Interesting, right up until July, spec sales were running at a 25% clip over last year. But it looks like over the summer, sales just dried up. At this rate, I'm not sure if we'll beat last years number. Anyone have any idea why things slowed down?

The spec market is always a conundrum with lots of moving parts: studio needs, quality of scripts that get circulated, knee jerk response to movies that hit or bomb. I think we might be in for a bit of a contraction over the next year or so because much of what has driven the spec market has been a need for major studios to replenish meager development slates. Specs represent original content and the studios seem to feel like they may have overplayed their hand in terms of sequels, prequels, pre-awareness titles, so their re-entry into the spec market has been significant. That said, there continues to be an increase in prod cos funded by private equity who are stepping up and buying specs. I expect that to continue. But it's always a crap shoot trying to figure out the tea leaves of the spec market. For instance I guessed 87 spec sales this year. It looked like that would be way off. Now maybe not. Bottom line: For spec script writers, now more than ever it pays to marry inspiration with information. Market trends are important, yet another reason to follow this blog.