy megachurch…
Should we do a comedy this month? Yeah… let’s do a comedy this month. Released almost 15 years ago, The Devil Wears Prada was written by Aline Brosh McKenna and adapted from Lauren Weisberger’s novel. (We previously talked about McKenna’s work with Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.) Upon its release, the movie was met with critical acclaim and even scored Meryl Streep an Oscar nomination for Best Actress, as well as another nomination for Best Costume Design (natch). Since then, it’s become a staple of cable television and has even gotten a second life with Twitter reaction gifs. One of the things that makes The Devil Wears Prada a timeless movie is its specificity. Each character feels unique and lived-in, and they each talk in their own rhythms and languages. This is one script where each character has a clear and distinct voice. You could take almost any line out of context and…
The most basic story for any movie goes like this: A protagonist faces obstacles and conflict while trying to achieve a specific goal. Of course, that’s a very reductive take on narrative storytelling, but that is the skeleton most movies are built on. However, the best movies are about more than just plot; with themes and metaphors, filmmakers hold a mirror to society and use their movies as a commentary on today’s world. One of the best directors doing that today is Bong Joon-ho. Bong has made a name for himself, in his native South Korea and throughout the entire world, with strongly metaphorical satires. The genres vary greatly—the sci-fi/horror/comedy The Host, the sci-fi/action Snowpiercer, the (very) darkly comedic Barking Dogs Never Bite—but each offers some view on modern life and society in general. But the one that has gotten the most recognition (perhaps you’ve heard of its Cannes and Oscar wins?) is Parasite….
Here are some of the most notable script sales from February 2020: – Taika Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson will script the next installment in Marvel/Disney’s Thor franchise: Thor: Love and Thunder. Waititi will direct, and Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, and Tessa Thompson will also return, with Christian Bale potentially joining the cast. – And in more Marvel/Disney news, Michael Waldron will rewrite Jade Bartlett’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness script. Sam Raimi is in talks to direct, while Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, and Elizabeth Olsen are set to star. – Chris Thomas Devlin will script the Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboot/remake for Legendary Pictures and Bad Hombre. Fede Alvarez will produce; Ryan Tohill and Andy Tohill will direct. – Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler, and Diane Keaton will star in a spiritual sequel to The First Wives Club entitled Family Jewels. The script, written by Peter Hoare,…
Felicia Ho’s TV pilot Arranged won the Script Pipeline First Look Project, due in large part to a refined sensibility toward character and an underlying premise that’s both original and timely. Prior to her Pipeline win, she was selected for Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Impact writing accelerator. She’s repped by Kaplan Perrone. Every facet of Arranged caught our attention, but the potential of this series to comment on and criticize cultural norms was the big hook for us. Felt different but universal. Why did you choose to pursue this idea and, specifically, this type of lead character? What are some of the long-term topics you’d want this show to address? Thank you for acknowledging that! I was first inspired to write this story after I attended my cousin’s wedding. She and I are really similar in age and background so it was a huge shock to me when I went after having…
A top 10 finalist in the 2019 Script Pipeline TV Writing Competition with Laurel Canyon, J.P. Estes signed with Zero Gravity Management after an introduction by Pipeline execs. His pilot Package Deal is currently in development. You were originally a journalism major, but switched to film. What indicated that film and TV was your future? When I first arrived at Arizona State, I had no real idea of what I wanted to do. I got a scholarship, so I went to school. That’s it. This lead to bouncing around from major to major for two years trying to find an avenue for my creativity. I eventually landed on sports journalism, hoping to combine two of my passions. But this was in 2010. As local newspapers were shuttering. As journalism tried to grapple with the emergence of digital media. As jobs were drying up left and right. . . . So…
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