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| I'll take any excuse to post a picture of Emma Stone. Boy howdy! |
The word is out. This has been the best season in quite sometime for selling specs on the old boulevard of dreams.
For the non-writers among us. Spec = A screenplay written without being assigned to do so. I.E. A screenplay written by a writer because the writer wanted to write it, not because the writer agreed to do so for another party, per an upfront contractual reason. Antonym: Assignment.
We even had a veritable lotto winner this year. Lauryn Kahn, a 29 year old screenwriter, whose writing credits up until now include a lot of shorts, sold her first feature, He's Fuckin' Perfect, to Fox 2000 for $1 million up front, against $1.5 million. Pay! Day!
It's every screenwriters dream come true. But how did she do it? Through the standard way really, a lot of gumption and a lot of hard work of course. But let's break it down.
1) Concept. The concept of the screenplay was universally approachable for today's audience. Meaning, it was "commercial." Which is what sells for the big bucks in today's spec marketplace.
"The [romantic] comedy focuses on a social media savvy girl who is pessimistic about love and vets her friends’ dates to find flaws. When that process leads her to uncover the perfect guy, she decides to use her internet research skills to turn herself into his perfect match."
Slightly generic perhaps, but this is just the concept remember. Execution is a whole other ball game. And while we can only surmise and guess at the execution, at least until there is a copy of the screenplay floating around the net to read, we can take an educated guess; based on a $1 mill dollar sale, it probably was well pretty well executed.
2) The Rare Bidding War. These don't happen much anymore. But it's a pretty simple concept. It's when a number of studios and/or interested parties become interested in the same property at the same time and start bidding against each other for the rights to that property. These used to be much more frequent, but studios have learned these aren't in their best interest and have become much more patient when looking to pick up properties. But million dollar sales can still result from one if they happen. Yay!
In this case, it was a bit of happenstance. The team helping Ms. Kahn, Gary Sanchez Productions (Will Ferrell's Prod. Co.) sent it to Emma Stone to get her on board. It ended up being sent out to the town from there. Fox 2000 was in the mix early, and when word got out about three other studios being interested, they made Ms. Kahn the $1mill/$1.5 mill offer with a ninety minute expiration. Bing, bang, boom ... Ms. Kahn accepted and sold the screenplay for seven figures.
"KAAAAAHHHHHHNNNN!" (You knew it was coming. #startreknerd)
3) Talent Attachment. As previously mentioned, Will Ferrell's prod team at Gary Sanchez Productions helped Ms. Kahn develop the script and gave her notes as she wrote, to help her hone it. Not a bad way to write a script if you can get it. Also, Emma Stone is one of the hottest actresses out there right now, and I'd surmise that her even being remotely interested was enough to spark interest from the town. Names and talent attachments sell screenplays. It's how a studio knows they'll make their money back.
4) Relationships. Ms. Kahn worked as an assistant to Adam McKay for four years. Adam McKay is part of the Gary Sanchez Prod. Co. team. Coincidence? It's almost an unwritten rule, if not understood, that being an assistant to a top talent like Adam McKay is a great step in the right direction for any young professional looking to break into the biz. But it is incumbent upon you, the assistant, to build and nurture relationships on your own. And no doubt Ms. Kahn did just that, as she is repped by one of the biggest agencies in the game, WME. However, Adam McKay also went out of his way to help Ms. Kahn get it out to the right people, including Emma Stone. And in a town known for folks with the "How will this help me?" attitude, it shows a lot of class and gumption on Adam McKay's part. And Ms. Kahn is the, undoubtedly grateful, beneficiary.
No surprises there as far as the path. Lauryn Kahn put all the pieces into play in just the right way. So all in all, a very envious and hearty congrats to Lauryn Kahn. It's a film I very likely will see, especially if Emma Stone is in it.
"KKKKKAAAAAHHHHHNNNNNN!!!" #startreknerd
UPDATE (11/7/11): Found a copy of He's Fuckin Perfect on the interwebs and gave it a quick once over. The execution is good. It's laugh out loud funny at parts and is definitely in the vein of what you would expect. The lead is strong (even if not terribly original), but it's no surprise Emma Stone is looking to come on board. Strong writing style and voice through out, very punchy. All in all I'd give it a 6.5 out of 10.
Should be fairly decent movie, even if it doesn't break any major ground in the raunchy rom-com genre. If it was pure execution based, I don't see this one scoring a seven figure pay day on its own, a sale for sure. Just not sure its worth what Fox 2000 paid. But Ms. Kahn went down the right path (as described above) and worked her butt off to do so. So no one can take that away from her, even if the film itself is destined to be a fun summer date flick you forget the next day. Kudos again to her.
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