One thing that strikes me every time I see one of these lists is how many years later the finished movie is released. I noticed in one of the previous lists that the Truman Show had been sold six years before it was released. And The Matrix wasn't released until '99. It seems that it takes about five years to go from selling the script to screen. Is that about the average? I also notice that out of the 101 spec scripts sold in 1994, only twelve are by female writers. It begs the question: are female writers simply not writing the scripts that sell? I.e are they focusing more on drama-driven, character-oriented scripts that have less of a hook and are not as high-concept and as such are less likely to sell on the spec market? Or do women find it hard to get heard generally in a male-dominated business? Of course, 1994 was eighteen years ago so things may have changed but even today, female writers are still in the minority. The Nicholl Fellowship says only about one third of the submissions it gets each year are from females. Anyway, my faves out of the unproduced scripts above are: "Sevens" just because I like the premise. I love films with a mystery. And "Rand Robertson Robot Repairman". Wonderful title and premise. And it almost got made. Almost.

The logline to Band Of Gold made me laugh out loud! There's a real theme to 1991. First, movies in the Die Hard vein - In Contempt, Trouble On 162, Ground Zero, Air Force One, The Rock, and to some extent Carpool and even Daylight. Then stories of dubious goings-on within the CIA/ government, often with a presidential connection - Executive Action, Cairo, Already Dead, Rendezvous, Long Kiss Goodnight, Eraser, Shadow Program, Damocles Network. Surprising amount of amnesia stories, too! I really liked the sound of Como Bluff. I'd watch that.

Couldn't venture an opinion on Hollywood (yet!), but in the UK, most women in the film industry seem to be producers or TV script editors. Maybe because it's a steady job if you have kids? Or maybe not. Male or female, it's impossible to make a living just from movies here - but even taking that into account, it does seem that female writers here gravitate disproportionately towards TV...

Looks like 1994 was a big year for amnesia.

That's strange. I don't remember that at all.

I, like Lydia, found it interesting that a lot of these films aren't produced until much later. Woman on Top and The Next Best Thing weren't released until 2000. 3000 (released as Mr. 3000 starring Bernie Mac) was released in 2004. It makes me wonder how it is as a writer to have a certain vision for the movie you're writing and then to go through the process of selling a script and seeing it get produced (if it ever does). I doubt the writers thought of Bernie Mac as they were writing the lead role to this film and I wonder also how much the script changed from the time it was purchased until the time it was actually produced. Just from reading over the list, it looks as though it was a big year for comedy. However, I don't know what half these movies are and it seems like a lot of them were purchased, but never produced. Also, while reading a lot of the comedy loglines, I thought they were dramas until reading more and seeing the genre listed. There were also a number of action films purchased and it seems like a lot of them were produced and in a short amount of time. I remember a lot of those films coming out in 1996-97. Ex. Daylight, Eraser, Twister, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Air Force One, The Rock. I guess action is always popular and easy to fast track.

DEAD DROP was bought and turned into Keanu Reeve's CHAIN REACTION (although DEAD DROP has pretty much no similarity to the movie). I believe there were also 2 other specs that got mushed into CHAIN REACTION (that also have very little similarity to the final movie).

Gender Comedy (23) 23% Thriller (14) 14% Drama (13) 13% Romantic Comedy (9) 9% Action (9) 9% Action Adventure (6) 6% Political Thriller (5) 5% Action Thriller (5) 5% Adventure (2) 2% Western Thriller (2) 2% Erotic Thriller (1) 1% Black Comedy (1) 1% Drama Action (1) 1% Futuristic Thriller (1) 1% Fantasy (1) 1% Unknown (1) 1% Family (1) 1% Adventure Thriller (1) 1% Family Comedy (1) 1% Sci-Fi Thriller (1) 1% Ghost story (1) 1% Biography (1) 1% Supernatural Thriller (1) 1% Studio Warner (13) 13% Universal (8) 8% Paramount (7) 7% Disney (6) 6% Columbia (6) 6% New Line (6) 6% Fox (6) 6% Savoy (6) 6% TriStar (5) 5% Interscope (4) 4% MGM (4) 4% UA (4) 4% Unknown (4) 4% Morgan Creek (3) 3% Miramax (3) 3% Castle Rock (3) 3% Caravan (2) 2% Trimark (1) 1% Daybreak (1) 1% Propaganda (1) 1% NewLine (1) 1% Cinema Line (1) 1% Island (1) 1% ICM (1) 1% Cinergi (1) 1% Reuther (1) 1% Turner (1) 1% Touchstone (1) 1%

Thanks again, jolli68. Once again Warner Bros. on top. And once again comedy on top. I don't know this for a fact, but we will see soon enough, but in my recollection, comedy was #1 in terms of spec sales almost every year from 1991 on. Which is why it was so notable that it fell to #3 in 2011 behind Action and Thriller.

I think you said it before, comedy is often more local due to cultural differences, so with the international market growing ever more important I think we'll see that trend (Action/Thriller outgrowing Comdey) continue. Another factor, just a hunch, might be the fact that today's 12-25 year old movie goers grew up in front of the game consoles, shooting each other and blowing shit up.

Re "blowing shit up": That's pretty much the review my then almost 9 year-old son gave when we walked out of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. I memorialized his sentiments here. Seriously I would not minimize the influence of shoot-em-up video games on this generation's interest in entertainment. One of the reasons I keep thinking it's a great time for an action-comedy franchise.

Smart kid. I agrgee, it's time for a Lethal Weaponish franchise, only this time a bit more lethal.

Of course, if you were really trying to follow trends it would be a found footage movie about boy & girl teenage detectives who hate each other but must team up after one of their parents has been kidnapped by emo vampires and the other by sensitive warewolves, both under the control of an evil spirit in the form of Dakota Fanning. Oh... and they have to avoid the zombies, too. My point is that I thought Twilight was *already* action/comedy. Or is it just me?

Ha! That's a special genre, pliny: The Kitchen Sink! My 11 year-old posits that Kristen Stewart has but one facial expression. But it must be a good one to do all the business her movies do!

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