A quick statistic (from Script Magazine and Deadline Hollywood): In 2010, 360 “spec” (speculation) scripts made the rounds in Hollywood. Just 62 sold. If around 600 major Studio and Indy movies are made every year, it means the spec market hovers at around 8-10% of all non-low-budget films. So, what are they buying? What generates a buzz for a sale? The Black List isn’t a bad place to look for trends.
For instance, I first came across last year’s Oscar winner Argo on the 2010 Black List:
28
ARGO by Chris Terrio
“The true story of how the CIA, with help from Hollywood, used a fake movie project to smuggle hostages out of Tehran during the 1979 hostage crisis.”
AGENT Creative Artists Agency – Rowena Arguelles
MANAGER Anonymous Content – Michael Sugar, Bard Dorros
Warner Brothers. Smoke House producing.
I noted that it was one of many scripts on that list from two years ago that were based on “true” events. In fact, multiple ideas in the top 10 most mentioned scripts that were fictional retelling of history:
49
COLLEGE REPUBLICANS by Wes Jones
“Based on true events. Aspiring politician Karl Rove runs a dirty campaign for national College Republican Chairman under the guidance of Lee Atwater, his campaign manager.”
AGENT Creative Artists Agency – Gregory McKnight, Jay Baker
MANAGER Circle of Confusion – Ken Freimann, Greg Shephard
Anonymous Content producing.
47
JACKIE by Noah Oppenheim
“Jackie Kennedy fights to define her husband’s legacy in the seven days immediately following his assassination.”
AGENT Creative Artists Agency – Rowena Arguelles, Billy Hawkins
MANAGER Management 360 – Guymon Casady, Darin Friedman
Fox Searchlight. Protozoa Pictures producing.
30
AMERICAN BULLSHIT by Eric Warren Singer
“The true story of Abscam, the FBI’s 1980 undercover sting operation of Congress to root out corruption which was the brainchild of the world’s greatest con man.”
AGENT Creative Artists Agency – Robert Bookman, Billy Hawkins, Stuart Manashil
Sony. Atlas Entertainment producing.
Hmmm…a trend? Y’think?! If I’m writing spec scripts for Hollywood and not going the micro-budget route, I’m looking for correspondences in terms of what THEY buy—the powers that be. It would appear dramas and/or thrillers set in the political realm are pretty fertile ground. Not bad too, are those dramas that deal in the world of money:
31
MARGIN CALL by JC Chandor
“Based on true events, the final twenty-four hours of Lehman Brothers.” AGENT William Morris Endeavor – Rob Carlson, Simon Faber
Before the Door Pictures, Washington Square Arts & Films, Benaroya Pictures, and Taggart Productions producing.
GOLD by Patrick Massett & John Zinman
“The true story of the biggest securities exchange fraud in United States history.”
AGENT Creative Artists Agency – Matt Rosen
MANAGER Industry Entertainment – Michael Botti, Andrew Deane Paul Haggis producing.
Gee whiz…if only I was the only one who noticed this! Not all these scripts have turned into flicks and I don’t know the development status of the others. It’s just interesting that this sub-genre seems to dominate the spec landscape–historical drama/ true story thrillers.
Sure, there are movies that have nothing to do with history, that grab a historical figure or subject and mash him/it into a bloody pulp like Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Killer, or Gangster Squad, both of which are on this list. But more often it’s the true event movies that seem to make this golden agents/Prodco list:
THE BUTLER by Danny Strong
“The story of African-American White House butler Eugene Allen, who served eight United States presidents from 1952 to 1986.”
AGENT Creative Artists Agency – Risa Gertner, Maha Dakhil
MANAGER Gotham Group – Lindsay Williams
Sony. Laura Ziskin Productions producing.
THE FLIGHT OF THE NEZ PERCE by E. Nicholas Mariani
“The true story of Chief Joseph and his resistance to his tribe’s relocation to a military settlement in Idaho during the 1800s.”
AGENT United Talent Agency – Charlie Ferraro, Jenny Maryasis
MANAGER Circle of Confusion – David Alpert, Britton Rizzio
NESS/CAPONE by Grant Myers
“The true story of young Elliot Ness taking down Al Capone.”
AGENT Paradigm – Mark Ross
MANAGER Gotham Group – Jeremy Bell
And all these are just from Argo’s 2010 Black List. A quick look at 2011’s LIST gives us more evidence:
THE CURRENT WAR by Michael Mitnick
Based on the true story of the race between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse to develop a practical system of electricity and sell their respective inventions to the country and the world.
AGENCY: WME
AGENT: Simon Faber
MANAGEMENT: Fourth Floor Productions
MANAGER: Jeff Silver
GRACE OF MONACO by Arash Amel
Grace Kelly, age 33 and having given up her acting career to focus on being a full time princess, uses her political maneuvering behind the scenes to save Monaco while French Leader Charles de Gaulle and Monaco’s Prince Rainier III are at odds over the princi¬pality’s standing as a tax haven.
AGENCY: CAA
AGENT: Rich Green, Matt Rosen
FINANCIER: Pierre-Ange Le Pogam
PRODUCER: Pierre-Ange Le Pogam
POWELL by Ed Whitworth
Based on the true story of Colin Powell questioning the Bush administration leading up to his United Nations presentation where he made the case for going to war with Iraq.
AGENCY: WME
AGENT: David Karp, Cliff Roberts, Dan Cohan
MANAGEMENT: Circle of Confusion
MANAGER: Ashley Berns
PRODUCER: Spirit Dance Entertainment
CRAZY FOR THE STORM by Will Fetters
The true story of Norman Ollestad’s relationship with his father, who thrust the boy into the world of extreme surfing and competitive downhill skiing at the age of three. But it was that experience that allowed an 11-year old Norman to survive a plane crash amidst a blizzard in the San Gabriel mountains.
AGENCY: WME
AGENT: Elia Infascelli-Smith
MANAGEMENT: 3 Arts Entertainment
MANAGER: Oliver Obst
FINANCIER: Warner Brothers
PRODUCER: Billy Gerber
HOME BY CHRISTMAS – BOB HOPE IN KOREA by Ben Schwartz
Young Larry Gelbart goes on tour with his idol Bob Hope in the middle of the Korean War and learns the true price of patriotism.
AGENCY: The Nethercott Agency
AGENT: Gayla Nethercott
PRODUCER: Jon Shestack Productions, Pink Slip Productions
I mean there’s no end to them! Here, from 2012, again no idea of development status, but they seem to dominate this megabuzzed-most-likely-be-to-be-made list:
A COUNTRY OF STRANGERS
Sean Armstrong
Based on true events. Inspector Geoff Harper conducts a forty year search for the Beaumont Children, three siblings taken from an Australian beach in January of 1966.
Agency: Verve
Agents: Aaron Hart, Adam Levine, Rob Herting, Bill Weinstein
Management: Principato-Young Management
Managers: Peter Dealbert, Susan Solomon
RODHAM
Young Il Kim
During the height of the Watergate scandal, rising star Hillary Rodham is the youngest lawyer chosen for the House Judiciary Committee to Impeach Nixon, but she soon finds herself forced to choose between a destined path to the White House and her unresolved feelings for Bill Clinton, her former boyfriend who now teaches law in Arkansas.
Agency: UTA
Agents: Barbara Dreyfus, Jenny Maryasis
Management: The Arlook Group
Managers: Richard Arlook, Jason Hong
Production: The Arlook Group, Temple Hill Entertainment
IF THEY MOVE… KILL ‘EM!
Kel Symons
After losing his luster and respect in Hollywood, famed director Sam Peckinpah hopes to direct his next great film with financial backing from Colombian drug lords and brings along a novice screenwriter to write the film in Colombia.
Agency: UTA
Agents: Emerson Davis, Charles Ferraro, Geoff Morley
Management: MXN
Managers: Michelle Knudsen, Mason Novick
SAND CASTLE
Chris Roessner
Based on a true story, a group of United States soldiers in Iraq risk their lives to save a
local village.
Agency: CAA
Agents: Jay Baker, Jon Cassir, Matt Rosen
Management: Management 360
Managers: Darin Friedman, Ali Itri, Dean Schnider
Production: The Mark Gordon Company
As far as what all this has to do with you, Good Reader…while I’ve personally given up on Hollywood for the time being, if I hadn’t, and I was sold on trying to break through Old School, I’d be looking for a compelling true story-character that I could dramatically retell in fictional terms, avoiding the need to pay big buck “life rights” while tapping into the public consciousness, and taking into account Hollywood agents’ withering commercialism/monster hook concerns to write something that separates you far from the maddening spec script writing crowd.
5 words: Based On A True Story
