The information on TIGERLAND is incorrect. We sold it to Stephen Haft who then set it up at New Regency/Fox, not TriStar. It went from purchase to screen in under a year. Although I am proud of the movie (and I'm an extra in it too) I think the instant success set me up for lots of conflict with agents and studios. I got that script into the hands of Haft by leaving it at a restaurant where I overheard that his development exec was having dinner. True story. I made all of my success on my own and when folks wanted to control me I resisted - big time.

This was one of the years I compiled, and the pre-American Pie title "Untitled Teenage Sex Comedy Which Can Be Made for Under $10 Million Which Studio Readers Will Most Likely Hate But I Think You Will Love" was such a stand-out that I probably would've read the first few pages out of curiosity.

Thanks for that clarification, Michael. I will amend it. Your story about getting the script into Haft's hands at a restaurant remind me of an anecdote one of my agents told me. He was in a Beverly Hill restaurant for a meeting, went off to the men's room, went into one of the stalls to take a leak. As he was doing his business, he sees a screenplay being pushed under the side of the stall and a guy on the other side asking him to read his screenplay. Thanks again for the update on Tigerland.

Well everyone knows that is the single BEST place to read anything. ; )

Hmm. Little underwhelmed by this list, no disrespect intended to the writers. Not as much imagination and impact in these ideas as we’ve seen in previous lists, and maybe the cool off on sales reflects that to some extent. ‘Untitled Teenage Sex Comedy Which Can Be Made for Under $10 Million Which Studio Readers Will Most Likely Hate But I Think You Will Love’ is a classic attention-seeker of a title that worked like a charm, and a number of writers in recent years appear to have adopted this tactic as a parlor trick to raise their scripts from the slush pile. ‘Your Bridesmaid is a Bitch’, ‘He’s F*cking Perfect’, ‘F*ck Buddies’, ‘My Sister is Marrying a Douchebag’, ‘F*cking Jane Austen’, I’m sure there are more. Seems to work, hence my recently completed spec now on its way to market to make my fortune. I’m keeping the title secret for now to maximise its impact, but I can tell you it rhymes with ‘Duck Hunt’. Some bad ideas and terrible titles in there – pretty sure a ‘Snollygoster’ is that thing I hacked up last Sunday morning after a heavy night – but some good stuff lurking here and there. ‘Munchies’ sounds like it could have raised a chuckle, ‘Call Waiting’ and ‘Zinger’ are cute. I see ‘Spyville’ there as a progenitor of ‘Get Smart’, but no writer credit on the finished article for the man above. I’m guessing they spent a long time and went through a lot of money and writers on a dubious cause there. The Last Word might have something about it, but it’s not easy making an assessment from loglines alone. A good idea doesn’t necessarily make for a good story, and a good screenplay doesn’t necessarily result in a good movie. Tricky business, this screenwriting thing. Interesting to see Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, the scribes behind ‘Scary Movie/Date Movie/Epic Movie/Shit Movie’ penning and selling a Liberace screenplay in the same year that their spoof career launched. I guess they must be able to write after all. But they’re still the twin spawn of the fucking Antichrist. Good to see ‘American Beauty’ take a bow. Alan Ball’s explanation of how it came to be can only be good grist to the mill as far as the importance of writing something you love goes: ‘I pitched him two fairly standard romantic comedies that were pretty, you know -- if I couldn't pitch them in one sentence, I could pitch them in two. And then I pitched him ‘American Beauty’, which I had tried to write as a play years ago and I had sort of been toying around with these characters and their stories for years. And as you can imagine, the pitch was rambling, but I think I was really excited, you know. "You think it's about this, but it's about something else, and you're feeling it -- oh, and underneath it is all about this whole sort of what's the nature of reality and there's this kind of metaphysical thing." I was totally expecting him to just sort of go catatonic and fall out of his chair. And to my surprise he says, "That's the one I think you should write." And I said, "Why?" And he said, "Because it's obviously the one you feel the most passionate about." It's the best piece of advice I ever got.’

Michael, would you care to go into some background about Tigerland? How that project started? Your writing process? The deal? The movie? That is really unusual for a spec to go into production that quickly. Plus, of course, you sold a spec and those are always interesting stories. I'd be happy to feature your observations in a GITS post, that is if you feel up to do that. If not, no sweat, completely understand. Thanks for considering it.

Vic, I remember reading that exact anecdote from Alan Ball re "American Beauty" and had the same takeaway as you. That's why when we did that whole run-up for "The Quest" logline submissions, I posted as one consideration for choosing a story concept to write, the writer should be passionate about it. That passion can propel a writer through the hard times and get translated into their words on the page, imbuing the story with a kind of vitality that would not otherwise be there.

I'd be happy to share my experiences. I literally broke into the business in a very rogue way and had a wild and exciting ride. I would be happy to share all of that. But I must warn you - it gets political. I am on the new blacklist. Not the one this blog is attached to - the real McCarthy era payback blacklist. It does exist. Andrew Breitbart was a friend of mine and so is Gary Sinise. There is a war for the soul of the business going on right now and you and I are on opposite teams I think. I respect your good will so much that I would never want to ruin the good vibes I get from your blog posts. If talk of blacklisting republicans bothers you we should avoid it. If not let's get it out into the light. Here's something really worth reading >>> http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jul/14/spielberg-tear-down-this-wall/

Michael, is there a way to share your experiences with selling your Tigerland script without getting political? I can almost guarantee you that the comment thread would turn nasty otherwise. Scott does a great job keeping this blog positive, focused on the craft and free of flame wars.

STUDIOS FOX (14) 13% Warner Bros (12) 11% New Line Cinema (9) 8% Universal (8) 7% MGM (5) 5% Paramount (5) 5% Dimension Films (3) 3% Mandalay (3) 3% Walt Disney Pics (3) 3% Polygram Film Ent. (3) 3% Sonnenfeld/Josephson (2) 2% Dreamworks SKG (2) 2% Robert Simonds Company (2) 2% Columbia (2) 2% TriStar (2) 2% Others 1 and less than 1% GENRES Drama (28) 25% Comedy (27) 25% Romantic Comedy (11) 10% Thriller (11) 10% Action (5) 5% Sci-fi (4) 4% Romance Fantasy (3) 3% Romantic Drama (3) 3% Biography (2) 2% Horror (2) 2% Sci-fi Thriller (2) 2% Others 1 and less than 1%

It would be a story without conflict, Teddy. Craft? Two guys meet in a coffee shop and hash out the story, beat by beat - then write the script. Both book and movie fans about the Vietnam War for personal reasons. I had a friend that was working on Saving Private Ryan so I said to my partner "Let's write a war script. I think they're making a comeback." Script is based on a real place that my writing partner went to called Tigerland. It is now called the Joint Readiness Training Center and is still used as a mock war zone to this day. At the time I was a bartender at a very hot restaurant for show business folks on 57th and 7th Ave in NYC. I made all my connections with free drinks. On a daily basis I would serve anyone from Scott Rudin, David Geffen, Stephen Sodorberg to Danny DeVito (whom I later worked for) But the real interesting part is how folks just assumed I was a liberal because of the films "unwar" message. And that's where it all gets really interesting and weird. I don't want to distract from the positivity and craft-centered nature of the blog. If anyone wants to get to know me or my friends just add me on Facebook. To any young writer that is still in the conservative closet - do not worry - change is coming to Hollywood.

Thanks once again, jolli68. This is a first: Drama #1. Er, wait a sec. If we add Comedy and Romantic Comedy, a sub-genre of the former, then Comedy still reigns supreme. So the streak is still alive with Comedy at #1 every year from 1991-1998.

Thanks for that heads-up, Michael. I try like hell to keep politics out of this site, my own included. But thanks for the link, I will definitely check it out.

I'm insanely curious to find Friedberg/Seltzer's LIBERACE. Would like to evaluate these guys as writers outside of the spoof movie genre they're known for.