Welcome back to the spec script!

If you’re following the talk about town lately, you’re hearing rumors about the resurgence of the spec script market. From online articles to podcasts, everyone is discussing the sale of 9 spec scripts to studios this August. Nine! That’s more in one month than the annual average for the past few years. Why? What is causing this sudden desire for production companies to re-discover their love of spec scripts?

There are a few shifts in the film industry that are driving the speculation. But before we dive into them, let’s clarify what a spec script is.

What Is a Spec Script?

A spec script stands for “speculative script.” It’s a script you write without being paid to write it. Every screenwriter has written a spec script because you can’t get hired or sell a script if you haven’t written one. The majority of the indie film market is driven by spec script options. InkTip is the marketplace where screenwriters go to sell their spec scripts and indie producers use to search for their next project. 

Spec scripts are a great way to hone your skills as a writer, to write wild and imaginative stories, to challenge yourself by writing one-location stories. Spec scripts for decades have been the calling card for screenwriters to land agents and get their foot in the door.

Then the 2000s hit.

The State of the Industry

The 1990s was the zenith of the spec script market with films like Basic Instinct, Reality Bites, Good Will Hunting, and more getting their start as spec script sales. But then the change of the millennium happened. A shift began in Hollywood. What started as a geeky boy fan club exploded once Kevin Feige got his hands on it. I’m talking about the MCU. Disney launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and in 2012, the film The Avengers grossed over $1.5 billion world-wide. Eventually, Warner Bros. would follow with the DC Universe. 

Marvel Cinematic Universe. © Marvel / Disney.

Superhero movies, and any film based off of previous intellectual property, were here to stay, but they weren’t heroes to the spec market. With studios clamoring to go bigger both on screen and off screen with ticket sales, they decided the smaller, quieter films weren’t drawing in the crowds. Studios stopped buying over 100 spec scripts a year. The number plummeted to low double digits at best. Audiences wanted to see every movie based off of their favorite book, comic, or childhood movie!

In the 2010s, 91% of the top films each year were based on intellectual property. Twilight. Hunger Games. Maze Runner. Divergent. The MCU. Perhaps part of the boom of the IP films was in thanks to Harry Potter, which was wrapping up its franchise in 2010 and kicked off the idea that every last installment of a book needed to be split into two movies. Twilight and Hunger Games failed to do that well, and Divergent just failed. But that didn’t stop studios from trying to suck dry a franchise. Instead, it led to the reboot, remake, sequel, prequel era. Studios only wanted to invest in big projects with an already established audience built in. They wanted to play it safe.

Then the pandemic hit. Movie theaters closed. Film releases migrated from AMC to your TV set. Productions came to a screeching halt. Production companies weren’t buying scripts (unless they could be made over Zoom) because they weren’t making films.

The state of the film industry was not good. 

Cinema Village closed in 2020. © Variety.

Eventually, covid tests and vaccines and distancing allowed productions to creep back to work. But many scripts that were being shopped around pre-pandemic lost their traction or their financing disappeared. 

Then the WGA and SAG strikes of 2023 hit, causing the industry to once again grind to a halt. 

It’s been a slow and tough recovery.

A Brave New/Old World

Change is in the air. Recently, literary manager/producer Geoff Shaevitz with Entertainment 360 was a guest on Matthew Belloni’s podcast The Town discussing the sudden resurgence of the spec script market. One reason Shaevitz suggests for the uptick is the decreasing desire for scripts to come fully-packaged to studios.

When a script is packaged to a studio, it is delivered with every attachment: a director, all cast with A-list actors, and more. It can take years to fully package a script. You also run the risk of packaging a script with amazing talent only to discover that a producer at a studio can’t stand working with a particular actor. Wasted time. Many studios also want ownership over the film that they can’t get with a fully packed script. They want to select the director or suggest the perfect actor, putting their stamp on it.

Shaevitz mentions on The Town that F1 is a perfect example of a project that was shopped around with everyone attached including Brad Pitt to star and Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick) to direct. At the height of the streaming boom, Apple bought the package.

Brad Pitt in ‘F1: The Movie.' © Warner Bros. Pictures / Apple Original Films

But packaged scripts can’t get made as fast as a spec script with no attachments. As I mentioned, it takes time, sometimes years, to find all the pieces to the packaged puzzle. On the other hand, spec scripts don’t need to wait for letters of intent. They can be sent out to multiple production companies and studios at once, possibly generating a buzz or bidding war. At the very least, you can get a feel for how the script is doing and then make sure it is delivered to the right company.

Another reason for the change in the spec market is that audiences now want more than superhero films. We’ve watched them all for 15 years, and our desire is waning. We need something new, and new does not mean a prequel to Hunger Games. Production companies are looking for original voices and fresh stories. 

Some recent spec scripts that have had huge success are in the romance/comedy realm. Anyone But You starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell was a surprise hit of 2023. This past summer Materialists starring Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal, and Chris Evans brought in over $100 million world-wide. On the other side of the equation, the horror spec market remains strong as always. Zach Cregger’s mystery horror flick Weapons has grossed over $150 million.

Writing the Spec Script

When it comes to what to write as a spec script, write what you want to watch. If you don’t love your script, you won’t be able to get anyone else to love it either.

Next, polish your spec. Don’t shop around first or second drafts. Production companies want scripts that they can hit the ground running and start shooting. That means your script needs to be ready.

Finally, cast a wide net with your writing. Don’t write with just one company in mind, like Disney or Blumhouse. Write a script that allows for different production companies to see their vision of the script when they read it. Keep in mind, this means you need to be open to changing your script to fit a production company’s vision. If you refuse to do rewrites or make changes, then you are the only person who can make your spec script. So, pick up a camera and start filming.

But if you are ready to capitalize on the growing spec market, post your work on InkTip and cast that wide net to our producers. 

A graduate of Northwestern University in radio/TV/film, Chris worked in the film industry as an assosiate producer on reality TV shows before moving into the record industry and eventually landing at InkTip where she runs a plethora of departments. She's written more than 100 articles featuring interviews with producers, screenwriters, actors, and novelists. She spends her free time spoiling her guinea pigs, hiking California, and actively avoiding parking in Hollywood.