I'd definitely watch Black Irish. But a lot of the others feel a little... mechanical, especially the romcoms.

Fascinating stuff, good work, especially by Mikal McLendon and Evelyn Yves. It would appear that most SPEC scripts do not get made. I would be interested in someone commenting on why.

I found 51 scripts in comedy genre. They range from romantic comedy to black comedy (I even found one futuristic comedy). That's more than half of the listed sales.

and 13 scrips in thriller genre mixed with drama sometimes. It seems studios are more interested in making comedy movies, easier to market to audience maybe?

I would love to know what in IL BAMBINO sealed the deal, because that premise is.... Um, interesting. I WANT KANDEE sounds a lot like Hannah Montana.

I know it would probably require more work and time than Scott or anyone else has or would actually like to dedicate to it, but it would be extra-awesome to have listed under each spec listing whether or not it got made or if it is still unproduced. ... Just a thought/suggestion I'm sure others have already thought of and perhaps brought up, and if so apologies!

Just guesswork on my part really, but in simplest terms it's a hell of a lot cheaper to buy a script than it is to actually make the movie. Studios constantly have a slate to fill, so they need a steady stream of projects that have the potential for further development and possible future production. Not everything's gonna hit, and some ideas might jump the queue or get ressurected depending on what's in vogue at the time, but for sure you can't make movies without screenplays. Buyers are speculating every bit as much as the spec writers, plus a spec might even be picked up just to get the writer on their books for assignment in developing existing ideas and properties.

Reiterating what Scott's said in a couple of posts, the U.S. domestic box office was a lot more crucial to the bottom line in those days. International gross was obviously a factor, but not like now where the bulk of bucks are generated by ticket sales in overseas markets, hence a recent shift towards less culturally specific content. As you note, comedy is, in large part, culturally dependent in marketing terms, whereas thrillers, action flicks and such have more global reach. The heavy reliance on pre-existing properties with large in-built audiences - Harry Potter, Twilight, The Hunger Games, comic book flicks, 50 Shades (coming soon, pardon the pun) - is likewise a reflection of this shift towards backing content that has the potential to hit big in multiple overseas territories. Take 'The Avengers': it's been a juggernaut domestically, but that only represents about 40% of the take. Euros, Sterling, Yen, etc. are now just as important as the U.S. dollar. I imagine the economic growth of BRIC countries also has something to do with this trend.

Some fun stuff here - 'Helldorado', 'Wild Kingdom' and 'Auteurs' all sound pretty good to me. What also sounds pretty good to me is the eye-watering $5M Shyamalan picked up for 'Unbreakable'. Is that a record? Must be up there. I expect we're gonna see some diminishing returns for his screenplays in future installments of this series, though probably not accurately reflecting the diminishing returns of his talent.

STUDIOS Warner Bros. Pictures (9) 11% Destination Films (8) 10% New Line (8) 10% FOX (6) 7% MGM (6) 7% Paramount (4) 5% Artisan Entertainment (3) 4% Columbia Pictures (3) 4% Miramax (2) 2% MTV (2) 2% New Regency (2) 2% Touchstone (2) 2% Sony Pictures Entertainment (2) 2% Others 1 GENRES Comedy (35) 42% Drama (9) 11% Thriller (8) 10% Romantic Comedy (6) 7% Black Comedy (3) 4% Dark Comedy (2) 2% Romance (2) 2% Romantic Drama (2) 2% Suspense Thriller (2) 2% Others 1

I heard that Shyamalamamalamlan got another $5m to direct it! I'm fairly sure it was - at the time at least - the highest ever paid for a script by a good million. I do wonder though whether it was actually a spec script, or if he'd pitched it to Disney and they then paid him to write it. Incidentally, this was the only one of his films that I liked. Good work Mikal McLendon and Evelyn Yves, but as Jason said, it would be nice to know which films got made or not. Back to work :p P.

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