Spec Script Deal: “Shut In:

Spec Script Deal: “Shut In”

New Line Cinema acquires thriller spec script “Shut In” written by Melanie Toast. From Deadline:

The spec is an edgy thriller that will follow a fast track toward production. A single mother is held captive by her violent ex, and her two young children are left at risk. She must do everything to protect them and survive.

Here’s something noteworthy: The script was discovered off the Black List website. What’s particularly awesome about this deal is that according to Deadline, Toast hails from a “small Texas town with her husband and children.” This is how an interested party responded to the news:

Over eight years ago when Franklin approached me about Go Into The Story becoming the official screenwriting blog of the Black List, one of the reasons I partnered with the outfit was because we share the same desire — to create ways to help those writers and filmmakers outside the Hollywood system to find their way inside. While I do my small part as an educator through this blog and as a teacher, the Black List has been exponentially more influential, creating a web service which allows writers like Melanie Toast an avenue into Hollywood… all the way from a small town in Texas.

I just discovered via Twitter that Melanie (@TravelToast) has been a longtime Go Into The Story follower, so I reached out to congratulate her personally and she had some very kind things to say about my blog. Speaking as someone who was a complete Hollywood outsider when I broke into the business by writing and selling a spec script, I’m always thrilled when a writer like Melanie does the same and even more so when they let me know Go Into The Story was part of their creative journey. Congratulations, Melanie!

Melanie is repped by UTA and Farah Films & Management.

By my count, this is the 23rd spec script deal in 2019.

There were 30 spec script deals year-to-date in 2018.