2021 Spec Script Deals Analysis: Genres

By my count, Hollywood studios, production companies, and financiers acquired 34 spec scripts in 2021. During this week, I’ll be breaking down those numbers.

Today, we look at deals by genre. Some scripts are categorized as cross genres or sub-genres, so those are noted where relevant under their primary genre category.

Note: Genre designations are not scientific, so you have to understand these numbers are general.

2021 SPEC SCRIPT DEALS BY GENRE

Action — 12
Adventure-1

Thriller — 12
Spy-1
Vampire-1

Drama — 9
Historical-1
Mystery-1
Romance-1

Comedy — 8
Family Adventure-2
Romance-1
Teen-1

Science Fiction — 3

Horror — 2

First, let’s compare to 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.

2008 (88 deals)

COMEDY 41
ACTION 13
DRAMA 12
THRILLER 10
FANTASY 3
SCIENCE FICTION 3
ADVENTURE 2
DISASTER 2
FAMILY 1
HORROR 1

2009 (68 deals)

COMEDY 26
THRILLER 12
ACTION 11
DRAMA 7
SCIENCE FICTION 4
ROMANTIC COMEDY 3
FAMILY 1
FANTASY 1
HEIST 1
HORROR 1
MURDER MYSTERY 1

2010 (55 deals)

COMEDY 16
ACTION 14
THRILLER 10
SCIENCE FICTION 7
DRAMA 4
FAMILY 2
FANTASY 1
MYSTERY 1

2011 (110 deals)

ACTION 29
THRILLER 20
COMEDY 19
DRAMA 14
SCIENCE FICTION 13
HORROR 8
FAMILY 2
FAIRY TALE 1
HEIST 1
SUPERNATURAL 1
WESTERN 1

2012 (99 deals)

ACTION 27
THRILLER 20
COMEDY 20
SCIENCE FICTION 12
DRAMA 10
HORROR 9
SUPERNATURAL 1

2013 (100 deals)

THRILLER 25
ACTION 20
COMEDY 18
DRAMA 17
SCIENCE FICTION 13
HORROR 3
WESTERN 2
DISASTER 1
FAMILY 1

2014 (62 deals)

ACTION 17
COMEDY 12
DRAMA 10
SCIENCE FICTION 9
THRILLER 8
HORROR 5
FANTASY 2

2015 (55 deals)

DRAMA 17
ACTION 13
THRILLER 10
COMEDY 7
SCIENCE FICTION 7
FAMILY 1

2016 (75 deals)

DRAMA 24
COMEDY 18
THRILLER 13
ACTION 10
SCIENCE FICTION 8
WESTERN 2

2017 (61 deals)

DRAMA 16
SCIENCE FICTION 12
THRILLER 11
ACTION 10
COMEDY 7
HORROR 5

2018 (40 deals)

SCIENCE FICTION 10
COMEDY 9
DRAMA 9
HORROR 4
THRILLER 4
ACTION 3
FAMILY 1

2019 (32 deals)

COMEDY 10
THRILLER 9
HORROR 5
SCIENCE FICTION 4
ACTION 3
DRAMA 3
FAMILY 2
FANTASY 1
WESTERN 1

2020 (26 deals)

THRILLER 8
COMEDY 6
HORROR 4
SCIENCE FICTION 4
ACTION 2
DRAMA 1
HEIST 1
ROMANCE 1
WESTERN 1

What to make of these numbers?

• A slight uptick in overall deals: 34 in 2021 compared to 26 in 2020.
• Action saw a big jump from 2020: From 2 deals to 12 in 2021.
• Thriller also had a jump: From 8 in 2020 to 12 in 2021.
• There were several high concept spec scripts set up in 2021 including Void, Wine & Crime, Parallel, Lift, Meebo and Me, Sharp, and Stay Frosty.

With the pandemic lingering on, we still don’t know how movie theater attendance will turn out this year and beyond. There could be a permanent decline in numbers. Likewise, we don’t know if there will be continuing growth in streaming service subscriptions.

I’m going to predict another slight uptick in spec script deals in 2021, upward to 40 projects set up.

2021 Spec Script Deal List