Remember the 80s? Remember Shane Black? Joe Eszterhas? The decade of the million dollar spec?
It could be back.

Checking out April’s script sales there were nine (9) scripts sold for a million bucks or more. A MILLION BUCKS! Boy, if wannabe script writers were flooding the market with their wares before…. Look out now.

So what do you think? 80s re dux? Or just a blip on the spec market radar? Is this a sign that specs are back? Or is this just a reaction to the months long writer’s strike?

My own opinion? An anomaly. Coincidence. Wait another month, see what happens.

Any way, here are the lotto winners from April:

Title: Down River
Logline: Four successful twenty-something corporate men decide to go on an actual adventure trip to the Amazon rather than on a high-class trip where you pretend to rough it. Things go awry when their tour guide is killed and the men have to face not only dangerous wildlife and tribesmen but also one another.
Writer: Sheldon Turner
Agency: Creative Artists Agency
Lawyer: David Fox
Law Firm: Myman, Abell, Fineman, Fox, Greenspan & Light, LLP
Prod. Co: Regency Enterprises Apartment 3B
Price: Seven figures
Genre: Thriller
Logged: 4/22/2008
More: Pitch. Preemptive purchase. Apartment 3B’s Jennifer Klein will produce. Regency’s Adam Schoeder will oversee.

Title: Zookeeper
Logline: A zoo full of animals break the code of silence to help a down-on-his-luck zookeeper get the woman of his dreams by introducing the secret mating habits of their species.
Writer: Jay Scherick David Ronn
Agency: International Creative Management International Creative Management
Lawyer: Robert Offer Robert Offer
Law Firm: Offer, Weber & Dern Offer, Weber & Dern
Studio: MGM
Prod. Co: Broken Road Productions Becker Company, The Walt
Price: $2 million against $3 million
Genre: Comedy
Logged: 4/22/2008
More: Spec. Based on an idea by Todd Garner. Jennifer Eatz and Broken Road’s Todd Garner will produce. Walt Becker will direct. MGM’s Cale Boyter & Becky Sloviter will oversee.

Title: Untitled Lucas-Moore Project
Logline: No details given.
Writer: Jon Lucas Scott Moore
Agency: Creative Artists Agency Creative Artists Agency
Law Firm: Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Prod. Co: Original Film
Price: $700,000 against $1.5 million
Genre: Comedy
Logged: 4/21/2008
More: Pitch. Original’s Neal Moritz will produce. Lucas & Moore will executive produce.

Title: Iron Jack
Logline: Set in the 1930s, a renowned novelist goes on a quest for a legendary treasure.
Writer: Johnny Rosenthal
Agency: Paradigm (LA)
Manager: George Heller
Mngmnt Firm: Foursight Entertainment
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Prod. Co: Broken Road Productions Foursight Entertainment
Price: $1.25 million against $2 million
Genre: Action Adventure
Logged: 4/18/2008
More: Spec, part of a bidding war. Broken Road’s Todd Garner will produce. Foursight’s George Heller and Jeremy Bell will executive produce. Columbia’s Sam Dickerman & Adam Milano will oversee.

Title: Fear Phil
Logline: An insurance salesman, who makes a living preying on other people’s fears, wakes up and finds that his own worst fears are coming true.
Writer: Jack Angelo Sam Brown
Agency: United Talent Agency United Talent Agency
Mngmnt Firm: Fuse Entertainment Fuse Entertainment
Law Firm: Bloom Hergott Deimer Rosenthal & LaViolette, LLP Bloom Hergott Deimer Rosenthal & LaViolette, LLP
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
Prod. Co: Offspring Entertainment
Price: High six-figures against low-seven
Genre: Comedy
Logged: 4/18/2008
More: Pitch. Offspring’s Adam Shankman & Jennifer Gibgot will produce.

Title: Indignation
Logline: Set in 1951, an 18-year-old son of a kosher butcher in Newark grapples with anti-Semitism, sexual repression and the escalating Korean War as he comes of age at a Midwestern Lutheran college.
Writer: Philip Roth (author)
Agency: Wylie Agency
Prod. Co: Rudin Productions, Scott
Price: Seven figures
Genre: Drama
Logged: 4/17/2008
More: Novel, preemptive purchase. Will be published in September by Houghton Mifflin. Scott Rudin will produce.

Title: Leap Year
Logline: Described as an international-based.
Writer: Deborah Kaplan Harry Elfont
Agency: Creative Artists Agency Creative Artists Agency
Mngmnt Firm: Benderspink Benderspink
Prod. Co: Spyglass Entertainment Group
Price: Seven figures
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Logged: 4/7/2008
More: Pitch. Preemptive purchase. Spyglass’ Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum & Jonathan Glickman and Benderspink’s Chris Bender & J.C. Spink will produce. Benderspink’s Jake Weiner will executive produce.

Title: The Matarese Circle
Logline: Two secret agents — an American and a Russian — must work together to fight a mysterious group of killers known as the Matarese. The only problem is the agents, Bradley Scofield and Vasili Taleniekov, have been nemeses for years, with each responsible for killing someone close to the other.
Writer: Michael Brandt Derek Haas
Agent: Jeff Gorin Jeff Gorin
Agency: William Morris Agency William Morris Agency
Manager: Andrew Deane Andrew Deane
Mngmnt Firm: Industry Entertainment Industry Entertainment
Lawyer: Adam Kaller Adam Kaller
Law Firm: Behr, Abramson & Kaller Behr, Abramson & Kaller
Studio: MGM
Prod. Co: di Bonaventura Pictures Wechsler Productions, Nick
Price: $2 million
Genre: Action Thriller
Logged: 4/4/2008
More: To be based on Robert Ludlum’s best-selling 1979 novel. MGM will pay approximately $3 million for the book rights. Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Nick Wechsler will produce. Denzel Washington will possibly star.

Title: Treehouse Gang
Logline: Four friends, known for their treasure-hunting abilities as kids, meet up at their high school reunion and join forces for one last adventure while tackling 10-year-old grudges.
Writer: Timothy Dowling
Agency: Endeavor Agency
Lawyer: Rick Genow
Law Firm: Stone, Meyer, Genow, Smelkinson, and Binder
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Prod. Co: Heyday Films
Price: $750,000 against $1.5 million
Genre: Adventure Comedy
Logged: 4/4/2008
More: Spec, part of a bidding war. Heyday’s David Heyman will produce. Warner’s Sarah Schechter & Jesse Ehrman will oversee.

Cool, huh?

Let me know what you think and Keep Writing,