Scott Myers has analyzed the 2021 spec scripts specs and reported the results on his excellent website Go Into The Story.
The takeaways:
- There were 34 spec(ulative) scripts sold in 2021.
- That number is up from 2019 and 2020 but less than 1992-2018.
- There was one first-timer who sold a spec script.
- “Streamers acquired the same number of spec scripts in 2021 as did the major studios and their subsidiaries.”
- Streamers doubled the number of their deals from 2020 to 2021.
- The most popular genres were Action and Thriller.
- Then came Drama and Comedy.
- The least popular genres (that were bought) were Science Fiction and Horror. (I mean, the least popular genres were actually the ones that weren’t bought at all, like my Family Western or my Polka Musical.)
Here are all Scott’s links:
- “2021 Spec Script Deal List
- 2021 Spec Script Deals Analysis: Genres
- 2021 Spec Script Sales Analysis: Buyers
- 2021 Spec Script Sales Analysis: Agent and Managers
- 2021 Spec Script Sales Analysis: Top Sales
- 2021 Spec Script Deals Analysis: First-Timers
- For The Definitive Spec Script Deals List [1991–2021], go here.”
My take: I can’t say enough good things about Mr. Myers. And I’m proud that in my own small way, I’ve contributed to his excellent website: see my breakdown of Andy Samberg’s Palm Springs.
Yes, Scott Myers’ site is cool. Someone mentioned it to me a few years ago – it may have been you or someone else?! I shall have a looksee at your breakdown of Andy Samberg’s “Palm Spring” after leaving a comment here. I had completely forgotten about Scott Myers’ site for at least two years, I think – so thank you for this, Michael!
It is interesting that as a rule, North American markets don’t like science fiction nor fantasy whereas European markets lean more into those genres. When Stephen and I visited the UK in 2006 and 2016, the favourite TV series tended to be science fiction and fantasy. Take “Humans” sci-fi drama series written by Sam Vincent and Jonathan Brackley based on the Swedish award-winning drama `Real Humans’ – when it was jointly done with a UK outlet and a U.S.A. basic cable network, it survived a mere 3 seasons. (I bet it would have lasted longer had it been completely backed in the UK.) The popular Italian fantasy series “The Cave of the Golden Rose” (‘Fantaghiro’) ran in the 1990s for 5 to 6 years before it split off into different sequels, one being an animated series. “Game of Thrones” was vastly more popular in Ireland, UK, Switzerland, Italy, Sweden, Poland, and Malta than it ever was in the U.S.A. and Canada. In 2016, while we were on a bus tour to the various locations in Northern Ireland, one Spanish woman said that her Spanish-American cousin had never heard of “Game of Thrones”, and she was surprised that we Canadians knew all about it! My husband and I were the ‘oddballs’ watching it when it first came on in its very first season back in 2011. My husband’s cousins in Scotland were hooked on it about the same time. When my daughter’s friend moved from Tennessee to BC a few years later, she never heard of the TV series – later discovering that it was ‘banned’ or their TV networks ‘refused’ to show it in some of the Bible belt states. When taking Annelise Larson’s session in the Incubators Program in 2020, she had the students do their research with various links and sure enough what my husband and I observed while in the UK was proven in the research. Target audience and the locale of the audience are very important. Thank you again for re-introducing me to Scott Myers’ site, Michael.