Just Effing Entertain Me

Key Largo, Montego…

The tune. It’s stuck in your head now, right? Ha! Ha, ha, I say! (bonus points: What Tennessee Williams-penned movie starring Marlon Brando features that dialogue?) Just letting all you loyal Wavers know that I am not abandoning you, I am going to Key West for a week for a much needed, long-awaited, well-deserved vacation with the Mini-W. I shall return the first week of August with all sorts of fun plans for The Rouge Wave including an interview with a writers’ assistant on “Scrubs.” LEARN how he got the job, SEE what it’s like and FIND OUT how he plans to use the position to leverage himself up using the experience!

Have a lovely week upcoming, Wavers – I won’t be around to approve/publish comments until I return, but don’t let that stop or discourage you. Meanwhile you can picture me sitting on the beach sipping a pina colada and planning tours of Ernest Hemingway’s house. Ahhhhh…!

Aruba, Jamaica ooh I wanna take ya
To Bermuda, Bahama come on pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego baby why don’t we go
Jamaica
off the Florida Keys
There’s a place called Kokomo
That’s where you wanna go to get away from it all

It’s the Little Things

So the other day I was felled by a spider. A tiny, unseen spider bit me and three days, two doctors and six medications later, I am beginning to feel better. Who knew that such a tiny little being could wreak such havoc? I am sad to report that I have no super powers but I sure am humbled. I am also reminded that we writers need to look sky high but also beneath every rock and pebble for our story ideas; what started as a simple spider bite could become a thriller, horror or even a romcom, couldn’t it? What chain of events might be set off by something so seemingly insignificant?

I am also humbled by the success of my teleclass and by the great questions asked by listeners. The feedback I have received has been nothing but positive and I am certainly inspired to schedule more teleclasses covering all sorts of screenwriting topics of interest. One idea I had was to feature a guest who is “That Guy” – a screenwriter who is doing everything right and who is about to break in – wouldn’t it be interesting to learn from one of your peers about how to more effectively network, or how many hours a day you should be writing or what events or infolists you may be missing out on? I am open to suggestions – what topics are you interested in?

Last week’s teleclass will be converted to an MP3 and available for purchase later in August when I reveal my new micro-site, to which The Rouge Wave will be migrating. What the what? Did you read that right? Yes, you did. TRW will be migrating to a different address come this fall. I’m very excited; the blog will have more to offer and a whole new look. Elves are working day and night to make the transition a smooth one. No need to worry or do anything different; this URL will have a redirect.

In the meantime, here is a website that I’ve known about for awhile but neglected to post here on TRW. Jeff Gund’s infolist is just chock-a-block with great information so take your time and really look this site over for class and job listings that may be of interest. One does need to keep abreast of such things, right?

Have a lovely weekend, Wavers, and please, avoid those arachnid cousins of ours – they are just plain cranky enough to bite and it’s no fun, believe you me.

Last Chance: Teleclass Sign Up

Thanks, everybody, for the interest in the class! We’ve had quite a number of signups! For administrative purposes, we’ve got to have a cut-off time so that’s 5pm Pacific time today.

Any signups, please email me directly and I’ll walk you through how to register. It’s quick and easy. Don’t forget our special guest who will come on to answer a few questions during the last half hour, Gary W. Goldstein, my friend and mentor and the producer of PRETTY WOMAN.

So that’s from 7pm tonight, July 14th, (pacific time) to 8:30pm. The cost is $25 and yes, the call will be recorded and available at a later date. REGISTER HERE.

Gersh Agency Reinvention

This just in from Hollywood Wiretap: The Gersh Agency has renamed, rebranded and relocated entirely. This is very interesting news, guys. Why? Because Gersh is opening up the playing field for everyone and becoming a serious threat to some of the other agencies by modeling themselves after more holistic businesses like Mosaic Media and BenderSpink – mini-studios, if you will, repping writers, actors, directors and dipping into production as well. I see this as an industry-specific economic stimulus package. If you’ve been feeling gloomy about the recession and what it may mean for your chances as an aspiring writer – take heart. Yes the market has been slow, yes the competition among writers has been quite tough, but this move by Gersh highlights the growing horizon of entertainment. Nobody invests 30 million dollars into an entertainment company that ISN’T gonna make that money back and how. So for all you screenwriters out there, the industry for which you are writing is alive and well, trust me on this.

So for your reading pleasure, here is the whole article:

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As of today the Gersh Agency has new digs, a new name, $30 million in financing for a move into production — and its first co-financed movie project, according to Deadline Hollywood Daily, the Hollywood Reporter and Variety.

The venerable 60-year-old agency has rebranded itself as simply Gersh, with a new logo and 35,000 square feet of office space at 9465 Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills (where else).

As part of what Gersh co-president David Gersh described as continuing “a very planned and steady growth over the last 10 years,” Carolyn Sibitz joined the agency, making her the fourth hire from the fallout of the Endeavor-William Morris merger.

Addtionally, a third-generation Gersh also recently came aboard — Steve Gersh, 26, is an alumnus of the highly regarded USC film school Peter Stark Producing Program, Deadline Hollywood Daily noted.

Gersh also tapped producer Jay Cohen in April to run its new Film Financing and Packaging division, DHD and Variety said, and Morris agent Roland Scahill is heading a Theatrical Tour Booking division out of the New York office. Endeavor agent Daisy Wu also joined its talent department.

The indie film funding comes from Queen Nefertari Prods. CEO Cynthia Stafford and producer Jeff Kalligheri. They will be producers on the associated projects, and actor-producer Lanre’ Idewu will serve as consulting producer.

First up under the new fund is the comedy “Adrenaline,” scripted by Gersh client Justin Ware. It is produced by Kirkland Tibbels of Hollywood Farms Production Co., Matthew Lillard and Kerry Barden.

Promoting internally, Gersh also recently elevated Abram Nalibotsky to partner and named Alex Yarosh head its talent department. Six assistants also were promoted to agents.

Taking a different path than CAA and William Morris Endeavor, managing partner Leslie Siebert noted that those percenteries “have made it very clear that they only want to represent the top 2% of the business.” But “our goal is to represent top talent in every area — filmmakers, writers, producers, actors … with a personal managerial approach.”

“We don’t want 2,000 clients.,” co-president Bob Gersh added. “We don’t think you can best service those clients. … We’re competitive in that we do a great job on behalf of the client.”

Steve Gersh, meanwhile, is already busy with up-and-comers such as Shawn Ashmore (“X-Men”) and Autumn Reeser (“Entourage”).

He’s the grandson of founder Phil Gersh and son of current agency co-head David Gersh.

With 65 agents, Gersh anticipates its revamped company and newly remodeled digs — which were formerly home to The Firm and just happen to be nextdoor to WME’s under-construction new home — will encourage potential clients to see it as a serious, competitive alternative to the big agencies as well as to ICM, UTA and Paradigm.

Teleclass July 14th, 7pm PST

Hey everybody! Just a reminder that my first ever teleclass, Top 10 Things Readers Hate is Tuesday, July 14th at 7pm PST. As an added bonus, my friend and colleague, Gary W. Goldstein will be jumping on the call in the last 30 minutes to answer your industry-related questions. Gary is a fountain of information and, take it from me, a prince among men. He has produced a couple of movies you may have seen – oh, say, PRETTY WOMAN and UNDER SIEGE to name just a couple.

The cost for this 90-minute class is a mere $25. The class will be recorded and available for purchase down the line when I figure out the nuts and bolts of that.

The class covers a lot of ground, starting with what the lives and jobs of readers are really like. Many screenwriters really don’t have a clear picture of just who these gatekeepers of Hollywood are. Next, we discuss the top 10 list. Actually, our list goes to 11. Natch. We review the list of crazy-making no-nos and how to avoid them.

For information on how to register, please email my assistant Chaia, who will be happy to help you.

Trailers: The Experts Speak

Hello, Wavers! I tell ya, it’s a good feeling when TRW has a profile such that I get emails and requests from industry professionals. Just the other day, a young man working with a massively successful producer* called, asking for scripts that I think are great for possible new projects. It was fun going through my client list and pitching projects that I think might be a fit. Talk about pitching on the fly! It’s easier when it’s not your own material, lemme tell ya. When it’s you, you look like Albert Brooks in BROADCAST NEWS…

*…and I mean massively successful. Usually when people give me a name and say they are successful or well known, I roll my eyes a little – yeah, right. But I pulled up this guy’s information on Studio System while we were on the phone and almost choked on my afternoon espresso shot.

So anyway, I heard from IFC about a follow-up to their post about the top 50 best movie trailers of all time and thought I’d link that here today for your enjoyment.

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When we humbly submitted our list of the 50 Greatest Movie Trailers the other week, we knew it would be controversial. There was internal debate about old versus new, blockbusters versus low-budget films, comedies versus dramas, teasers versus full-length trailers…and at the end of the day, we agree with Dan Asma, who defined a great trailer as one that leaves an audience saying to themselves, “whoa, I’ve got to see this movie.”

Click HERE to read the rest!

Top Ten Things Readers Hate – the Teleclass!

Hello, Wavers. Well, it had to come to pass. I’m teaching a teleclass. It should be a lot of fun and I’ve taught this particular class (live) a few times and participants generally wind up laughing, crying and coming terms with the errors of their ways all at once. All I know is the last time I taught this class I had a line out the door and standing room only.

Top Ten Things Readers Hate covers a lot of ground, starting with what the lives and jobs of readers are really like. Many screenwriters really don’t have a clear picture of just who these gatekeepers of Hollywood are. Next, we discuss the top 10 list. Actually, our list goes to 11. Natch. We review the list of top 10 crazy-making no-nos and how to avoid them. Some are self-explanatory, like number 10:

Don’t send weird stuff in the mail with your script.

Others are require a little more explanation, like number eight:

Don’t write a schizophrenic script.

The class is Tuesday, July 14th at 7pm PST and you can take it from the comfort of your own home, in your pajamas. It doesn’t get better than that. The cost for this 90-minute class is a mere $25 – a recession special for you recessionistas.

For questions or instructions on how to sign up, please email my intrepid assistant, Chaia.

50 Greatest Trailers of All Time

Hey Wavers! You know what you need today? A massively entertaining distraction. That’s right, so put down that dusting spray, kick off your fuzzy slippers and check out the 50 Greatest Trailers of All Time. What do they have in common? What surprises you on this list? What do you totally disagree with?

My two cents: GARDEN STATE – I really enjoyed the movie, actually, but this trailer doesn’t really do it justice. I don’t think I’d decide to see the film based on this trailer. BLAIR WITCH, on the other hand – genius. The CLOVERFIELD trailer – great stuff.

Each trailer has a great explanation of why it works and let me tell you, Wavers – it is just fascinating.

Now we know that trailers are edited and produced by companies hired to do just that. Or did you know that? I found that out awhile back. These trailer houses are given the footage and they go about fashioning the most powerful trailer possible. So after you’ve enjoyed the heck out of these trailers, ask yourself – what are the trailer moments in your script? Do you have them? Make that your one writing question today – where are your trailer moments?

Hear That?

…that’s the sound of judges judging. Sorry it’s been so quiet on the Rouge Wave lately, Wavers. We have been keeping our heads down at The Script Department, as we judge hundreds and hundreds of scripts for The Silver Screenwriting Competition (a wholly owned subsidiary). We aim to be done sorting through them to see who rises to the quarterfinal round by the end of July, if all goes well. This is the second year I have administrated and judged this competition and let me tell you my resume will be bulging with experience for the rest of my life. Handling all of those submissions, writers, payments, judges, organization. Lemme tell ya, Wavers, this is NOT an easy yob.

I’m giving my judges IVs of Red Bull and weekly shoulder massages. So far we’ve come across a few gems so I think the next rounds should be interesting. I haven’t been judging this round, just administrating it, which, as above, is a herculean job. But the next round, when we have approximately 50 quarterfinalists, I shall be jumping in and doing some reading.

I can tell you first hand that the economy might be slow but writers are keeping busy generating material and getting feedback on it. The Script Department is bulging with orders every single day. My readers are working full time.

At the Great American Pitch Fest on June 13th and 14th, the Marriott was packed with writers from all over the world. Last evening, I joined Gary Goldstein in a teleclass with over 50 screenwriters on the line and the passion of the writers was obvious. So eff the economy, Wavers, keep your head down and write write write. Because when the wet blanket lifts new material is going to be in demand like never before. Sometimes I take for granted the immersion I have had for the past few years and how much I have learned about writers, writing and the industry. Last night Gary and I were talking about the industry and how they want “butts in seats.” A caller finally got her turn and asked about two technical terms Gary and I had been using: “first look deal” and “button seats.”

In other news, I will be attending a luncheon at Warner Brothers, speaking to a group called WOW – Women of Warners – in early August. What an honor that invitation is! And Wavers know me by now – I still get very excited to have lunch on a lot. Even though I work on a lot. You can take the girl out of the country but you cannot take the country out of the girl.

The Mini-W and I have been engaged in our summer tradition of Movie Marathon Summer, though we’ve gotten off to a slow start. The Mini-W will be recapping our summer movie bacchanal before she returns to school this fall. While I write this the Mini-W is in a digital filmmaking camp on the UCLA campus. This very afternoon the students will be debuting their finished films at a theater on campus. Very exciting. Of course, it really struck the Mini-W that yesterday she was a scant quarter mile from where Michael Jackson died. Is his death akin to the death of John Lennon in 1980? I remember that very vividly and how sad and upsetting that was.

All right, Wavers, you guys have a great weekend and I promise that I’ll try to post more frequently than I have been and keep you posted on the judging.

Spec Market Round Up

While generally The Rouge Wave is more ruminative, reflective, instructive and wrist-slappy rather than industry-newsy, today I am blatantly cutting and pasting from a blog that you should absolutely be reading, Wavers, called Life On The Bubble. Jason is a friend of a friend (how Hollywood is that?) and hereby receives my “I’m not worthy” genuflection.

This is information that applies directly to you, Wavers. The spec market is where you want to be, right? Well, read this carefully because doing so will disabuse you of any pie-in-the-sky fantasies that selling a script is a cake walk. And I just have to take a moment to high-five myself for mixing my pastry metaphors. Wow. Monday morning, too. Ahhh-booyah!

Sorry. Back to Serious Things. I know this is a bit of a depressing read but you need to be aware of this stuff. While it may feel like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic to even bother sending a script to rep in hopes of hitting the spec market, you have to remember that the market will not always be this flat and that he who was busy building more, newer, better deck chairs is the one who’ll be on top when the market does open up. And it will. At some point. Who knows, is it possible that there will be a gold rush of crazy spec sales in a year or two? Will you be ready for that possibility?

Anyway, many thanks to Jason Scoggins for such a terrific, informative blog. It’s the sour to go with the sweet of The Rouge Wave. It’s the salt to the pepper. It’s the cinnamon on top of the…all right, anyway, you get my point. It’s not pretty but you need to have an awareness of the realities of the market:

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Spec Market Roundup: May 2009
by Jason Scoggins
June 1, 2009

Thanks to the feedback we received from last month’s Spec Market Roundup, we refined our methodology in a couple of ways this month:

* We’re now differentiating between sales of specs that went out widely and those that did not appear in the marketplace prior to selling. Not only does this provide another lens through which to view the state of the marketplace, it keeps those hand-sold projects from skewing the data for the scripts that go out wide (since we’re not in a position to know about every script that gets slipped to just a couple of buyers).
* We’ve broken Buyers into two categories: “Studios” (for lack of a better term), which we think of as the Majors, Mini-Majors and their various studio labels; and “Other,” for everyone else.
* We’ve also broken Sellers into two categories as well: “Agents,” and “Managers” (for obvious reasons).

Together, we think these refinements help provide a clearer picture of the spec marketplace as a whole.

At first glance, May’s spec script sales numbers seem to be yet another month-over-month improvement: 10 out of 39 specs sold in May, compared to 9 in April and 8 each in February and March, for a sales percentage of 26%. That’s the highest number of monthly sales so far this year, and easily the highest percentage.

However, 9 out of May’s 10 sales were scripts that went directly to buyers, as opposed to going out wide to producers in the usual spec fashion. In other words, just 1 of the 30 spec scripts that went out wide in May sold (“The Gunslinger,” out from UTA & Benderspink, which sold to Warner Bros. for Andrew Lazar’s Mad Chance). That’s a shockingly low sales rate of 3%. In this month’s Spec Market Scorecard we’ll be breaking out the numbers for previous months and rolling them up for the year-to-date figures. Suffice it to say here, though, that the state of the marketplace is not pretty: Just 6% of specs that have gone out wide this year have sold. We wish we had access to the total number of scripts that went out narrowly last month for comparison.

Here are May’s raw numbers:

* 30 specs went out wide;
* 1 of those sold; and
* 9 additional spec sales were reported

Weekly Breakdown:
Week of May 4:

* 8 specs went wide, 1 of which sold
* 3 additional sales were reported

Week of May 11:

* 10 specs went wide, none sold
* 1 additional sale was reported

Week of May 18:

* 9 specs went wide, none sold
* 2 additional sales were reported

Week of May 25:

* 3 specs went wide, none sold
* 3 additional sales were reported

May 25 was Memorial Day, which helped make the last week in May the slowest of 2009 since Sundance. We’d bet the impending completion of the William Morris/Endeavor merger was a factor as well (see below). In any case, since that last week of May was such an outlier, the weekly average number of new scripts (7.5) is meaningless.

Genre Breakdown, Attachments, Etc.

Collectively, the Buyers seem to have bought their fill of Comedies over the past several months, since not one sold in May. Instead, they switched to Dramas, a genre in which not a single spec had sold in the first four months of the year. Here’s the breakdown:
1 – Action
4 – Drama
2 – Sci-Fi/Fantasy (including one animation project)
3 – Thriller

On the attachment front, four of the 10 sales had significant filmmaker or actor elements attached. Two of those four had Hugh Jackman on board as producer and/or star, one had Jim Carrey as producer and star, and the fourth had John Lee Hancock writing and directing (plus Overbrook producing). None of this month’s sales reported multiple bidders, and only one was a reported preemptive purchase (Intrepid’s purchase of “Childhood Heroes” from Abstract Entertainment).

Buyers and Sellers

Warner Bros. was the big spender of the Studios in May, purchasing 3 of the month’s 10 scripts. The other two studio buyers were Fox and Sony, with one each. Among the Other buyers, each of the following companies bought one script each: Beloved, Intrepid, Relativity, Reliance and Starz Media Animation.

Of the agencies, CAA had the best month, with 3 sales; the firm also took 2 scripts out wide, neither of which had sold as of this writing. UTA was in second position in May with two sales, one of which was the sole sale in May that went out wide, out of 3 wide attempts last month. Endeavor, Gersh and William Morris each sold a spec script as well, none of which went out wide.

Eight management companies were involved in the ten spec sales in May: Abstract Entertainment, Anonymous Content, Benderspink, Category 5, The Gotham Group, Kaplan/Perrone, The Radmin Co. and Marty Shapiro Management. Of those, two sold their projects without agency involvement: Abstract Entertainment (“Childhood Heroes,” to Intrepid); and Marty Shapiro Management (“Umbra,” to Relativity).

On a side note, neither WMA nor Endeavor sold a spec in May after the 5th, just as the rumors of WMA’s layoffs began to mount in earnest. In fact, all of WMA’s and Endeavor’s sales from mid-April to the end of May fall into the “direct to buyers” category, where the scripts did not appear widely in the marketplace prior to the announcement of their sale. It’s a safe bet that those sales got started well before the merger was confirmed and the writing was on the wall about which agents would be joining WME and which would not. Regardless, there’s no doubt that the merger has been a distraction for both companies and an opportunity for their competitors. We wonder how badly the situation affected WMA’s and Endeavor’s TV Lit staffing efforts over the past few weeks as well.

About The Spec Market Roundup:
The Spec Market Roundup is a terribly unscientific analysis of the feature film spec script market based on information culled from a variety of public and non-public sources. It does not include pitch sales nor the film rights to underlying material. These are by no means official numbers, merely a fairly complete summary.

About Jason Scoggins:
Jason Scoggins is a manager and partner at Protocol, a Beverly Hills-adjacent literary management and production company. He represents writers, directors and producers of film and TV alongside Protocol’s founding partners Brian Inerfeld and John Ufland. After getting his start in the entertainment business as an assistant at ICM, Scoggins became a TV Literary Agent at The Gersh Agency, followed by a stint at Writers & Artists Agency and then several years in the wilderness. He returned to the business in 2007, just in time to be impacted by the run-up to the WGA strike.