And yet spec sales are way up over last year. Is it possible the studios know their days of mining the past is nearing an end (not likely), or have they burned through enough of their in-development cache that they need new material? I'm not sure how to reconcile the two (vastly contradictory) data points. The number of remakes/sequels are up, but so are spec sales.

How many Harry Potter or Pirates of the Caribbean movies are there? Or James Bond movies or Dirty Harry movies, etc... And the Godfather II might actually be better than the original. Doesn't matter, as long as there's a compelling story to tell with memorable characters, it's worth making the movie, and people will watch.

Polone's got some serious street cred (Panic Room, Zombieland, etc., fresh good fare), so I'm real curious what he's got to say. Notion of studio using own library not (only) because of cheap rights but also to strengthen perceived value of studio, makes sense and new insight for me. Re "2011 looks to have the lowest number of actual tickets sold since 1996", keep in mind that's with population growth (about 311mil, from about 265mil in 1996). Our habits are changing. They will continue to change. Re welcome bump in spec sales, I assume that's because of fearless folk like Polone trying to do right by us by providing genuinely fresh entertainment. Increased channels for quality spec scripts to be found (go Blacklist) likely also contributing to bump. Scared and uncertain folks resort to what is tried and true (more here). We need fearless execs to give us fearless fresh entertainment.

Polone should have extra street cred on a writing site. While he got fired from two agencies, top clients that included writers like Larry David and David Koepp stayed with him. And while he quit managing clients (except for Conan O'Brien, his only remaining client) because of conflicts of interest with producing, those same clients still want him producing for them (Curb Your Enthusiasm, Koepp's upcoming Premium Rush).

The spec script market is always one that ebbs and flows. Particular influences in the current rise in sales are numerous including one you mentioned: they need new material after a premeditated plan from a few years back where they radically scaled back acquisitions with the intent of focusing on what they already had on their slate. Other influences: Quality of material this year, strong desire for thrillers and R-rated comedies, a few more buyers on the independent prod co front. Hollywood is scrambling to figure out so many things: DVD collapse, rise of international markets, are superhero movies in state of oversaturation, where have all young males gone, etc. So we can expect signals to be all over the place.

Brilliant talent, David, Koepp, O'Brien, high praise indeed. Got curious about Polone, found NYT article here, what an interesting and intense man. (And now I don't feel quite so odd having a streamlined wardrobe with lots of multiples (time is short, I got pretty stuff to make). Yay intense creatives. Maybe Hollywood is the place for me :-) )

Well, it might not be the place for him, actually. There's a reason he named his company Pariah. But he's self-aware. My producing partner made an Xtranormal video about being his assistant on Premium Rush. A lot of blogs including Deadline picked it up, and they all said, "made by his presumably former assistant." What they didn't know was that he encouraged it and thought it was funny: http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/7028823/gavin-polone-is-the-bane-of-my-existence