07 Everything You Need To Know About Spec Scripts Scott Myers

© Scott Myers
About the Author

I’m Scott Myers and I have been a screenwriter for three decades. I broke into the
business when I sold a spec script to Universal Pictures which became the hit movie
K-9 and spawned two sequels. I've written over 30 movie and TV projects for every
major studio and broadcast network, including Alaska (Sony/ Castle Rock), and Trojan
War (Warner Bros.). I have been a member of the Writers’ Guild of America, West since
1987.
I graduated from the University of Virginia with a Bachelor of Arts degree (with Honors)
in Religious Studies and Yale University, where I received a Masters of Divinity degree
cum laude. I’ve variously enjoyed stints as a musician and stand-up comedian.
From 2002-2010, I was an executive producer at Trailblazer Studios, overseeing the

company’s original TV content development for Scripps and Discovery networks.
In my spare time, I took up teaching in 2002 in the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program,
receiving its Outstanding Instructor Award in 2005. For eight years, I was a visiting
lecturer in the Writing for Screen and Stage program at the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill. In 2010, I co-founded Screenwriting Master Class with my longtime
friend and professional colleague Tom Benedek whose movie credits include Cocoon.
In 2008, I launched Go Into The Story which for the last five years has been the Official
Screenwriting Blog of the Black List. Some numbers: The site has had over 10 million
unique visits, 20 million page views, and I have posted 20,000+ items for over 3,000
consecutive days. The Go Into The Story Twitter feed has over 43,000 followers.
In November 2015, I went public with the Zero Draft Thirty Challenge – write an entire
script draft in 30 days – and over 1,000 writers joined in. Out of that, the Zero Draft
Thirty Facebook group emerged and as of January 2017 has over 1,400 members.
In 2016, I was excited to be offered and accept the position of Assistant Professor at the
DePaul University School of Cinematic Arts in Chicago where I teach screenwriting to
both undergraduate and graduate students.
The adventure continues...
© Scott Myers
About the Go Into The Story PDF Series
The Go Into The Story PDF Series
Two motivators I had in launching Go Into The Story in May 2008 were:
1. to create an extensive online resource for writers and
2. to provide that information for free.
The world needs more diverse voices in the filmmaking community and making
educational content available to anyone and everyone is my humble way to facilitate
that vision.
There are currently over 20,000 posts on my blog and while an impressive number, it
can be overwhelming for readers. So, based on suggestions from several people, I
decided to launch a new initiative:
Make a new Go Into The Story PDF available each month to the public.
I reached out to the GITS community for volunteers to help with this effort and I’d like to
express my deep gratitude to Trish Curtin and George “Clay” Mitchell. They stepped
up to handle the process of taking blog posts and creating the ebooks in this series. A
special blast of creative juju to you both!
You can download the previous editions by clicking on their titles below.
Volume 1: 30 Things about Screenwriting

Volume 2: So-Called Screenwriting Rules
Volume 3: Writing a Screenplay
Volume 4: Rewriting a Screenplay
Volume 5: A Screenwriter’s Guide to Aristotle’s Poetics
Volume 6: A Screenwriter’s Guide to Reading a Screenplay
This one is Volume 7: Everything You Wanted To Know About Spec Scripts, and
contains a series of GITS blog posts I published in 2013 as part of a larger series on The
Business Of Screenwriting. There’ll be more to come from there…. Enjoy!
© Scott Myers
Contents: Everything You Wanted To Know About Specs
Cover
About the Author
About the Go Into The Story PDF Series
Introduction: Everything You Wanted To Know About Specs
Part 1: The Genesis of the Spec Script [1900–1942]
Part 2: The Emergence of the Spec Script Market [1942–1990]
Part 3: Boom, Bust, and Back Again [1990–2012]
Part 4: The Buyers - Studios and Financiers
Part 5: Developing the Spec Script
Part 6: Rolling out a new writer’s spec script
Part 7: Attaching producers
Part 8: Attaching talent
Part 9: “Own All The Tickets”
Part 10: Creating Buzz
Part 11: Slipping a script to someone
Part 12: Serendipity
Part 13: Targeting Specific Buyers
Part 14: Going Wide
Part 15: Bidding War
Part 16: Preemptive Purchase
Part 17: Write What They’re Buying
Part 18: Sell Them Your Dream
Part 19: The value of a spec script… even if it doesn’t sell
Part 20: The value of a spec script… if it does sell
© Scott Myers
Intro: Everything You Wanted To Know About Specs
Spec scripts, that is. I’m guessing that perhaps 90% of the people who follow the
GITS blog at some point in their lives will write a spec script. And the other 10% are
involved in buying and selling them.
In light of that fact, I interviewed a top manager and some Hollywood screenwriters
about the ins and outs of what is involved in bringing a spec script to market.
I’d been waiting for the right opportunity to do something with that inside
information, so when Vanity Fair came out with this article in February of 2013—
When the Spec Script was King — a decent piece, but pretty surface level, I figured it
was as good a time as any to dig into the subject in a more comprehensive fashion.
This eBook contains that series of GITS blog posts from 2013.
To wit: What exactly is a spec script? How did they come into being in the first
place? What are some of the things that can happen with a spec script? How are
managers, agents, producers, talent and buyers involved in the process of acquiring a
spec script? What is the state of the current spec script market? What are trends in
what studios and production companies are buying in the way of spec scripts? In this
special TBOS series, “Everything you wanted to know about specs,” I’m going to do
my best to cover these questions and any others you might have.
A caveat: I don’t claim to be anything other than who I am. A screenwriter who broke
into the business in 1987 by selling a spec script. I’ve pretty much tracked the spec
script market since then, informally at first, but on a systematic basis since the early
90s. That’s why with the support of the Black List and in association with Done Deal
Pro, we put together The Definitive Spec Script Sales List, listing every spec script
deal I could find and verify from 1991–2012. That said, I’m sure there are things I
don’t know, so I hope this is a participatory process and welcome both questions
from aspiring writers and insight from established industry insiders.
As long as we’re here, I thought we should start with some historical context, drawing
upon a university level course I teach called History of American Screenwriting.
First a definition of spec script. “Spec” is short for speculative, meaning a writer
pens a script without initial compensation with the intent of selling the completed
screenplay on the open market. As we shall see in this series, there are all sorts of
variations on this theme, but let’s start with this basic take on what a spec script is.
© Scott Myers / Everything You Wanted To Know About Specs 5

Part 1: The Genesis of the Spec Script [1900–1942]
From the earliest days of nickelodeons and as one-reelers evolved into longer films, the
insatiable desire by consumers for new movies put original and adapted stories at a
premium. Thus in a sense, the reality of ‘spec scripts’ has been in place since the very
beginning of the film industry. Writers from inside or even outside the movie industry would
present story ideas, primarily in treatment or synopsis form, with the hope that a
production company or studio would buy it.
Thus the speculative part was there from the beginning. The script part took some time to
evolve. With filmmakers churning out movie shorts over the course of a few days, what
passed for a ‘script’ in first decade of the 20th century was often nothing more than a shot
list folded into the back pocket of a director.
It’s not until the next decade when Thomas Ince created the first extensive studio facility
known as Inceville [in Santa Monica] that scripts began to become formalized per Ince’s
specifications. Here is an excerpt from a script for the Ince 1914 western Hells Hinges:
SCENE L: CLOSE-UP ON THE BAR IN WESTERN SALOON
A group of Western types of the early period are drinking

and talking idly — much good fellowship prevails and every
man feels at ease with his neighbor — one of them glances
off the picture and the smile fades from his face to be
replaced by the strained look of worry — the others notice
the change and follow his gaze — their faces reflect his
own emotions — be sure to get over a good contrast between
the easy good nature that had prevailed and the unnatural,
strained silence that follows — as they look, cut.
Even here we can see the rudimentary elements of what we know today as screenplay form.
In the late teens and early 20s, writers churned out thousands of scenarios and photoplays.
Interestingly it’s estimated that women comprised over 50% of the writers working in
Hollywood primarily because at the time they were on the whole better educated than
men and they could better write stories for the female target audience - melodramas,
romance and adventure movies.
Indeed female writers like Anita Loos and Frances Marion were under contract to studios
for $50,000 or more per year.
But the first official spec script didn’t arrive on the scene until 1933. Screenwriter Preston
Sturges first made his way to Hollywood in 1932. After cutting his teeth with a writing stint
at Universal, the following year Sturges wrote an original screenplay on his own dime called
The Power and the Glory. Sturges’ son Sandy reports this fact on a website he manages
about his father, noting:

Per Wikipedia:
He [Sturges] also sold his original screenplay for The Power and
the Glory (1933) to Fox, where it was filmed as a vehicle for
Spencer Tracy. The film told the story of a self-involved financier
via a series of flashbacks and flashforwards, and was an
acknowledged source of inspiration for the screenwriters of
Citizen Kane. Fox producer Jesse Lasky paid Sturges $17,500 plus
a percentage of the profits, a then-unprecedented deal for a
screenwriter, which instantly elevated Sturges’ reputation in
Hollywood — although the lucrative deal irritated as many as it
impressed. Sturges later recalled:
“The film made a lot of enemies. Writers at that time worked in
teams, like piano movers. And my first solo script was considered
a distinct menace to the profession.”
And right here we see something associated with spec scripts — at least potentially: A great
spec script gives the writer power. Why? Because if one or more buyers wants it, that puts
the writer in a position where they can negotiate a deal on their own terms.

Yet it appears virtually every other writer in Hollywood at the time did not follow in Sturges’
footsteps, preferring the security of working within the studio system, deals ranging from
weekly and monthly contracts, or if the writer was particularly good, multiyear
arrangements.
Sturges continued to write original screenplays including Oscar winner “The Great McGinty”
which in 1939 he sold to Paramount for $1 in order to be able to direct it, his attempt at
controlling what happened to his scripts. Sturges went on to write and direct many notable
movies based on his original screenplays including Sullivan’s Travels, The Palm Beach Story,
and The Miracle at Morgan’s Creek.
It’s not until 1942 that the next notable spec script deal occurred: “Woman of the Year”
written by Ring Lardner Jr. and Michael Kanin. From the New York Times:
”Katharine Hepburn was our agent. We had her in mind when

we wrote the story. She loved it. She took our names off the script
and sold it to M-G-M. We were making $300 a week. The studio
would never have paid a lot for a script by us, and she knew that
M-G-M would not make the kind of picture she wanted unless
they paid an enormous amount of money.”
The script sold for $100,000. One would think that staggering amount of money would
have opened the floodgates for spec scripts. However that did not happen until four decades
later.
Next we’ll look at how the breakdown of the ‘studio system’ and emergence of screenwriters
as independent contractors led to the evolution of the spec script market in the 80s, leading
to the pivotal year of 1990.

Part 2: The Spec Script Market Emerges [1942–1990]
The sale in 1942 of the spec script Woman of the Year was unusual in that most Hollywood
screenwriters worked under contract for the studios. Receiving a regular paycheck, writers
had almost no motivation or inclination to spend their time pounding out a screenplay
speculating they could sell it on the open market.
However the 50s and 60s marked significant changes in the film business. After the
Supreme Court ruled against the monopolistic practice of vertical integration, by 1948
Hollywood studios were forced to sell their ownership of movie theaters. At that same time,
television began to grow in popularity with the emergence of four TV networks and sales of
TV sets running into the millions. Combined with a drop in movie box office after the post-
World War II boom, studios simply did not have the revenue to support the old ‘studio
system’ and shed most of their writer contracts. Cut loose from the security of a studio deal,
screenwriters discovered the risks and benefits of becoming independent contractors.
One of the first to cash in was William Goldman who in 1967 sold the original screenplay
“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” to 20th Century Fox for a reported $400,000. For
all intents and purposes, this sale marks the beginning of the modern spec script era.
Deals of this sort were still few and far between. The next major sale occurred in 1972 when
Warner Bros. purchased “The Yakuza,” written by Leonard Schrader and Paul Schrader for
between $325–350,000. As far as I know, this was the first ‘bidding war,’ where multiple
studios made offers for the script which boosted its eventual sales price.
It wasn’t until the 80s the spec script market really took hold. Here is a list of some notable
spec sales during that decade:
1984: Lethal Weapon, written by Shane Black. It sold for $250,000 to Warner Bros.
1985: The Highlander, written by Gregory Widen. It sold for $500,000 to Universal.
1987: K-9, written by Steven Siegel & Scott Myers. It sold for $750,000 to Universal.
1989: Gale Force, written by David Chappe. It sold for $500,000 to Carolco.
1989: Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, written by Blake Snyder. It sold for $500,000 to Universal.
But the year that cemented the importance of the spec script in the field of acquisition and
development, and indeed in pop culture was 1990. Here are some of the big ticket sales from
that year:

Title: Basic Instinct
Writer: Joe Eszterhas
Genre: Crime Thriller
Logline: A police detective is in charge of the investigation of
a brutal murder, in which a beautiful and seductive woman
could be involved.
Agency: CAA Buyer: Carolco
Date: June 1990 Purchase price: $3,000,000
This New York Times article announced the sale.
Title: The Cheese Stands Alone

Writer: Kathy McWorter
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Logline: An off-beat romantic comedy about a superstitious
Hungarian hunk who blames his loss of sex drive on a hex put
Unproduced on him by a jilted girlfriend.
Agency: Preferred Artists Buyer: Paramount
Date: October 1990 Purchase price: $1,000,000
LA Times Article here and Scriptshadow’s blog post here.
Title: City of Darkness

Writer: Patrick Cirillo and Joe Gayton
Genre: Action Comedy
Logline: Two young boys bring a comic-book villain and a
Unproduced comic-book hero into the real world.
Agency: N/A Buyer: Columbia
Date: 1990 Purchase price: $ 750,000
Title: Cold As Ice

Writer: Mark Allen Smith
Genre: Thriller
Unproduced Logline: A down-at-the-heels private detective and a young
widow team up to solve a diamond robbery.
Date: N/A Purchase price: $350,000
Another New York Times piece discussed this and other sales.

Title: Flatliners
Writer: Peter Filardi
Genre: Drama Sci-Fi
Logline: Medical students bring themselves near death;
their experiment begins to go awry.
Date: June 1990 Purchase price: $400,000
LA Times article here.
Title: Hell Bent… And Back!

Writer: Doug Richardson and Rick Jaffa
Genre: WWII Action Comedy
Unproduced
Logline: None Available.
Agency: N/A Buyer: Disney
Date: N/A Purchase price: $1,000,000
Read about it here and on Doug Richardson’s blog here.
Title: City of Darkness

Writer: Patrick Cirillo and Joe Gayton
Genre: Action Comedy
Logline: Two young boys bring a comic-book villain and a
Unproduced comic-book hero into the real world.
Date: 1990 Purchase price: $ 750,000
The writers’ deal included five percent of the gross revenues from
merchandise based on the comic book characters they created.
Title: Cold As Ice

Writer: Mark Allen Smith
Genre: Thriller
Unproduced Logline: A down-at-the-heels private detective and a young
widow team up to solve a diamond robbery.
Date: N/A Purchase price: $350,000

Title: The Last Boy Scout
Writer: Shane Black
Genre: Action
Logline: A down and out cynical detective teams up with a
down and out ex-quarterback to try and solve a murder case
involving a pro football team and a politician.
Agency: N/A Buyer: Geffen Film Company
Date: April 1990 Purchase price: $1,750,000
Title: Prince of Thieves

Writer: Pen Densham & John Watson
Genre: Action Adventure
Logline: When Robin Hood and his Moorish companion come
to England and encounter the tyranny of the Sheriff of
Nottingham, he decides to fight back as an outlaw.
Date: 1990 Purchase price: $1,200,000
Title: Radio Flyer

Writer: David Mickey Evans
Genre: Drama
Logline: A father recounts a dark period of his childhood
when he and his little brother lived in the suburbs. When the
younger brother is subjected to physical abuse at the hands of
their brutal stepfather, Mike decides to convert their toy
trolley, the "Radio Flyer", into a plane to fly him to safety.
New York Times article re the sale. LA Times Review.

NYT discussed the tailspin that ensued when it flopped.

Title: The Rest of Daniel (Forever Young)
Writer: J.J. Abrams (as Jeffrey Abrams)
Genre: Drama
Logline: A 1939 test pilot asks his best friend to use him as a
guinea pig for a cryogenics experiment so he doesn’t have to
watch his love lying in a coma. The next thing Daniel knows
is that he’s awakened in 1992.
Agency: ICM Buyer: Warner Bros.
Title: Stay Tuned

Writer: Tom S. Parker and Jim Jennewein
Genre: Comedy Fantasy
Logline: A husband and wife are sucked into a hellish TV and
have to survive a gauntlet of twisted versions of TV shows
they find themselves in.
Agency: N/A Buyer: Warner Bros.
Date: May 1990 Purchase price: $750,000
Title: The Ticking Man

Writer: Brian Helgeland and Manny Coto
Genre: Action Thriller
Unproduced Logline: A nuclear-armed robot becomes sentient
Agency: N/A Buyer: Largo Pictures
Date: May 1990 Purchase price: $1,000,000
Another New York Times piece discussed this and other sales
Title: The Ultimatum

Writer: Laurence Dworet and Robert Roy Pool
Genre: Nuclear Terrorist Techno-Thriller
Logline: Terrorists threaten to detonate an atomic bomb in an
Unproduced American city unless their demands are met.
Agency: N/A Buyer: Disney
Date: May 1990 Purchase price: $1,000,000 (2 Scripts)
Read about it in this article.
With multiple seven-figure deals in 1990, spec scripts became sexy and screenwriters
became hot commodities. During the next two decades, there was a boom, a settling in, a
retraction, then a re-emergence of the spec script market. That’s next.

Part 3: Boom, Bust, and Back Again [1990–2012]
Check out the sales year-to-year from 1990 to 2012:
If we throw out the totals from 1991 and 1992, artificially low numbers due to limited
coverage of spec script sales at the time, we see some trendlines:
◆ There was a boom from 1994–1998 with a total of 680 deals, an average of 136
per year.
◆ There was a bust from 2003–2010 with a total of 610 deals, an average of 76
per year.
◆ in 2011–2012 the boom appeared to be back again — partially — with a total
209 deals, an average of 105 per year which sits precisely in the middle
between the high and low averages for the previous 20+ years.
What explanation for the boom? Lots of reasons, but we can’t overlook the fact
that money was flowing freely in Hollywood then, an era of “stupid money” as some
call it. More buyers, an irrational exuberance about spec scripts, and a willingness to
acquire scripts that may not have been completely baked as long as the underlying
story concept was seen to be especially marketable.
What explanation for the bust? Again lots of reasons, but a big one is the belt-
tightening that happened industry wide as corporate overlords clamped down on
spending. Part of that was also consolidation — fewer studios and mini-majors. Part of
that was an attempt to make the R&D aspect of the movie production process (i.e.,
acquiring and developing scripted projects) more efficient.
What explanation for it coming back again? Again, lots of reasons. Hollywood’s fear
that moviegoers are suffering from ‘sequelitis’. The emergence of new money,
smaller independent and typically foreign-based financing/production entities back-

filling script acquisition and development as the major movie studios scale back film
production.
But I also want to posit this: Writers are crafting better screenplays.
I’ve heard this in the many interviews with screenwriters I’ve been conducting
lately, a consistent opinion that there are some great new writers making their mark.
That confirms a theory I’ve been playing with for some time now and that is this:
In the 80s came the growth of screenwriting gurus coinciding with the emergence
of the spec script market. That drew the attention of a multitude of screenwriter
wannabes with dreams of knocking out The Great American Screenplay, cashing in
for seven figures, and the start of the good life in Hollywood. To be sure some strong
writers did distinguish themselves, but into the 90s there were perhaps more Shane
Black, Joe Eszterhas and Quentin Tarantino clones than original voices.
But something has happened. Two generations of writers have come and gone
since Syd Field first published “Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting” in
1982 and I believe the overall level of knowledge and understanding about the craft
has settled in among writers. This current crop is smarter, more well-read, has more
writing tools and overall savvy than ever before.
Remember that group of filmmakers in the 70s? Spielberg, Lucas, Coppola,

Scorcese, DePalma, and many others, a group that had immersed themselves in
cinema, and discovered a way to tell stories that were both compelling and
commercial.
I wonder if what we are seeing nowadays is something similar with

screenwriters emerging onto the scene… writers who have immersed themselves in
the craft of screenwriting, building on the theories, ideas and writing of the last
several decades, inspired by the very idea of Storytelling, and infused with a more
complete and deeper understanding of what it takes to write a solid, commercial
movie.
Whatever it is, let’s all hope it continues:
More and better original screenplays…
because that can only lead to more and better movies.
Next, we shift to the present day and start an in-depth exploration of how reps
handle the process of rolling out a spec script to the marketplace with observations
from a top Hollywood manager and some professional screenwriters.

Part 4: The Buyers — Studios and Financiers
We may tend to think of Hollywood buyers as the movie studios:
◆ Disney
◆ Paramount
◆ Sony
◆ Twentieth Century Fox
◆ Universal
◆ Warner Bros.
For those with advanced math skills, that translates into a whopping total of 6. There
are subsidiary divisions such as Fox 2000 and Fox Searchlight (Twentieth Century
Fox), Focus Features (Universal), and New Line (Warner Bros.), but those
acquisition dollars are presumably part of the overall studio’s pot. We can add
Lionsgate to the mix, a so-called mini-major, so let’s say 7. And DreamWorks as long
as they have funding which at the time of writing this, they did. In 2012, Millennium
Films acquired 6 spec scripts, more than Twentieth Century Fox, Disney and
Lionsgate, so perhaps we throw them into the mix.
So… we’re talking 9 buyers? That’s it?
No, that’s not it. Fortunately for screenwriters and the film community as a whole,
there are financing entities like IM Global, Content Film, Between the Eyes, Bold
Films, perhaps 50–75 in number who are actively buying, developing and producing
movies.
I spoke with manager Chris Fenton, literary manager and producer of H2F
Entertainment about the spec market and he gave his thoughts on the state of things
with regard to buyers:
The business model is going to continue to change and as it changes, I

don’t expect the [spec script] market to get worse than it is now. I
would like to believe that it gets a little better, but we’re never going
back to the over-development days of the mid-to-late 90s. Not so
fortunate for those trying to sell original material, but better in the long
run for the health of the major studios.
But there are all these financiers and financier-driven projects we’re
having a lot of luck with outside of the studios. Last year, we sold a
relatively good amount of projects to the major studios, but then we
also sold a lot of stuff to the financiers. And while the financiers don’t
necessarily pay a lot of upfront money when they purchase or option a

piece of material, they don’t develop a lot either.
So if you actually get one of those companies on board with a script,

chances are it gets made, and the deals you can make with these type
of financiers are such that if the movie does get produced, sometimes
you can actually get a production bonus that might be greater than
one at a studio.
In that respect, writers are actually in a strong scenario. They’re setting

up a project, and while they’re not making a lot up front, when the
movie gets made, they might actually be making more and on top of it,
they’re more likely to get a produced film.
And by the way, if you look at it as a business model, you don’t make
any money as a studio or as a financier developing material. Where you
make the money is actually making the movie and distributing it and
getting it out there. That’s what everybody’s goal is now.
What type of projects are these ‘financiers’ buying? It varies from company to
company, but I think it’s safe to say there are two commonalities across the board:
1. They are interested in genre films such as Action, Action-Thriller, Thriller,

Horror, Horror-Thriller.
2. They tend to focus on lower budget movies as compared to the major studios.
By lower budget, think $5–25M. Some may partner up with other financiers
to stretch budgets above $30M, even $40M, but those projects have to have
major talent attached, super strong marketing potential, and so on.
As you track spec script sales here on GITS, make sure to note the buyers.
As I’ve said before many times, the easiest way to sell a spec script is to write what
they’re buying. Your understanding of that marketplace can help you assess story
concepts you generate so you make smart use of your time as you develop and write
your next original screenplay.
Next, we start looking into the actual process of bringing a spec script to market.

Part 5: Developing the Spec Script
Every screenwriter is different. Some have agents. Some have managers. Some have
agents and managers.
Every screenwriter-rep relationship is different, too. Some writers pretty much do

their own thing. Some writers work closely with their reps, especially managers. How
close? Check out these comments from Chris Fenton, literary manager and producer
of H2F Entertainment from an interview I did with him:
We’re blessed with having really talented writers as clients. For the
most part, they use us as a sounding board for ideas. We go through
them and say, “That one works, that one might not, that one doesn’t
seem right for the market right now, what financiers are looking for.
That one doesn’t seem very international, but this one seems like you
could sell it on a one-sheet, let’s do it.”
From time to time, we find some interesting IP — books, articles, comic

books, life stories. We bring those to our writers and see if something
excites them. But more often than not, our writers come up with ideas
and we help weed through them to focus on the great ones.
When they start writing, a lot of them like us to look at their pages…
every 10 pages or every act. Some like to pump out a script and show
us the first draft, then we tell them what we like, things we feel need to
be altered, whether we think the act structure works, whether the A
plots and B plots are all there, whether the story has great low and high
points, strong set ups, do we get into the movie quick enough, will
execs get engaged or is it drawing out too long… all that kind of stuff.
We like to manage what our writers are writing, but we’re only as good
as our writers. We complement their process by helping them craft the
best specs possible.
Here is a perspective from Jeremiah Friedman who with his writing partner Nick
Palmer sold the spec script “Family Getaway” to Warner Bros., wrote the remake of
The Bodyguard, and sold the pitch “Speeding Bullet” to Universal:
Long before you think about selling your spec, you should have a solid
idea about what kind of movie you’re writing. You’ll need advice from
your reps about which specific buyers might be the best targets for the
material since they’ll know what each buyer is looking for in the current
market — one studio might have a lot of comedies, but is looking for

thrillers for instance or another studio might have a similar project
already in development. Your reps should have the inside word on all
of that. But before you even sit down to write your script, you should
have a strong idea of the story you’re telling and the audience you’re
trying to reach. You should know the genre, the size and scope, the
strengths and weaknesses of the material. And you should be striving
to develop a professional understanding of the marketplace. What
types of movies are studios making? What types of movies are other
buyers making? What’s the difference between a Warners movie and a
Sony movie? Why might your movie be a good fit for Focus?
But as Justin Rhodes (“Second Sun,” “The Breach,” “The Join”) reminds us,
screenwriters can and should understand the basics as well:
You’re basically only asking three questions:

◆ How easy is it to market?
◆ How broad is the appeal? and
◆ How much would it cost to make?
If the answers are very, very, and a lot, then it’s definitely a studio
movie. If the answers are hmmm, I don’t know how it will play in China,
and less than fifteen million, then indie financing probably makes more
sense (unless it’s a horror movie, which operates in its own space.)
Comedy is a genre that can turn this stuff on its head, but again,
simplicity of concept and broadness of appeal is probably your answer.
Is the concept that people get hungover in Vegas, or that bumbling
terrorists have a hard time pulling off their plot? Or, do you have the
right attachments to take the project out of indie land?
Bottom line, no script goes out until it’s ready as neither writer nor rep wants
to be connected to a sub-par product. That can mean many long months of prep,
writing and rewriting.
At some point, your spec is ready. What happens then? Tune in next week where we
take an inside look at what can be a simple or quite complex process — bringing a
spec script to market.
Let me end with an observation from Chris Fenton:
Original material is the key to success in this town. You have a great
script, you control a lot of the levers in the community. So no matter
how good or bad the spec market is, writers should always be writing.

Part 6: Rolling out a new writer’s spec script
There are multiple ways in which managers and agents take out a spec script, but
when it involves a new writer, there can be an additional value in going wide. Check
out these observations from Chris Fenton, literary manager and producer of H2F
Entertainment from an interview I did with him:
It depends on the script. We’d like to have something that works for
both the studios and the financiers, a script that could be a big blown-
out studio movie as well as something a little more constrained that
can work for financiers with smaller budgets. If we have something like
that, I want to introduce that writer and their script to everybody in
town. I want to create excitement around a piece of material, make sure
the tracking boards are covering the project, and try to get it out to 120
producers, get everybody reading it. Because you never know what can
happen with a good piece of material and the right producer. Maybe it
doesn’t sell, but it gets that producer thinking about another
assignment, creates an opportunity for the writer that way, too. Bottom
line the spec market is a fantastic way for getting a new writer to be
read.
There’s a lot here. Let’s unpack it:
➤ First and foremost, everything depends on the script. As Chris said elsewhere in
our conversation: “It’s super important for us to be very critical and have a high
quality control when it comes to representing writers because every time we sell
something, that makes it that much easier to get everybody to read our next writer
client and their script, and read them fast to try to make another sale.”
This underscores what we discussed previously - No script goes out until it’s ready.
➤ The desire for writers to craft material that can be sent to both sets of buyers — the
major studios and independent financiers — is understandable. As discussed in Part
4, the odds of a deal are much better when dealing with 50–75 buyers than no more
than 9 major players. The subtext here is that writers would be wise to don their
producer’s hat when conceiving, developing and writing a spec script, one that is
cognizant of budgetary issues. If you write a script that can only be produced for
$100M or more, you seriously reduce the pool of buyers. If, on the other hand, you
create a script that could be made for $5-10M, but if a major studio wants to step in
and lay in all sorts of special effects and set pieces, then you have two sets of buyers.
➤ 120 producers or whatever the number, the goal here is to get a writer and their

material maximum exposure. All it takes is one set of eyeballs to get the script, to
become its champion. Moreover, as Chris noted, producers are involved in multiple
projects. Perhaps they like what you’ve written and have another script in
development they can plug you into. And yes, Hollywood players are in a constant
state of motion, moving from this gig to that, that gig to this. Exposing a writer to as
many producers and studio execs as possible may not translate into anything specific
in the present. On the other hand, if a writer can make connections with multiple
players, that increases the odds that at some point in the future, the writer’s name
will arise in relation to another project.
➤ “The spec market is a fantastic way for getting a new writer to be read.” The
meaning of that is simple and plain, and should encourage each of us — aspiring
screenwriters to professional screenwriters. There is nothing quite like a spec script
in terms of its potential to introduce a new writer, redefine an established writer,
reawaken the career of a floundering writer, and generate enough heat to translate
into a writing assignment or an actual sale.

Part 7: Attaching producers
This question has come up several times on the blog: What about attaching a
producer to a spec script? I posed the question to screenwriter Jeremiah Friedman.
Here is his response:
Like most attachments, this likely depends on the quality and frankly,
the clout of the producer. Having a major producer attached —
somebody with a studio deal, multiple credits, relationships at the
major agencies, independent financing maybe — can definitely be a
plus as it adds credibility to the spec. For instance, when we sold
“Family Getaway,” Mosaic was attached to produce. However,
producer attachments can also be complicated. Taking a script out
with a producer who has no real track record likely won’t attract any
greater attention and may just complicate any potential deal by giving
the buyer another headache to worry about. In short, the big question
to ask is what is the attachment bringing to the table? How does this
producer add value to the spec?
So there is a bottom line: How does the producer add value to the spec?
Good question. Screenwriter Justin Rhodes weighs in with these thoughts:
Having a producer attached generally means that he, and more often
his development people, have had a role in developing the story with a
writer before sending it out to the market. It’s a bit like writing a spec,
because during this phase you’re still not getting paid, but it’s also a bit
like writing for the studio in the sense that you’re getting notes that
you’re expected to deliver on. More rarely (at least in my humble
experience), a producer might read a screenplay and decide that he’s
willing to attach himself to it after it’s been written. But both the
producer and the people he employs are in the business of putting
their stamp on things, and even in this scenario there would probably
be at least a cursory bit of polish work done to bring the project in line
with the producer’s vision for it.
But that’s the mechanics of the relationship. The question pertains to

what a producer’s involvement portends for taking the script/pitch to
market. What you have to remember is that studios don’t really
produce movies themselves. If you read about the studio execs
assigned to any project after a sale, the trades will always refer to them
as “overseeing” the development process. From the studio’s
perspective, the producer is the trusted chaperone who will make sure
the artists don’t get into too much trouble. He provides a buffer for the

writer as well, as hopefully he becomes an ally to help run interference
for you when the studio’s notes are vague, destructive, or otherwise
difficult to manage. The studio sees its job as managing its slate from a
macro point of view. They see the producer as the man they pay to
manage a particular granular entry on that slate.
So, if you sell a screenplay, you are going to get a producer attached no
matter what. The studio won’t proceed otherwise. Your options are
either to try and attach someone you respect and who you believe is
on the same page with you with regards to the material, or wait for the
studio to assign this person after the fact. It’s a bit like picking your first
dorm roommate: do you want to room with a friend, or let the RA
assign you to a stranger?
As far as advantages/disadvantages go, I feel this is really depends upon

the particular producer in question. If you’re talking about a producer
who the studio sees as “hot,” who has great relationships with the
execs and equally great access to talent, then basically his involvement
is a blessing that greases all the wheels through the first couple of
gauntlets your project must pass through on its way to becoming a
movie. If, on the other hand, your producer is seen as impotent,
ineffectual, difficult, or otherwise has a bad reputation, then you’re
project inherits all these qualities regardless of the words you’ve put on
the page. Because, remember, nobody else gets paid unless the movie
gets made. Not the producer, not the studio, not the crew, not the
director. So nobody really cares about buying a script, per se. They care
about buying a movie, and your producer plays an enormous role in
helping them visualize what kind of movie-making experience they’re
actually buying.
From my point of view, and especially during the attachment-

dependent buyer’s market we’re dealing with right now, I would almost
always recommend attaching a producer at some point before you
attempt a sale, because this is the time where you have the most
control over who you become involved with. Ideally you find someone
whose reputation and work you respect who also believes in you and
the project.
If your reps decide to go wide with your spec, most often they will try to attach
producers to go into every major buyer. This producer for Studio A, that producer for
Studio B, another producer for Studio C, and so on. Why different producers?
Because even with studio-producer deals about half what they were 10–15 years ago,
studios still want to work with producers they have relationships with. Yes, there are
some producers who carry heft with multiple buyers, but generally if your reps do

decide to pursue producer attachments — which is almost always — they will try to
position your script to represent as strong a package as possible, and that means
targeting producers with a deal at an individual studio.
It can all be quite exciting. Script goes out. This producer. That producer. This buyer.
That buyer. Names you recognize, movies they made. Wow! Great! But there’s also
this:
Do they believe in you and the project?
The reality is a deal could go down and you’ve never even met the producer in
question.
Seriously.
This is where you have to balance trusting your reps and trusting your gut. Normally
you just want to make a deal and whatever attachments can be made to facilitate that
process, you go with that strategic flow. This is more in the trust your rep territory.
However if this spec script is one over which you’ve slaved, sweated blood and pieces
of your soul — in other words this is not just a script, but a part of who you are — then
this could very well be gut-check time.
What does that mean? At minimum, how about a phone call with the producers who
attach themselves to your script? Talk with them about your story. Get a feel for their
sensibilities and how they match up with your own. Because the fact is after all the
high fives and drinks and dinners and whoops and hollering after there is a deal…
You have to work with these people.
So much of the process is about making a deal. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
There’s plenty of money to be made even if your script that sells never gets produced.
Depending upon where you are in your career, the deal may be the most important
consideration.
But do we get into this business just to make a deal… or to make movies?
To make the latter happen, we have to do our part which is write the shit out of our
stories. Process notes. Rewrite. More notes. More rewriting. Yet somehow through it
all keep the vision alive.

And to support that process, we need champions, advocates, and mentors. Producers
can fill that role. But only if they ‘get’ our stories and what we’re trying to do.
So to sum up: Attaching a producer to a spec script can be extremely helpful in

making a deal. But depending upon your connection to your script and what your
ultimate goal is for that story, you may need to call a time-out in the process and say
this: “I want to talk with them about my story.”
In other words, your gut may be take precedence over your wallet.
Hopefully that translates into a writer-producer relationship which results in a great

script and a movie getting produced.
UPDATE: Timely guest column in TheWrap from producer Jon Landau.

Part 8: Attaching talent
What about attaching actors and/or a director? Screenwriter Justin Rhodes weighs
in on that:
In my experience, it’s either the agent or the producer who approaches
other elements. Almost always these attachments are made before the
script goes out. For example, if you’re at one of the bigger agencies,
they may have an internal conversation about the project to see if they
represent actors or directors that they think might be right or could
benefit from the screenplay. If so, your literary agent will pitch the
project to the actor/director’s agent, and if they like it, they’ll take it to
their client, who will, depending upon his/her reaction, decide whether
or not he wants to read the material/hear the pitch. Oftentimes you’re
also dealing with the actor or director’s business partner/manager/
etc…, so there are a few hoops to jump through. In the agent scenario,
though, you’re only going to be talking about actors and directors the
agency represents.
The other situation is that your producer has some existing
relationships with talent. Oftentimes when this is the case, you’re also
talking about the ability of one person to literally call the other on the
phone, so you get to skip a lot of the go-betweens in terms of access.
But your mileage varies, again, depending upon the reputation and
abilities of the producer you’re working with.
This goes to the heart of what is known as “packaging” a project. Let’s say
screenwriter Alan Smithee is repped at the major agency EGO. This agency
represents lots of actors and directors. Seeing as they get 10% from all the revenues
generated by all their clients, it behooves them to get as many of them working as
possible.
So Smithee writes a hot spec script. Does EGO go out with the script as is? Probably
not. Why not try to package the script with talent the agency represents? 10% of two,
three or more elements is better than 10% of one element (i.e., the screenwriter).
If the talent attached are in-demand and perceived to bring value (i.e., box office
dollars) to the project, that can help elevate the script’s marketability.
On the other hand, waiting for actors and directors — their ‘people’ that is — to read,
review and recommend (or not) scripts and agree to attach themselves to the project
can turn out to be a long, drawn-out affair and ultimately a big fat waste of time.
This is where your reps and producers play a huge role, assessing the temperature of
your script as it gets read.

The upside is your script gets packaged in such a way with a delicious combination of
elements, it’s a no-brainer for a buyer.
The downside is if your script starts gets a number of passes from talent, that can
transform what was perceived to be a hot script into a not-hot script.
This is all part of the magical mystery tour that is handling a spec script. Hopefully
you end up with smart reps who know what they’re doing.
But the single best thing you can do is write a great script. Yes, I keep harping on
that, but it’s true. Another observation from Justin Rhodes:
In the end, though, you’ve got to remember that people don’t sell your
script. Your script sells your script. In the end, if the screenplay is all the
town needs and wants it to be, your mom could probably get it set up.

Part 9: “Own All The Tickets”
So let’s assume a writer has nailed a spec script. It’s ready to go to market. Now
comes a crucial component: The actual process of taking out the script. Check out
these observations from Chris Fenton, literary manager and producer of H2F
Entertainment from an interview I did with him:
I have a philosophy called “Own All The Tickets.” It’s the idea that
everything’s basically a lottery, but it’s not a lottery if you own all the
tickets. By that I mean, you want to have the best team possible put
together, you want to have the best piece of material that’s ready to go,
you want to time it right with movies that might be similar to the script
that open the weekend before and make a ton of money… you want to
put all the lottery tickets into your hands, anything you have control
over. Because if you have them all, you can end up winning.
If you have half of them, you have a 50% shot of winning. If you just
got one, it’s truly a lottery. So you have to try to pick up every single
advantage you can, put it all together, and hopefully that gives you an
edge to get it done.
Good agents working with good managers and a team that’s out there
spraying the market with phone calls and e-mails, creating buzz and
hype, and using relationships to see if there’s a last-minute piece of
packaging, hopefully that all adds up to a sale for a writer with a good
piece of material. And that’s what I mean: Own all the tickets.
This goes back to discussions we’ve had before, how a big key to a spec script sale is
to hit a buyer’s comfort level. Their default mode is one based on fear because a bad
decision that leads to an unprofitable movie casts a dark shadow on their career. This
is a big reason why most people on that side of the desk in the movie business are
leery of fresh, original stories, preferring the safety net of familiar titles — remakes,
sequels, prequels, adaptations, and so on.
So what do reps do? Attempt to pull together as many elements as they can for a
script project that hit a buyer’s comfort level. A producer the studio is comfortable
with. An actor a studio is comfortable with. A sense of heat generating around town
about the script suggesting it’s a strong commodity.
Of course, so much of this goes directly back to you and your choices in terms of story
concept, genre, and how you shape the story itself. Which is why if you are
attempting to sell a script to Hollywood, you need to make yourself aware of what
studios and financiers are buying, what they’re producing, what’s working at the box
office and what’s not.
Just by doing that, you can provide a rep with lot of ‘tickets,’ thereby making their
job easier, and raising the chances you will land a deal.

Part 10: Creating Buzz
Building off last week’s post about agents and managers trying to orchestrate a
scenario in which they “own all the tickets,” basically to maximize the chances of a
spec script sale, there is this first rule of managing the roll-out: Create buzz. Here is
an NYT article from all the way back in 1990 about the fevered spec script market
back in the day:
The psychological game of selling spec scripts has another important

player: the Hollywood agent. It is the agents who whip up the frenzy.
Triad Artists sent ticking clocks to studio executives the week before
sending out the script of ”The Ticking Man.” Says Marty Bauer, whose
Bauer-Benedek agency has sold more than a dozen spec scripts for
more than $250,000 apiece, ”What you do is put studio executives
under time pressure to get their competitive juices flowing, so they
have to make a decision based on their competitive instincts, not their
rational instincts.”
So as far back as two decades ago, agents would try to generate buzz with gimmicks
like ticking clocks. Twenty years later, we see the appearance of teaser trailers that
accompany spec scripts. A notable one is for “Grim Night”:
In the case of “Grim Night,” a spec written by first-timers Brandon Bestenheider and
Allen Bey, the script sold for high-six against seven figures to Universal.
But more often, buzz gets generated the old fashioned way: by word of mouth. In my
interview with screenwriters Jeremiah Friedman and Nick Palmer, they discussed
how their spec script “Family Getaway” got set up:
Nick Palmer: The initial plan had been to attach talent because you’re
right, it is really difficult to sell a spec today, especially from first-time
writers, with absolutely no one attached.
Jeremiah Friedman: But we were lucky in that our managers, Dawn
Saltzman and Emily Rose, had done a really amazing job building
interest around town as we were still rewriting so that by the time the
script went out, it was already on the radar at a number of studios,
which no doubt helped.
“Family Getaway” ended up at Warner Bros.
Bottom line, you could hire the Goodyear Blimp to float from one studio to the next

with the name of your latest spec script emblazoned on the side accompanied by
Lady Gaga dangling below giving a live blaring musical performance. Yes, that would
generate considerable buzz. But if your script isn’t great, all the buzz in the world is
likely not going to help you get it sold.
Conversely if your script is great, that becomes the basis of some legitimate buzz,
leading to a deal and a blizzard of follow-up meetings where everyone wants to meet
the hot new writer.
So as always, you have your marching orders: Write a great script.

Part 11: Slipping a script to someone
Now we come to the nitty gritty: How to take the script out to the town. There are multiple
ways to go about doing this and we will explore some of them over the next few weeks.
One approach is to slip the script to a buyer. There are a lot of reasons reps may choose to
make this play as opposed to going wide. Perhaps they know a studio or financier is looking
for a specific type of script at that moment and the spec fits the bill. Or maybe the reps want
to get an unofficial read on a script to test the waters. Sometimes it can be in part about
servicing a relationship with a buyer, giving them first crack.
Here’s one real-life example from an interview I did with screenwriter Justin Rhodes in
September 2011 in which we discussed his spec script “Second Sun”:
Okay, now the fun part. You finally finish the script. Could you describe
what the process was where it went from you typing FADE OUT to Warner
Bros. stepping in to buy your script?
Once I finished the draft, my team went about trying to package the script
with a director, maybe a bit of cast. The conventional wisdom is that you
can’t sell a naked spec these days. But before anyone really got a chance to
implement our plan someone from Warner Bros called my agent and said
they were looking for a script with some big ideas. My agent gave them
SECOND SUN, and the studio expressed their desire to buy it within a couple
of days.
What were the precise details of where you were when you heard that
Warner Bros. wanted to acquire your script?
I was working at my desk when my agent’s assistant asked if I would be
available to meet with someone at Warner Bros. I asked her which company,
because I thought we were talking about some development executive for a
producer with an office on the lot. But she told me, no, someone at Warner-
Bros-the-Studio wanted to meet me. Today if possible. As in, can you go get in
your car? My agent came on the line and told me what was going on, and
that’s when I finally knew enough to get excited. It was a fun call, because as
far as I knew the script hadn’t even gone out yet.
Suffice to say, as much as reps strategize and makes plans, attempting to create a
circumstance in which they “own all the tickets,” sometimes the way a deal goes down is a
combination of nothing more than timing and luck… and it should go without saying a great
script.
Most often when a script gets slipped to someone, it is an intentional move on the part of
that writer’s reps. But sometimes a spec script can take on a life of its own. And the
Hollywood script acquisition and development community is so small, it doesn’t take much
for a script to end up in front of the right set of eyeballs. We will discuss that later with
another example of a spec script sale.

Part 12: Serendipity
Hollywood is one of the world’s most famous brands. And of course, there is that
iconic sign:
If you don’t live and work in Los Angeles, you may think the movie community is this
enormous entity.
It’s not. Instead it’s actually quite small, particularly if you are just talking about
those who are involved in project acquisition and development. There are perhaps a
few thousand people. Think about that. A few thousand people. The Hollywood film
community is like a small town. Well, one where everyone is on speed dial. So
serendipitous things like the following can happen.
From my interview with screenwriter Ashleigh Powell in March 2013 [emphasis added]:
Scott: So you write this script [“Somacell”]. How did David Goyer get
involved and what was the process whereby it ended up selling?
Ashleigh: I wrote the script. I was going out to a handful of producers that I
had already met and had a relationship with. We gave it to an exec I actually
knew from my assistant days — we were both on desks at the same time and

were always scheduling meetings and calls for our respective bosses. He
read it and liked it, but ultimately it wasn’t right for his company. But he
passed it on to his wife to read… and she just happened to be David Goyer’s
Creative Executive. So that’s how it got into his hands. Which was amazing. I
was just thrilled for that. Then, simultaneously, Warner Bros. somehow ended
up with it. No one on my team even knew they were reading it, and one
evening they called up my agents and said, “Hey, we want to make a deal
on this script tonight.” It was shocking moment. It took us all by surprise. It
was just a random confluence of events.
Scott: Boy, does that speak to the power of writing a great script.
Ashleigh: It’s been really fun for me to hear that people are passing the script
to their friends or to other executives on their own, without any intervention
from my manager or agent or anything like that. It’s just working its way
around.
Like I said… small town.
It’s why networking can work so well in Hollywood. There are these subcultures:
movie development, TV development, production, post-production, and so on — all
these aspects of making entertainment product inhabited by people who as it turns
out pretty much have one or at most two degrees of separation.
So sometimes a script gets slipped to Person A who gives it to Person B who is

married to Person C who works at Studio D. And you can be Agent E and Manager F
suddenly getting a call from Studio Executive G saying they want to buy Script H
written by Writer I. All pure serendipity.
That’s the exception, not the rule.
Generally reps have to decide whether to go wide with a spec or take a more targeted
approach. We’ll dig into that next.

Part 13: Targeting Specific Buyers
Sometimes a rep will slip a script to someone.
Occasionally a script can take on a life of its own through serendipity.
But more often, reps will come up with a strategy that — broadly speaking — goes one
of either two ways: They target specific buyers or they go wide.
Here we’ll look at the former.
Observations from screenwriter Justin Rhodes:
Targeting people specifically means the material can evolve or shuffle

between different parties in a gradual way. You can afford a few no’s
before you’re finished, if that’s the way things shake out. The
advantage, hypothetically, is that you’re more likely to sell the thing if
you take pains to mitigate any hurdles that come up. The disadvantage
is that it can take a couple of months for the whole process to play out,
especially if the project isn’t seen as a “slam dunk.” And slam dunk
means: star parts for stars the studio likes, clear genre, clear simple
concept that’s easy to market, and an obvious place in the studio’s
slate. It doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with how well you’ve
written the thing.
Much of this choice is determined by the script itself. It could be a project that by its
very nature, whether through content, genre and/or budget, would appeal to a
limited set of buyers. It could be so unique, it requires a company with an
established openness toward unusual fare. It could have a distinctive angle or hook
that might slot into a handful of buyer’s slates.
As Justin indicates, the process can take months. We’ve seen this happen with
several Black List scripts. For example, Murder City, a 2012 Black List script didn’t
get set up until March of 2013. Another 2012 Black List script Don’t Make Me Go
found a home the following April.
Scripts like these can require more finesse, commitment, patience and luck. There
are other scripts, however, where the concept, genre and execution are so
mainstream, they deserve to go wide, out to dozens of buyers at the same time.
That’s the next thing we’ll discuss.

Part 14: Going Wide
When most people think of a spec script, their image of what transpires as it goes to
market is this: Going wide. Sending the script out to multiple producers who then
take the script into multiple buyers.
Why? Screenwriter Justin Rhodes explains:
The advantage of going wide is that, if you get multiple buyers

interested, you can have them bid against one another and end up
getting a lot more money for selling the same thing. The disadvantage
of going wide is that you basically get one shot at it; if everyone passes
on the first attempt, the script gets taken out behind the shed and shot
(although it’s really sad, and the script looks you in the eye, and kind of
makes you cry, but you have to kill it anyway, on account of what it did
to the Ellis boy.) So, like gambling, going wide is big risk/big reward.
All you need to know about this strategy is the last two words of Justin’s explanation:
Big reward. First off, this approach gets the script in front of a maximum amount
of eyeballs. Even if the script doesn’t sell, that can be a win because — assuming
producers and studio execs like the script, even if not enough to acquire it — that can
lead to a round of meet-and-greets. And there is no telling what any one [or more] of
those meetings can lead to, all part of the magical mystery networking phenomenon
that is such a crucial part of a screenwriter’s life. Of course, there is the “big risk”
possibility as well by going wide.
The script goes out.

Everyone passes.
Crickets chirp.
If a screenwriter can be perceived as a hot commodity, they can also easily lose that
heat and become cold. And going wide with a spec that lands with a thud can turn
down a writer’s heat in a hurry.
But there is a rep’s big dream: To get more than one potential buyer vying for a
script. And that is simply the most awesome thing in a writer’s life [and their rep’s]
where for a holy rolling moment in time, the entire focus of the Hollywood movie
development community is on your script. Not to mention six, even seven figure
deals. It’s called a bidding war. And that’s our next subject.

Part 15: Bidding War
This is it: A screenwriter’s fantasy. You write a spec script. Your reps send it out.
Then more than one buyer compete against each other to acquire the script, jacking
up the purchase price. That, my friends, is a bidding war.
Some notable examples:
“White House Down” [James Vanderbilt]: “In what amounts to the biggest spec
deal of the year, Sony Pictures has closed a $3 million deal to acquire “White
House Down,” an action spec from “Amazing Spider-Man” scribe James
Vanderbilt that had studios buzzing this week. Heated bidding came down to Sony
and Paramount.” — March 29, 2012
“El Tigre” [Aaron Buchsbaum & Teddy Riley]: “The project is an action comedy
about a family vacation gone wrong when the father is mistaken for Mexico’s most
ruthless drug lord, El Tigre… A bidding war broke out between multiple suitors,
including Sony, Paramount and MGM. The sale price was in the mid-six figures,
according to sources.” — April 27, 2012
“Glimmer” [Carter Blanchard]: “The logline is unknown but is described as

Amblin-esque… The bidding came out down to DreamWorks and Paramount, with
DreamWorks closing a deal a progress to production term.” — June 6, 2012
I got a behind-the-scenes look at the “Glimmer” deal when I interviewed its

screenwriter Carter Blanchard:
Scott: Let’s jump to June 2012. Your script ends up in a bidding war
between DreamWorks and I think Paramount was involved?
Carter: Yeah.
Scott: Could you maybe walk us through a little bit of the chronology
of how that deal happened and what that experience was for you?
Carter: Well, I was thinking about going back to Boston and teaching
before it happened. My buddy teaches at BU now. That was a
compelling option. I was out of money, drawing off my IRA. I had a
good feeling about “Glimmer,” but you never know. It went to
producers first and by the end of that day, I was getting an email from
Adam saying, “This is blowing up all over town. Sit tight. Stay positive.”
It felt like good news, but because he added, “Stay positive” I got

worried, because I’m used to someone saying “stay positive” as a sign
that things are not going well.
The next morning, my phone rang at 8:30. It was my lawyer, my agent,
and my manager. They said, “Okay, DreamWorks made an offer.” I was
jumping up and down saying, “Great, take it!” They said, “No dude,
this is only the first studio to respond.” We talked about some details
and then they said, “Go back to doing your thing. Don’t worry about it.
Just always have your phone ready.”
I was meeting a friend for lunch when I got another call from the team
saying Paramount and DreamWorks both wanted it and I had to make
a decision on the spot. Paramount was offering a little more up front,
but DreamWorks’ was a progress-to-production deal, meaning they
had to start shooting in 12 months or I got the script back free and
clear. Then Boxerbaum [agent] said, “You’re also going to meet Steven
Spielberg tomorrow if you go with them.” So then it’s not even a
question anymore. DreamWorks! [laughs]
My favorite movie of all times is “Jaws.” Hands down. That movie is
ultimately why I went into the movie business, if you go back to the
real origins of what inspired me. So this whole situation was so great. It
was just an amazing thing. The deal closed in the middle of lunch and
my friend was like, “You’re buying.”
The next day I went in and met Mr. Spielberg. He was incredibly nice
and really complimentary about the script. I kept thinking maybe he
wasn’t really there and I was talking to a hologram because it was so
surreal. I had another meeting five days later and then I was
commenced on the rewrite. It was the fastest I’ve ever been
commenced after a spec sale before. Usually it takes months. And
DreamWorks’ notes have been excellent. The script has improved
enormously under their watch.
This brings up another point: If your script creates a bidding war, it’s not just the
purchase price that’s in play. It’s everything. You can try to get a producing credit.
A progress-to-production deal. Even a meeting with Steven Spielberg himself!
There are very few times when a screenwriter finds him/herself in a power position.
One of them is when they have multiple buyers vying over their spec script. It’s like
this little corner of the universe — the Hollywood acquisition and development
community — casts a lion’s share of its focus on your 100 pages or so of written
content. It’s an experience that can completely transform your life… as well as your
bank account!

Part 16: Preemptive Purchase
It’s January, 1987. Through sheer serendipity, the spec script K-9 has wound its way
from a low-ball offer from 20th Century Fox, to a threatened lawsuit from Fox, to
them relinquishing all rights to the script, to everyone in town reading the script, so
that when I drive my 1978 beat-to-shit Ford onto — ironically — the Fox lot on Pico,
that tiny part of the universe known as the Hollywood movie community is pretty
much abuzz about the 112 page screenplay I co-wrote.
And at noon today, the bidding period is scheduled to commence.
This is heady stuff for a guy who has a lifelong passion for movies, but barely any
understanding of how the movie business works. Plus there’s this: I’ve got maybe
$500 in my checking account [making a living as a stand-up comic can do that]. So
the figures my agents are batting about in terms of potential deals for K-9 — $100K…
$150K… maybe even $200K — sound astronomically delicious to my ears.
I am twitching with excitement as I edge into the expansive offices of the project’s
producer Larry Gordon, former head of production at Fox [hence the location and
opulence of his digs]. But as soon as I enter, I hear this:
“THE FUCK YOU WILL!!!”
It’s Larry. Yelling into his phone. The person on the other end is screaming back. I
can tell it’s one of my agents, Marty Bauer. The fact I can hear his voice is
noteworthy… seeing as he’s not on speakerphone. Rather the decibels he is creating,
which I can hear clear across the conference room, are emerging like a shrieking
pterodactyl from that tiny phone speaker.
Back and forth they go, Larry and Marty, dropping F-bombs at each other, Larry red-
faced, Marty doubtless as well.
I turn to one of Larry’s people, utterly confounded.
“What’s happening?”
“Larry and Marty are negotiating his producer’s fee. Marty wants 10%. Larry only
wants to give up 5.”
At that precise moment amidst F-bombs and other expletives being flung about by
these two cinematic warriors, I see my bright shiny future flying out the window
before I’ve even had a chance to experience its delights.
I turn to Larry’s guy.
“This is not good, right. I mean could this cause everything to like… go south?”
The guy smiles at me.

“Nah. Don’t worry. Larry and Marty are friends.”
Sure enough, after a few more expletives, the guys settle their deal, and that’s that.
All smiles.
Welcome to Hollywood, Mr. Myers.
It’s now 11:50AM. Larry sits at the head of his long conference table. Seated there are
his people, one of my agents Peter Benedek, and my writing partner and me. Larry is
fielding calls, his assistant poking her head in the door every few seconds.
“Sherry Lansing on line 2.”
That would be Paramount’s president of production.
“Dawn Steel on 1.”
That would be Columbia Pictures.
TriStar… DEG… Eddy Murphy’s people…
Larry rolls calls, each one about 30 seconds, quick inquiries about the script.
“Lansing says she doesn’t want to get into a bidding war. She’ll call back.”
Assistant enters.
“Sherry Lansing on line 3.”
Larry winks. Picks up the phone.
And the clock keeps ticking toward noon…
Suddenly the door bursts open. It’s Dan Halsted, the junior agent at Bauer-Benedek
who signed us after reading our script.
“Universal made an offer.”
Beat.
“All in, seven-hundred-fifty thousand dollars.”
A long silence as we take turns looking at each other.
Larry says, “Well, boys, like the sound of that?”
I turn toward Peter and Dan. They’re smiling like cats who just caught a pair of birds.
I tilt my head toward my writing partner. He looks like Nosferatu, the blood drained
from his face.
$750K can have that effect on a person.
I shrug. He shrugs.
Larry slaps the table and says, “Looks like a deal to me.”

And that, my friends, is what you call a preemptive purchase.
When a studio has a strong interest in a spec script or other type of literary material,
and they want to avoid getting into a bidding war where the sale price can get jacked
up and up, sometimes they will decide to step up to the plate and make a substantial
offer. Their hope is the amount of cash and other benefits will be high enough, the
sellers decide to take that deal and forego putting the script on the open market.
There is risk involved in this type of strategy on both sides.
For a buyer, they may in effect be bidding against themselves as they don’t know for
sure what sale price might transpire in an auction environment.
For the seller, if they accept the preemptive offer, they may be losing out on the
potential for more money in a competitive bidding scenario. On the other hand if
they opt to pass and go out wide, there is always a chance the script could end up not
finding a buyer.
But when the offer is for three-quarters of a million dollars, that’s pretty much a no-
brainer.
We take the preemptive offer.

Part 17: Write What They’re Buying
We have taken a comprehensive look at the spec script market.
Okay. Now what do you do with that information and insight?
Let’s consider this a response to a GITS reader question because I get this type of
inquiry pretty regularly from aspiring screenwriters. It takes different forms:
What type of stories should I focus on writing for my spec script?
I have a lot of story ideas: How do I know which one to write as a spec?
What’s the best approach to take to maximize my chance of selling a spec script to
Hollywood?
There is no one right answer. Even if there was and I gave it to you, you can be
certain you would open the trades tomorrow to read a story about some writer who
came along and did precisely the opposite, and just sold a spec for six figures.
That said broadly speaking, there are two basic paths an aspiring screenwriter can
take when writing a spec script.
The most obvious approach is this: Write what they’re buying.
It’s the first rule of sales: Qualify your customer.
If Hollywood is your ‘customer,’ then you find out what they are buying.
That can mean right now, that can mean established patterns in terms of genres and
movie story types over a decade or more, that can mean reading the tea leaves for
what you think may be the next big thing.
You do due diligence in terms of gathering information about the Hollywood

acquisition market so when you assess your story concepts, your own interests, and
your potential as a writer to develop your voice, you can make an intelligent choice in
what you pursue.
I know there is a pretty persistent piece of advice given by established writers that
goes something like this: “Don’t pay attention to the market. Things change. What
you write today won’t reflect what they’re buying tomorrow. Besides it’s
important to be authentic. The old adage is true: Write what you know.”
The problem with this take is while it may be sound advice for some types of writers,
it can be absolutely the wrong tack for others. For example, if your passion is action,

those are the movies you watch, those are the scripts you’ve analyzed, that’s the type
of story that oozes from your creative soul, then you’d probably be dumb not to track
that part of the acquisition market.
First off, what if there is a script that sells or a project in development that is the
precise concept you were planning on writing? What a waste of time that would be to
write a script that has zero chance of selling.
Second, determining what’s going on in development and production may provide

you with just the spark for a variation on a preexisting idea to use for a new spec.
Third, you can be damn sure professional screenwriters track what sells to know
what’s going on. Shouldn’t you?
In the case of this type of writer, why would they consciously not pay attention to the
acquisition marketplace when in fact there are multiple good reasons to do precisely
that?
So if you read an article like this one in the Hollywood Reporter — “Revenge of the
Over-40 Actress” — which notes that with a plethora of great, well-known actresses
over the age of 40 in combination with studios beginning to make more movies
targeting the 40+ and Baby Boomer demos, maybe you start thinking about that
when assessing your next spec story concept.
Or when 19 of the 45 spec script sales this year have been some variation within the
thriller genre, that could influence your choice to write a thriller.
Or maybe not. Maybe the buyers are reaching a saturation point on the genre? And
that’s the thing. You may research market trends until your skull has devolved into a
cavity filled with mashed yeast, and your success, while influenced by information
you learn, will still come down to talent, voice, and instinct.
Besides, some writers simply cannot function by tracking movie trends or even
trying to write what they think the buyers will buy. For that type of writer, there is
another path to pursue in the spec script market
That’s the subject of our next discussion.

Part 18: Sell Them Your Dream
So, about those FAQs from aspiring screenwriters looking for guidance about what
their spec script should be - what type of story, which one of their many ideas or
what approach will maximize their chance of selling their script to Hollywood?
Broadly speaking there are two approaches - and we’ve already covered the first one,
which is: Write What They’re Buying.
But what if your interests run to independent type movies?
Or you just don’t want to track the marketplace and would rather just write your own
stuff precisely the way you want to write?
In that case, you’re choosing an alternate path, one I call: Sell Them Your Dream.
At its core, this is about believing passionately in yourself as a writer and specifically
your own unique vision of the world in combination with your ability to translate
that perspective into a story. You watch movies, you analyze scripts, you read books,
the same basic practices any aspiring screenwriter should follow, but it’s all about
providing fodder for your creative instincts.
It’s Tarantino writing Reservoir Dogs.
It’s Soderbergh writing Sex, Lies and Videotape.
It’s Kaufman writing Being John Malkovich.
It’s Joel and Ethan Coen writing The Big Lebowski.
Think of these two approaches in terms of Hollywood’s mantra re acquisitions, how

the studios want something ‘similar but different.’
The Write What They’re Buying path is more about being similar.
The Sell Them Your Dream path is more about being different.
If you do go this latter route, two pieces of advice:
1. Write a script with budget in mind. A $5M project is easier to get made
than a $50M movie. Better yet, why not aim for a $1M movie? Funding is a
big goddammed deal when it comes to getting an indie movie made with any

chance of recouping the investment, so think smart and write low. Budget,
that is.
2. Write key characters who name actors would kill to play. Many top
actors like to vary their work: Take a big picture to pay the bills, then do a
small indie feature to sink their teeth into a fascinating character and story.
As to choosing which path to take, my advice is:
◆ Go off by yourself for a day. Take a good honest look at your skills, what you
bring to the table as a writer. Consider your creativity, how it works. Pay
special attention to what types of movies inspire you, what kind of stories for
which you have passion.
◆ Then look at your story concepts, the entire list. If you don’t have a list, put one
together. Sit with each of your ideas. Which ones bubble up to the top as being
the most interesting ones? Which ones feel the most like a movie?
◆ Finally imagine you are standing at a fork-in-the-road: One path has a sign
that reads Write What They’re Buying, the other path has a sign that says Sell
Them Your Dream. Which path feels right to you? Which path pulls you in its
direction?
You’re not looking for the right choice or wrong choice, rather you are looking for an
honest choice: Which best reflects your instincts as a writer?
Hopefully one or the other path will speak to you. If not, don’t worry. Follow Yogi
Berra’s advice:
“When you come to a fork-in-the-road, take it.”
Go down one or the other, and write something. That way, you will end up with
something that has the potential to sell. Perhaps more importantly, you will learn
about yourself as a writer.
How about you? Which type of writer are you? Which path will you take?

Part 19: The value of a spec script… even if it doesn’t sell
Obviously your goal is to write an original screenplay that sells.
That’s the fantasy, right? Seven figure deal. Big splashy item in the trades with great
quotes from the buyer: “An incredible script with a fresh, distinctive voice.”
Buy a house in the Hollywood Hills. Trade in the Chevy Vega for a Porsche. You
know, the whole La La Land nine yards.
The fact is, however, most spec scripts do not sell. And yet they can have real value to
you as a writer in many other ways.
They can get you representation: If you are outside the business, a quality spec
script with a strong story concept that is well-executed can get the attention of a
manager who could take you on as a client. Depending upon who you are, what type
of script you’ve written, what genre you specialize in, and how strong your writing is,
you may end up with an agent as well.
They can create access to buyers: Once you are represented, you are officially
in the game because all the buyers who do not look at unsolicited material will now
consider your scripts because you are represented.
They can serve as a writing sample: Because everyone in Hollywood knows

how hard it is to sell a spec script, they understand there is a lot of good material
floating around that is not set up. So it’s possible for your reps to use an unsold spec
script as a writing sample to send around town.
They can create meetings: Whoever responds to your writing sample becomes a
target for your reps to set up a meeting. Getting face time with producers, talent and
studio execs is critical, to put your mug, your personality, and your creativity into
their consciousness. Plus you never know where a meeting may lead, now or in the
future.
They can put you in the OWA game: Your writing sample can open doors for
you to go up for Open Writing Assignments.
They can be optioned: An option offers significantly less money to a writer than a
sale, but a deal is a deal, and beyond the cash, the PR value of landing a deal can be
considerable as it adds to the perception you are a hot commodity.
They can be an asset: Just because a spec script doesn’t sell now doesn’t mean it
won’t sell down the road. For example, the spec script “The Chung Factor” sold in
November 2011. It made the Black List in 2005. That’s 6 years! Times change, tastes

change, business cycles change. Your horror zombie psycho dude musical may not fit
a niche now, but in 2015, it could slot right into that future Zeitgeist.
And then there is this intangible:
The irreplaceable experience you gain as a writer by writing spec scripts.
I’m reminded of screenwriter John Swetnam who said in this interview he wrote 16
specs before making his first sale “Evidence”. That script has been produced and the
movie came out in theaters in 2013. If we asked John did he have to write all of
those 16 scripts in order to acquire the knowledge and experience he needed to write
“Evidence,” I’m sure he would say yes.
There’s every reason for you to have a goal of writing a spec script and selling it.
Take that dream, make it your own and use it to fuel your creative aspirations.
But also know this:
Even if that spec does not sell, it still has value to you as a writer.

Part 20: The value of a spec script… if it does sell
Congratulations! You just sold your spec script for big bucks. Or not so big bucks.
If the latter, it’s still probably for six figures which ain’t bad for sitting on one’s arse
all day conjuring up stories.
If the former, maybe it’s mid-six figures. Or even seven-figures. Hey, it can happen.
Witness the sale of “Grim Night” for a cool million dollars to a pair of first-time
writers.
In either case, you have broken through the protective bubble that surrounds
Hollywood, transitioning from outsider to insider.
But remember this:
As difficult as it has been for you to get to this point and achieve this goal, it is just
the beginning. And no matter how excited you are by the whirlwind of activity
surrounding you, how bedazzling it feels to be the flavor-of-the-week in Hollywood is,
how much smoke is being blown up your keester, you must remember this:
Movies don’t owe anybody a living.

So be smart.
◆ Even if you sell a spec script, I would recommend not giving up the day job.
Just yet. See how things shake out for a year or two. You get a few paid writing
projects lined up, maybe then make your move to L.A..
◆ Sock away at least 20% of what you earn into savings to give you a buffer when
the Hollywood winds starting blowing in your face, not at your back.
◆ Treat each script as if it’s your first and last chance to tell a great story. Yes,
there will be assignments you take where the subject matter doesn’t lend itself
to being ‘great,’ but even then you need to bring your A-game to your writing.
◆ Put in more blood, sweat and tears now than you did before. The competition
is fierce. So no matter the amount of hours you have put in to get this far,
redouble your effort. You want to play with the players? You gotta be able to
stay up with the players.
Depending upon how hard you have worked at learning the craft, how savvy you are
at working with your reps, how well you slot into the film development system, and
how willing you are to put your nose to the proverbial grindstone, you can make a
shit-ton of money in Hollywood.
And that spec script you sold? That is your calling card. Depending on how good it is
[Black List?], it can become your springboard to a screenwriting career.

Go Into The Story And Find The Animals
This mantra is both the name of my blog, and my wish for you.
It derives from a conversation I had many years ago with my then three year-old son.
It went pretty much like this:
ME
Hey, Luke, I’m starting to write a
new script tomorrow. And it’s funny,
but no matter how many times I start
a new story, I get a bit, uh,
nervous about it. Got any, you know,
advice for your dad?
LUKE
(without hesitation)
Go into the story and find the
animals.
God as my witness, that’s what my son said.
Now who knows what Luke was really thinking at the time. Stupidly I didn’t follow
up with him, flummoxed as I was at his comment. I remember mulling it over and
thinking that the whole idea of going into a story is precisely what a writer does,
immersing themselves in a narrative universe that they create. That has always
seemed just right to me, both in its simplicity and profundity, which is frankly why I
named this blog GoIntoTheStory.
But over time, it’s the other part in which I’ve discovered more and more layers of
meaning.
Start with the verb “find.” Is there any word more appropriate to describe the
writing process? Here are some of its definitions:
to come upon by chance:
Doesn’t that sound like brainstorming?
to locate, attain, or obtain by search or effort:
Doesn’t that sound like research?
to discover or perceive after consideration:
Doesn’t that sound like what happens when we mull over our story?
to feel or perceive:
As we go into the story, we become more emotionally connected to it.
to become aware of, or discover:
The biggie, where as explorers we uncover a story’s hidden gems.

Then there is “the animals”.
I’m almost sure what Luke was thinking about was how a children’s story so often is
habituated by animals. Thus in his eyes, my task was probably pretty simple:
Go find the animals. They are your characters.
But what if we think about it more symbolically?

● Animals can be both domesticated and wild. So some things we discover as
we go into the story are what we might expect (domesticated). Other times
we’re surprised, even shocked by ideas and thoughts that spring to mind
(wild).
● Animals are alive, organic, and intuitive beings. So are our story’s characters.
● Throughout human history, animals have come to mean something in
stories. A fox is sly and cunning. A crow in many cultures signifies death. An
owl is wise. Per Jung and others who study myth and psychoanalysis, animals
can serve as conduits into the mind of the dreamer.
Which reminds me of something I read about a movie director who in prepping to

make a movie gave each of the actors their own animal token as something they could
reference in interpreting their character.
I’m sure if you think about it, you could probably come up with other shades of
meaning for the mantra.
I just know that this one’s my favorite mantra of all because of its source.
There you have it: My approach to rewriting a screenplay and my wish for you.
I hope that you have resonated with at least one of them. Use them to help you focus
your thoughts and bring clarity to your writing process.
But for now and always, my wish for each of you is the same sentiment as once
uttered by a cherubic youngster with bright blue eyes and a look of deep intention in
his face:
Go into the story… and find the animals.

Resources + Links
Go Into The Story: https://gointothestory.blcklst.com/
Screenwriting Master Class: http://screenwritingmasterclass.com/
DePaul School of Cinematic Arts: http://www.cdm.depaul.edu/about/Pages/School-

of-Cinematic-Arts.aspx
Zero Draft Thirty Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/

731218807011913/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GoIntoTheStory
Email: GITSblog@gmail.com
Special thanks to Franklin Leonard and the entire Black List team. In the 12 years of
its existence, the Black List has evolved into the single most important screenwriting
brand in Hollywood. Their commitment to shining a spotlight on the craft of
screenwriting and notable screenplays, and to create new avenues for outsiders to
break into the movie and TV business is a vision I share. I’m proud to contribute to
the Black List’s efforts through Go Into The Story and serve as a mentor at their
outstanding screenwriter labs.
For more information about the Black List: https://blcklst.com/
For previously published Free GITS ebooks - you’ll find links here, and at the link to
Go Into The Story at the top of this page. Share them around!
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© Scott Myers

About the Author

From 2002-2010, I was an executive producer at Trailblazer Studios, overseeing the

The adventure continues...

Volume 1: 30 Things about Screenwriting

Volume 5: A Screenwriter’s Guide to Aristotle’s Poetics

Volume 6: A Screenwriter’s Guide to Reading a Screenplay

About the Author

About the Go Into The Story PDF Series

Introduction: Everything You Wanted To Know About Specs

Part 1: The Genesis of the Spec Script [1900–1942]

Part 2: The Emergence of the Spec Script Market [1942–1990]

Part 3: Boom, Bust, and Back Again [1990–2012]

Part 4: The Buyers - Studios and Financiers

Part 5: Developing the Spec Script

Part 6: Rolling out a new writer’s spec script

Part 7: Attaching producers

Part 8: Attaching talent

Part 9: “Own All The Tickets”

Part 10: Creating Buzz

Part 11: Slipping a script to someone

Part 12: Serendipity

Part 13: Targeting Specific Buyers

Part 14: Going Wide

Part 15: Bidding War

Part 16: Preemptive Purchase

Part 17: Write What They’re Buying

Part 18: Sell Them Your Dream

Part 19: The value of a spec script… even if it doesn’t sell

Part 20: The value of a spec script… if it does sell

© Scott Myers / Everything You Wanted To Know About Specs 5

SCENE L: CLOSE-UP ON THE BAR IN WESTERN SALOON

A group of Western types of the early period are drinking

© Scott Myers / Everything You Wanted To Know About Specs 6

© Scott Myers / Everything You Wanted To Know About Specs 7

”Katharine Hepburn was our agent. We had her in mind when

© Scott Myers / Everything You Wanted To Know About Specs 8

© Scott Myers / Everything You Wanted To Know About Specs 9

This New York Times article announced the sale.

Title: The Cheese Stands Alone

Title: City of Darkness

Title: Cold As Ice

© Scott Myers / Everything You Wanted To Know About Specs 10

LA Times article here.

Title: Hell Bent… And Back!

Title: City of Darkness

Title: Cold As Ice

© Scott Myers / Everything You Wanted To Know About Specs 11

This New York Times article announced the sale.

Title: Prince of Thieves

This New York Times article announced the sale.

Title: Radio Flyer

New York Times article re the sale. LA Times Review.

© Scott Myers / Everything You Wanted To Know About Specs 12

Title: Stay Tuned

Title: The Ticking Man

Title: The Ultimatum

© Scott Myers / Everything You Wanted To Know About Specs 13