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The Town with Matthew Belloni

The Return of the Spec Script—Is There Hope for Original Screenplays in Hollywood?

The Town with Matthew Belloni

The Ringer

Society & Culture

4.31.1K Ratings

🗓️ 1 October 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Matt is joined by Entertainment 360 literary manager/producer Geoff Shaevitz to discuss why spec-script sales have taken off in Hollywood over the past year. Geoff speculates on what kick-started this trend, why buyers are moving away from fully packaged deals, which genres are selling, which studios are buying, and whether the original-script boom is here to stay (02:50). Matt finishes the show with a prediction about the opening weekend box offices for ‘Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl’ and ‘The Smashing Machine’ (25:15). For a 20 percent discount on Matt’s Hollywood insider newsletter, ‘What I’m Hearing ...,’ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Email us your thoughts! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠thetown@spotify.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Host: Matt BelloniGuest: Geoff Shaevitz Producers: Craig Horlbeck and Jessie Lopez Theme Song: Devon Renaldo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

A wise man once said in this world, nothing can be certain except death taxes and your boy Johnny Bananas.

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Welcome to the brand new Death Taxes and Bananas channel where we'll be recapping season 41 of the challenge every week with all your favorite cast members.

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1:05.9

It is Wednesday, October 1st. For decades, it's been the dream of wannabe screenwriters. Write your script, somehow get it into the hands of a studio executive in Hollywood. They buy it and turn it into a hit movie. In the business, they're called spec scripts, short for speculative, meaning nobody pays you to write it. You do it on your own and hope someone buys it. Lately, there hasn't been a lot of hope in the spec market, though.

1:29.5

Back in the heyday of original movies, studios would buy dozens of scripts every year and

1:33.4

develop them in-house, attach actors, directors, all on the path to an eventual green light.

1:38.8

But over the past decade or so, that process has changed for all the reasons we talk about

1:43.2

on the show.

1:44.1

IP-driven movies are the priority at most studios.

1:47.4

And the studios and streamers have gravitated towards fully formed packages.

1:51.2

That's where a producer or an agency will gather all the elements of a movie together,

1:55.5

star, filmmakers, script, producers, then sell the whole thing fully formed to a buyer.

2:02.6

But lately, I've noticed a shift happening. These buyers are kind of moving away from package deals and starting to favor

2:07.6

spec scripts without talent attached. Craig, take notice. There may be interest in your Steph Curry

...

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