9. Title: Sessions Logline: Female detective investigating sex related murder in NYC becomes involved with a sexy therapist, who is the prime suspect in the case. Writer: Jeremy Lew Agent: Toby Jaffe Agency: UTA Studio: Walt Disney Pics. Price: Over $1M Genre: Erotic Thriller Date Sold: 3/1991 I don't think I would watch the film (I don't tolerate thrillers well), but this is the strongest logline to me. Distinctive protagonist, distinctive situation with a clear need, intriguing obstacle in the form of an opposing need which might actually be coming from the quarter of the ultimate bad guy. Over $1m... from Disney? I was in the first grade when this was sold and am not well-versed in the studio history here, so help me out. Disney? An erotic thriller? Really?

My favourite is Face/Off. It's interesting to see how different the finished film is to the original logline. Even though I love the film, I actually prefer the plot idea of a dedicated cop who has to switch faces with the head of the black market for organ transplants. I'd love to have seen how the story transformed from that original premise to the one they did so well in the film.

Soul Survivors Written by Ed Jones. Sold to WB for mid-six, then Paramount for low-six. Ed Jones, aka Hacksaw, was an FBI Most Wanted ex-con turned screenwriter, mentored by Elmore Leonard in correspondence while in prison: http://articles.latimes.com/print/1996-02-22/entertainment/ca-38536_1_ed-jones And how can you forget "The Rest of Daniel"? J.J. Abrams Sold by Lonner/ICM to Icon/WB for $2m

First up, a huge thanks to Scott, Mikal and Evelyn for all the hard work you’ve put into creating this worthy endeavor. Now, although I don’t think any of these loglines are particularly well constructed, or as gripping as the examples Scott has put forward recently (Safe House, Dear Satan, etc), I have to say that the Face/Off logline is still my favorite. I can clearly see the protagonist, the antagonist, the goal, and the hook is as interesting today as it ever was. Also, I know it went some way toward creating a kick ass film, the foundations of which can clearly be seen in this logline – a logline that no doubt proved to be a fantastic anchor point for the writers Mike Werb and Michael Colleary. As you keep trying hammer home to us, Scott, the concept is the most vital ingredient of a story’s DNA. It is the seed from which the mightiest of oaks can grow. If we choose a week seed, we run the risk of growing a weed, or worse, nothing at all.

Correction: The Rest of Daniel (aka Forever Young) sold in 1990.

Not definitive breakdowns, but it's a start: Studios Columbia: 5 Disney: 4 Universal: 4 Paramount: 3 Warner Bros: 2 MGM: 1 Touchstone: 1 So I guess the only real surprise there is that Disney used to buy new ideas rather than relying on pre-existing properties, which is pretty much all they do now as far as I can tell. Genre Action Adventure: 3 Drama: 5 Thriller: 8 Comedy: 8 The genres are inevitably a little muddled, but the above is roughly how it breaks down. I guess this tells us that back in the day there was more of a market for drama (certainly) and comedy (I'm no expert on the current spec market, but this seems proportionally high compared with today's market). Something noticeable here are the amount of crappy, derivative Basic Instinct knockoffs that attracted interest. Before Basic Instinct was sold. Joe-Judas-to-Mel's-Christ Eszterhas sold one of these himself in '91, so there's some sort of chicken-egg argument to be made here. I always assumed Body of Evidence and the like were written and purchased in the wake of Basic Instinct to cash in on its unlikely blockbuster success. Turns out someone already wrote/bought Body of Evidence, so they must have just been biding time before helping Madonna take another massive shit on the face of cinema. I guess Fatal Attraction was really the key, or there was just some strange erotic thriller enfatuation in the late 80s/early 90s.

This is what I'm talking about! The GITS community coming through. I can't believe I forgot The Rest of Daniel because I totally remember that sale. Well, remember it after you reminded me! I will amend the list with these two sales, and thank you very much, sabrrescribe.

Thanks for those numbers, Vic. You're right about "Fatal Attraction" as it spawned a huge number of what I call "The [Blank] From Hell" movies. For more, go here. Comedy has been the consistent #1 genre until the last couple of years where Action and Action Thriller has been dominant. A lot of that has to do with the internationalization of the movie business, more visual movies like Action and Thriller translate better overseas as compared to comedies which can be more culture specific. It will be interesting to track genre trends in sales through this series. Again thanks for toting up those figures!

Variety issue for that article was July 1, 1991, but it doesn't appear to be available online - you'd need access to Variety archives.

By genre, agency, studio: http://s15.postimage.org/45izopivf/1991_Spec_Market_Pt_1.png By month, price range: http://s15.postimage.org/fi4rxz6bv/1991_Spec_Market_Pt_2.png Scott, if you want to do something more comprehensive for the rest of the lists, email me.

[...] The Definitive Spec Script Sales List (1991-2012): 1991 – alien elokuvabisnes jason+mittell kuva tv [...]

m3, these are great. To sync with my analyses of 2008-2011 spec script sales, here is how I did the genres: 2011 SPEC SCRIPT SALES BY GENRE ACTION 29 Action Thriller 12 Action Comedy 5 Action Adventure 3 Action Drama 2 Action Disaster 1 Action Supernatural 1 THRILLER 20 Thriller Spy 1 COMEDY 19 Comedy Adventure 1 Comedy Teen DRAMA 14 Drama Comedy 3 Drama Crime 3 Drama Biopic 2 Drama Thriller 2 Drama Detective 1 Drama Horror 1 SCIENCE FICTION 13 Science Fiction Thriller 3 Science Fiction Drama 2 Science Fiction Action 1 Science Fiction Adventure HORROR 8 Horror Thriller 2 Horror Family 1 Horror Science Fiction 1 FAMILY 2 Comedy 1 Fantasy 1 FAIRY TALE 1 HEIST 1 SUPERNATURAL 1 WESTERN 1 N/A 1 So group all sub-genres and cross genres under the main genre heading. I need to be able to include that information in blog post. But what you did is great and I would appreciate any help. In fact, at the end of it, to do some complete summary and percentage breakdown of genres and studio sales for, say, 1991-2011, in the format you have would be astonishing. And if we could do it as an infographic, with credit to you, of course, that would be even better. Thanks!

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