Is Selling Your Spec Script A Viable Funding Strategy For 2025?
+ my thoughts on the Black List and being proactive vs. passive
typewriter
Way back in 1997/1998 when I was on various Motion Picture desks at William Morris Agency, two young agents - Ramses Ishak and Mike Sherefsky catapulted to fame by essentially inventing the modern-day Spec Script business from the ground up. I watched deal after deal in the multi-millions roll in, many for new screenwriters just out of film school. They continued this momentum for years and it became a core part of the agency business as a whole.
Fast forward to today and this dynamic duo are now UTA partners and have been spec- script- selling- machines ever since (two plus decades, not a bad run). But in that time of course, the market has changed dramatically, and then changed again (and again).
The biggest changes over this period of time boil down to the frequency with which spec sales happen, and the nature of the scripts that sell. In fact, the spec market for anything but huge IP-based studio level projects all but disappeared for years. It was barely on the radar.
Then last week I read something in Deadline about a spec script called Clean Break that sold to Fox Searchlight…and here’s the kicker…. it was discovered on the Black List website. (it also landed a place on the annual Black List that was announced yesterday). But back when it was just another script uploaded to the Black List database, it rose through the ranks and became an instant hit on the platform. So much so that it landed the writer reps at a major Management company, and ultimately a seven-figure deal with Fox.
As a side note, I often hear from jaded screenwriters they think discovery platforms and script competitions are just a ploy to extract money from poor filmmakers. While some competitions and platforms can be a cash grab, there are a handful of legit places left to be discovered. I’ve been party to many success stories of good scripts, ripe for the market, rising to the top and getting discovered. It doesn’t mean those scripts get produced, but the best of the best do get noticed.
Is the Clean Break strategy replicable?
The short answer is probably not - spec script sales for anything but the biggest and most famous IP and writers are still outliers. Yes they can happen. But my gosh, it’s not a strategy - it’s a lottery ticket.
What should you do instead to get your scripts produced?
Let’s flash back again to the late nineties. I rotated on a few desks in the William Morris indie film financing department overseen and founded by Cassian Elwes. Equal in celebrity within the agency by the way and an amazing mentor to learn from.
The antidote to Specs is Packaging. And in our small but mighty department I learned the ropes of attaching directors, actors, musicians, you name it to create packages on scripts that weren’t right for the spec market. Packaging scripts with strong elements and then taking them to market for creative financing strategies was our lifeblood. And here’s where I believe I found my calling.
If you’ve been reading my newsletter for any amount of time you probably know I’m a huge advocate of Packaging projects in order to get them made. Creating a true value proposition for financiers and partners to get behind is how I approach any project big and small.
In my Consulting practice my goal is simple - I help filmmakers take a naked script or idea or piece of IP and attach enough meaningful elements to create something attractive for the market.
Then we lean into creative funding strategies to get projects made once they are packaged. More and more that means hybrid strategies which include some form of equity or private money with brand sponsors and if you’re lucky, some market-based financing sprinkled in for good measure.
I still applaud sites like Black List as discovery mechanisms for writers and the Black List competition for the ability to move careers forward, but there’s no reason those things can’t go in the background while you actively work to push your projects forward yourself. Not either/or but AND. Passive vs. proactive - they can live in harmony.
Who’s with me on this? What are your thoughts on waiting for a spec sale vs. rolling up your sleeves and doing the work yourself?
Let’s discuss below!
On that note, I wish you all a wonderful rest of the day and speak to you again soon…
Stacey
+++++
Great write up. Agree on all points.