In my article “How Much Money Can You Make Selling a Screenplay,” I wrote about the return of the spec sale and how there were a handful of big sales in 2024. Well, it’s looking like 2025 is going to be even better for screenwriters who have written original screenplays.
This summer major studios and streamers have purchased a total of 23 feature original spec scripts and pitches (the writers being paid to write the concept they pitched). And reports show the majority of these sales were spec scripts. What’s even more amazing is that 9 of these 23 sales happened in August alone. This is the greatest monthly volume of spec sales since March 2017. So this is a definite trend and one that appears to be gaining momentum.
After years of stagnation in the screenplay marketplace and many bemoaning the death of original material in Hollywood, why are major studios and streamers paying screenwriters for their ideas and scripts again?
And what kind of material are they buying?
And how can you take advantage of this trend?
A New Marketplace
Two years ago I wrote about the impact streaming platforms were having on the screenwriting marketplace and stated there was going to be a need for more original content.
In addition, for the past couple years, whenever one of my screenwriting peers vented about the marketplace and how no one was buying spec scripts anymore, I stayed optimistic and told them it was going to come back around because of streaming. I suspected it would ultimately be good for writers and the recent upswing in spec sales confirms this.
Also, while many cinephiles and older established filmmakers complained about streaming platforms and “the death of cinema,” simply because less people were going to movie theaters, I likewise told friends that streaming was a good thing, especially if you were a screenwriter looking to sell original material.
There was a bubble waiting to burst in the industry, first due to streaming and finally to the pandemic, in which your average filmgoer would choose home viewing over the theatrical experience. Plus, super hero, remake, sequel, prequel, reboot fatigue was inevitable to anyone who follows cultural trends. If history proves anything, it’s that at some point everyone gets sick of anything if it’s given to them too many times.
So in addition to people preferring to watch movies in the privacy of their own home, their tastes were also changing, and there was an increased hunger for fresh and original content. When thousands of titles are just a click away from viewing, it takes more imagination to stick out.
Hollywood can no longer rely on another retelling of The Fantastic Four story to engage an audience. It’s time for new stories that excite us and pull us in. This is why screenwriters are more important than ever before: someone has to come up with these new stories.
What Hollywood Is Buying
High concept action and thriller scripts are what’s dominating the marketplace. This isn’t surprising because these genres play well internationally and the concept is easy to glean from a title or thumbnail (this is something else I discussed in a past article: the emergence of “the thumbnail pitch.”). If you can’t describe your script in one sentence and/or envision a clickable image for it, it’s probably not sellable.
I can see some writers being cynical of this approach, but really think about classic films and how splashy and concise they are. Are you telling me Basic Instinct, The Sixth Sense, The Matrix and The Fast and the Furious aren’t all log-line driven and highly clickable? Well, the 2025 equivalent of those kinds of films, updated for today, have a good chance of selling at the spec stage. Producers and studio execs should be able to envision the movie before even reading it.
Although there’s a slightly smaller marketplace for them, Rom-Coms and comedies in general have also been making a comeback (although they likewise should have a high concept and be clickable).
There’s been a shift away from Horror (even indie companies are preferring thrillers these days, which have a broader audience). That being said, if you have an idea for a Horror that’s high concept, fresh and character-driven, you should definitely run with it. The marketplace is always shifting and always changing.
Straight Spec Sales Over Packages
Another interesting trend is major studios and streamers moving away from packaged deals and favoring straight spec sales. By this I mean producers, agents and managers have been selling more and more spec scripts without any talent attached. This was virtually impossible a few years ago.
In addition to most of the recent spec sales not having any talent attached, I’ve been told by various producers that studios and streamers now prefer internal packaging (in other words, packaging after purchase of the script). This way they have greater control and can select what directors and actors they think best suit the project or they’ve had success with.
Some feared this would mark the decline of big spec sales, and any script sold without talent attached would only fetch “scale” (the minimum amount a screenplay can sell for according to the Writer’s Guild of America). I admittedly was also concerned about this. However, the data is more promising: a handful of these recent spec sales have been reported to be in the high six figures or even more.
Last year, the specs Hurt People by Melissa London Hilfers and Test Drive by Matt Venne were both purchased without talent attached and are rumored to have sold for mid-six figures. Even more promising, Alignment by Natan Dotan, Love of Your Life by Julia Cox and Over Asking by Caroline Dries likewise sold without talent initially attached and are rumored to have sold for a million or higher.
It looks like screenwriters and their ideas are a commodity again. It’s no longer just about who is attached to the script, but the script itself.
Adapting to the New Marketplace
If you’re an eclectic writer that likes the challenge of writing in different genres, you might be better equipped for marketplace adaption.
In general, if you haven’t had success writing in a specific genre or style, it’s a smart idea to stretch your talent and try writing something different. Don’t assume you can’t write an action or thriller script just because you haven’t done it before. Perhaps adding your voice to these genres will be the X factor that distinguishes your screenplay. With popular genres, it sometimes only takes a little tweaking of the formula to make it marketable.
If you’re dealing with a less popular genre, say a drama or historical film, there should be a greater emphasis on relevancy and originality: you might have to reinvent the wheel, but maybe that’s where you shine.
The most important thing is to think in terms of characters and storytelling regardless of the genre. In many ways, we’re going back to basics: writers telling a good story. It shouldn’t matter if you’re watching it on an IMAX screen or cuddled up in bed, what’s a story that’s going to pull a person in for 90 to 120 minutes?
The return of the spec sale is an exciting new trend and it’s not only going to result in writers getting financially compensated for their creativity and labor, it’s going to lead to better movies that revitalize the industry.