I THINK AMERICA FORGAVE TONYA HARDING WHEN THEY ALL TUNED INTO THE 1994 OLYMPICS. THEY WERE REALLY SAYING THANK YOU, CRAZY- PANTS, FOR A ONE OF A KIND STORY WE WEREN’T GONNA SEE WITHOUT SOMEONE LIKE YOU • SHE CAN TALK. SHE CAN WALK. SHE CAN READ AND WRITE FOR THE MOST PART. SHE CAN PASS FOR NORMAL ENOUGH. BUT I CANNOT KEEP WORRYING ABOUT HER AS A TICKING TIME BOMB FOR THIS FAMILY’S FUTURE. WE HAVE NINE CHILDREN. EIGHT OF WHOM I WILL CONTINUE TO SHEPHERD IN CARRYING FORTH MY NAME INTO HISTORY - BUT NOT ROSEMARY • NINE-ELEVEN IS WHAT DID IT, I GUESS. WAS THE FIRST TIME I SAW THERE WERE PEOPLE OUT THERE THAT JUST ... HATED US. SO I WANTED TO DO MY PART, PROTECT THE COUNTRY FROM THOSE WHO WOULD SEE US BROUGHT LOW • WILL DEMPSEY WAS THIRTY-ONE YEARS OLD WHEN HE FINALLY GAVE UP ON HIS SAM JACKSON UNRELIABLE NARRATOR SCREENPLAY. HE’D BEEN WORKING ON IT SINCE 7:30 AM. WILL LOOKS UP AT THE CLOCK. IT’S 7:47 AM. THE HIT LIST 2016 THE BEST SPEC SCRIPTS OF THE YEAR THEY LIED. ALL OF THEM. THEY LIED AND TOLD US THAT WHAT WE WERE DOING WAS GOOD. THAT WE WERE HELPING PEOPLE WHO COULDN’T HELP THEMSELVES. BUT THAT WASN’T IT AT ALL. NO ONE WANTED US THERE. SO, THEY, WE, JUST SENT A BUNCH OF YOUNG MEN TO DIE. AND IT SHOULDN’T JUST BE US TO KNOW THE TRUTH • YOU FEEL THAT? I’M NORTH. YOU’RE SOUTH. TWO MAGNETS SLOWLY INCHING CLOSER UNTIL ALL AT ONCE... SHE PLACES HER HAND ON HIS HEART. AND HIS HAND ON HERS. AND ONCE THEY’VE TOUCHED, THEY’RE IMPOSSIBLE TO PULL APART • MICHAEL JACKSON, PRINCE, THEY MAKE ALBUMS AND ARE DECLARED GENIUSES. I COME OUT AND PEOPLE ASSUME I’M A FUCKING PUPPET CONTROLLED BY A BETTER, MORE TALENTED MAN. WELL, I’M NOT GOING TO BE ANYONE’S MOUTHPIECE. I’M CALLING THE SHOTS. AND I CAN’T WAIT FOR YOU TO FIGURE THAT OUT ANYMORE • WHAT PURPOSE IS THERE TO MOURN A LOVE THAT WAS NOT MERELY MISSED, BUT, AS NOW I KNOW, NEVER EXISTED AT ALL? WHAT NECESSITY, FOR A SPECIES THAT HAS WALKED ON PLANETS AND TRAVELED THROUGH TIME, DO THE HAUNTING NOTES OF HEARTBREAK SERVE? • WE’RE NOT GOING TO GET AWAY. HE TURNS BACK TO THE HOUSE. FOCUS. THE BRITISH WILL BE HERE SOON, YOU’VE SAID SO YOURSELF, TWICE NOW. IT’S MORE THAN A DAY’S MARCH BACK, AND YOU CAN’T SPARE ANY MEN TO TAKE ME, AND I WON’T GO ON MY OWN - WILLIAM PAUSES. GLARING BACK AT HER. BECAUSE HE KNOWS SHE’S RIGHT – SO THAT’S WHAT YOU CAME FOR, THEN, IS IT? TO MAKE A FOOL OF ME? - NO. I CAME TO FIGHT.. • LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. SINNERS AN’ SAINTS. OUR WAR HAS JUST BEGUN. SPEC /spek/ -idiom On spec; made, built or done with hopes of, but no assurance of, payment or sale. Created from passion and perseverance. THE HIT LIST 2016 LUCKY NUMBER SEVEN IS HERE! Seven years. In the past seven years we have seen 617 specs and 638 writers (making 753 appear- ances) grace our list, we’ve counted more than 19,000 votes from more than 3,400 voters, we’ve seen more than 80 of those on the list released with Oscar and Box Offce wins alike, we’ve seen more than 1,600 individual specs voted for out of the 2,700 eligible, with 81 instances of writers ap- pearing on the list more than once, and more than 200 Young & Hungry alums and 25 Launch Pad alums making appearances along the way. In seven years we’ve seen agencies & management companies come and go, with reps new and old rising back to the top. We’ve seen genres shift alongside the worldview, and we’ve seen new studios and buyers rising from the ashes, or making monster splashes with their introductions. In the past seven years of tracking this industry’s tastes, projects, development, and market, we’ve seen fear give way to excitement, pessimism give way to enthusiasm, and going into 2017, we’ve seen a level of creative passion boiling up like we’ve never seen before. And it’s in that passion that we see the diversity in this year’s list. From the staples of comedies and dramas, to the highest numbers of science fction, period pieces, biopics, and romance specs we’ve ever had. We’ve seen the desire to escape meshing with the eagerness to refect, the opportunity to cry meshing with laughs, and the opportunity to think, to explore, and to feel at an all time high. The 2016 Hit List brings 92 projects to the forefront, refecting not only Hollywood’s tastes, but the tastes of an audience that this year, more than ever, demanded more, and asked for something original, something creative, and something that would allow them an opportunity to think. Whether it be over the top comedy, an intimate drama of perseverance, a survivalist sci-f, an existential look in, an investigative discovery, a love story of epic proportions, a push for change on the largest stage imaginable, a truly timeless romance, or a glimpse at those who believed in something so strongly they could not be denied. This year’s list has once again been voted on by a privately selected panel of executives, producers, agents, managers, directors and writers who have been deemed tastemakers by their peers. Voted on from a ballot of more than 370 eligible spec scripts, and compiled from more than 2,500 votes, this year’s list is a true refection of the best spec scripts of 2016. Once again, we hope you enjoy our list. PREVIOUS TOP 10s 1 CRATER by John Grifn 2 BUBBLES by Isaac Adamson 3 ELI by David Chirchirillo 4 REAGAN by Mike Rosolio 5 THE LIBERTINE by Ben Kopit 6 THE WATER MAN by Emma Needell 7 THE LIFE INSIDE by Takashi Doscher 8 PALE BLUE DOT by Brian C Brown & Elliott DiGuiseppi 9 GREAT FALLS by Andrew Friedhof 10 BOY by Mattson Tomlin 1 CATHERINE THE GREAT by Kristina Lauren Anderson 2 MENA by Gary Spinelli 3 THE BABYSITTER by Brian Dufeld 4 ONE FELL SWOOP by Greg Scharpf 5 YELLOWSTONE FALLS by Daniel Kunka 6 IN THE MORNING BLOOD by Elijah Bynum 7 SECRET INGREDIENTS OF ROCKET COLA by Michael Vukadinovich 8 A GARDEN AT THE END OF THE WORLD by Gary Graham 9 MATRIARCH by Eric Koenig 10 THE TAKEAWAY by Julia Cox PREVIOUS TOP 10s 1 HOT SUMMER NIGHTS by Elijah Bynum 2 A BOY AND HIS TIGER by Dan Dollar 3 SECTION 6 by Aaron Berg 4 REMINISCENCE by Lisa Joy 5 PURE O by Kate Trefry 6 THE GOLDEN RECORD by Aaron Kandell & Jordan Kandell 7 TRANQUILITY BASE by Daniel Turkewitz 8 HOLLAND, MICHIGAN by Andrew Sodroski 9 INK AND BONE by Zak Olkewicz 10 THE SHARK IS NOT WORKING by Richard Cordner 1 DRAFT DAY by Rajiv Joseph, Scott Rothman 2 WUNDERKIND by Patrick Aison 3 GLIMMER by Carter Blanchard 4 OUR NAME IS ADAM by TS Nowlin 5 WHITE HOUSE DOWN by James Vanderbilt 6 THE CELLAR by Josh Campbell & Matt Stuecken 7 THE DISCIPLE PROGRAM by Tyler Marceca 8 MONSTER PROBLEMS by Brian Dufeld 9 VIRAL by Dustin T. Benson 10 BLACK BOX by David Guggenheim PREVIOUS TOP 10s 1 THE IMITATION GAME by Graham Moore 2 HE’S FUCKIN’ PERFECT by Lauryn Kahn 3 WHEN THE STREETLIGHTS GO ON by Eddie O’Keefe & Chris Hutton 4 IN THE EVENT OF A MOON DISASTER by Mike Jones 5 FATHER DAUGHTER TIME by Matthew Aldrich 6 MAGGIE by John Scott III 7 SELF/LESS by Alex Pastor & David Pastor 8 CRISTO by Ian Shorr 9 AGENT OX by Daniel Kunka 10 FLASHBACK by Will Honley 1 SAFE HOUSE by David Guggenheim 2 CHRONICLE by Max Landis 3 I-95 byGreg Russo SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN 4 by Evan Daugherty 5 FAMILY GETAWAY by Jeremiah Friedman & Nick Palmer 6 DARK MOON by Olatunde Osunsanmi YOUR BRIDESMAID IS A BITCH 7 by Brian Dufeld 8 LAYOVER by Zach Dean 9 TRIPLE NINE by Matt Cook HOOF HARRINGTON’S GREATEST HITS 10 by Dutch Southern BADGE BREAKDOWN HIT LIST ALUMNI LAUNCH PAD ALUMNI YOUNG & HUNGRY ALUMNI Ą Ą Ą 182 56 26 3 WRITERS SIGNED PROJECTS SET UP WRITERS STAFFED BIDDING WARS WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK ALL OF OUR 2016 LAUNCH PAD COMPETITION JUDGES AARON KAPLAN CHRIS MCEWEN JON KANAK NICKI CORTESE KAPLAN/PERRONE NEW LEAF LITERARY MAGNET MANAGEMENT JURASSIC PARTY PRODS ABBY GLUSKER CJ FIGHT JOSH DOVE NIKI MONTOZARAN UTA WME IPG ICM ADAM KOLBRENNER DANIEL SECO KATIE CATES NOAH JONES MADHOUSE ENTERTAINMENT WRIT LARGE ICM GERSH ADAM PERRY DANIELA GARCIA-BRCEK KEN FREIMANN RYAN HALPRIN APA CIRCLE OF CONFUSION CIRCLE OF CONFUSION LIN PICTURES ADRIAN ASKARIEH DAVID BOXERBAUM KENDRICK TAN RYAN LEVEE PRIME UNIVERSE PARADIGM MADHOUSE ENTERTAINMENT APA ADRIAN GARCIA DAVID PARK LEE STOBBY SEAN BERARD PARADIGM UTA LEE STOBBY ENTERTAINMENT APA AENGUS MCLOONE GABRIEL CHU LILY SAFRAN SETH SPECTOR MANAGEMENT 360 VERTIGO UTA WEINSTEIN COMPANY ALEX CREASIA GREG PEDICIN LUCAS WISENDANGER SUKEE CHEW BRIDGE MEDIA GERSH RED WAGON HOPSCOTCH PICTURES ALLISON FRIEDMAN HEATHER KARPAS LYNLEY BIRD TAHIRAH GOODEN COLOR FORCE ICM JUNE PICTURES NETFLIX ALLISON GILLOGLY JAKE WAGNER MARISSA FINE TOM CARTER SCOTT FREE GOOD FEAR PARADIGM ARTILLERY CREATIVE ANTONI KACZMAREK JAMES ENGLE MARK HARTOGSOHN VARUN MONGA ESA ECHO LAKE GERSH ESA BROOKLYN WEAVER JARROD MURRAY MARK LAWYER WILHELMINA ROSS ENERGY ENTERTAINMENT EPICENTER MARKERSTONE CAA CHARLES FERRARO JEFF BELKIN MARTIN TO WILL WATKINS UTA ZERO GRAVITY ESA ICM CHARLIE SCULLY JOE NEW MATT BIRKEL ZAC FROGNOWSKI ANONYMOUS CONTENT ROMARK ENTERTAINMENT GOTHAM/PRINCIPAL GRANDVIEW CHASE NORTHINGTON JOHNNY PARISEAU MICHAEL KOLODNY ZAC SIMMONS VERVE DE LUCA PRODUCTIONS KAPLAN STAHLER PARADIGM CHRIS FENTON JON CASSIR MICHAEL PRUSS ZACH COX DMG CAA SCOTT FREE CIRCLE OF CONFUSION 2016 HIT LIST AT A GLANCE SCRIPTS ON THE LIST The Hit List is comprised exclusively of spec scripts.