“Flipping the Script: How to Navigate the Ups and Downs of the Spec Script Market”

A recent MovieMaker magazine article on the state of spec scripts in Hollywood.

A few months back, MovieMaker writer Paula Bernstein contacted me for an interview for an article the magazine was planning on the state of the spec script market in Hollywood. It came out this month: “Flipping the Script: How to Navigate the Ups and Downs of the Spec Script Market”.

The article features some numbers in terms of spec script deals as tracked here on my blog:

Statistics published on Scott Myers’ “Go Into the Story” blog illustrate the spec market’s ebbs and flows. The spec script sales market peaked in 1995 with 173 spec script deals. The numbers have fluctuated since then, dipping as low as 55 in 2010 and 2015 and as high as 110 in 2011. In 2017, there were 62 spec script deals, down from 2016’s 75 deals.

Here are my comments from the article:

“We are in a down cycle. Whereas from 2011–2013, there were over 100 spec script deals per year, the last four years has seen the average dip to 63. But history has shown the spec market to be a cyclical one,” says Scott Myers, a screenwriter (K-9, Alaska, Trojan War), assistant professor at the DePaul University School of Cinematic Arts, and host of the popular screenwriting blog “Go Into The Story.” “My guess is the numbers will go up, although this year is off to a slow start, so a rise in deals may not happen any time soon,” says Myers.

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“The major studios have gone all in on pre-branded content such as Disney with Pixar, Marvel, and the Star Wars universe. Whereas in the past, they have been major players in the spec market, the studios have been less so the last few years which has contributed to a decline in overall spec deals,” says Myers.

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“While it’s never been more competitive, I actually think access for getting material read is considerably better than in the past,” says Myers, who points out that hundreds of people have gotten representation for their scripts on The Black List.

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Myers says that spec scripts are still “the most effective way for a writer to display their talent. Even if a script spec script is an asset to be used as an ongoing writer sample and maybe get produced down the road.”

A quick check of the Go Into The Story files relative to spec script deals in 2018 reveals that whereas there were 33 deals year-to-date in 2017, so far through six months, there have been 23 deals. The pace has picked up with 7 spec script deals in June alone, but that was after a tepid start to the year.

The MovieMaker does a good job assessing the state of things: The market is depressed, but not dead. Indeed, I think there’s room for cautious optimism based on the success of such original scripted projects such as Get Out, The Big Sick, A Quiet Place, Game Night, Book Club, Love, Simon, among others. Moreover, since I’ve been tracking the spec market since 1987, one fact is clear: It’s cyclical. The market goes up. It comes down. It goes up again.

Perhaps the most important point in the article is my last comment: A spec script is still the “most effective way for a writer to display their talent”. If it doesn’t sell, it may get optioned. If it doesn’t get optioned, it may lead to getting signed by a rep. If it doesn’t lead to representation, it can get the writer meetings with people in the industry.

So while we may be removed from the Golden Age of Spec Script Deals, it’s still a viable path to starting a career as a screenwriter.

For the rest of the MovieMaker magazine article, go here.