← The Town with Matthew Belloni
The Town with Matthew Belloni
The Return of the Spec Script—Is There Hope for Original Screenplays in Hollywood?
00:32:22
Loading summary
Transcript120 lines
- [00:00]
A
A wise man once said, in this world, nothing can be certain except Death, Taxes and your boy Johnny Bananas. 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. I'm gonna dive deep into the drama, get every side of every story and tell stories about behind the scenes on set antics. So follow Death, Taxes and Bananas on Spotify where you can watch every episode or Sponsor subscribe to YouTube.com ath taxes bananas on YouTube.
- [00:36]
B
This episode of the Town is presented by FX's the Lowdown. Proclaimed a gloriously off kilter noir by Rolling Stone. The series follows Lee Raybon, a citizen, journalist and self proclaimed Truthsorian, as he exposes corruption and unearths the city's hidden rot from acclaimed Reservation Dogs creator Sterlin Harjo and and starring four time Academy Award nominee Ethan Hawke. TV Guide raves the Lowdown is easily one of the best new shows of the year. The Lowdown premieres September 23rd on FX, streaming next day on Hulu. This episode is brought to you by Focus Features. Don't miss Focus features Anemone, starring three time Academy Award winner Daniel Day Lewis in his long awaited return to the big screen. It's the most anticipated performance of the year. Anemone tells the story of two brothers wrestling with their past and the one secret that has kept them apart for decades. Anemone Rated R under 17 not admitted without parent only in theaters October 3rd it is Wednesday, October 1st. For decades it's been the dream of wannabe screenwriters. You 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 sports 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. Back in the heyday of original movies, studios would buy dozens of scripts every year and develop them in house, attach actors, directors, all on the path to an eventual green light. But over the past decade or so, that process has changed. For all the reasons we talk about on the show, IP driven movies are the priority at most studios, and the studios and streamers have gravitated towards fully formed packages. That's where a producer or an agency will gather all the elements of a movie together. Star, filmmaker, script producers, then sell the whole thing fully formed to a buyer. But lately I've noticed a shift happening these Buyers are kind of moving away from package deals and starting to favor spec scripts without talent attached. Craig, take notice. There may be interest in your Steph Curry biopic after all. And I'm not alone. Final Draft, the screenwriting software company, they recently noted in a blog post that this summer there were 23 sales of original scripts and pitches to studios and streamers. As announced in the trades, the majority were spec scripts and nine of them happened in August alone. So what's going on here? After years of frustration 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, I have theories, but I wanted to have someone on the show who's in the middle of this market and can explain it from the inside. Jeff Schevitz is a literary manager and producer at Entertainment360. Represents writers, directors, producers, people like the co creator of Landman, writer of an upcoming Edward Berger movie that came from a spec script. He's also a former studio executive, ran production at Lionsgate. So he's got a good perspective and has sold some of these spec projects lately. So today it's the return of the spec script. And is there hope for original movies in Hollywood? From the Ringer and Puck, I'm Matt Bellany and this is the town. All right, we are here with Jeff Chavitz, who is a manager at Entertainment360. Thank you very much for joining the show.
- [03:55]
C
Absolutely. I'm thrilled to be here.
- [03:57]
B
All right, so this is a topic that I think the sellers side of the industry is very interested in, because you always hear what's selling, who's buying, what are they buying? And I want to know first of all whether you agree with my premise here that we are seeing an uptick in spec sales over the past few months.
- [04:19]
C
I don't think it's a few months. I think it's 24 months.
- [04:22]
B
Oh, wow. So you think it's been going back further?
- [04:24]
C
Okay, well, I mean, I tie it back to a couple of things happened in 2024 that we definitely clocked as, you know, big spec sales for us internally. And when we saw that, we began to encourage all of our writers to start writing original things because it just felt like this was a moment where there may be opportunity.
- [04:40]
B
All right, so I want to know why. Let's talk about the reasons for this uptick. Is it just that we've seen some big original movies work over the past year, like with Weapons and Sinners and Barbarian and anyone but you. Like, is that because it's working or is it. There's something else going on?
- [05:00]
C
I think it's because it's working, number one. And number two, I think specs people are remembering and being reminded of. They're a pretty good way to put things into development. That can move quickly for an executive who probably has a couple things on their slate that they've been developing for two years, five years. I put Highlander Development in 2007. It's going this year, back in the day.
- [05:22]
B
Oh, that's interesting. Although that is based on IP for sure.
- [05:25]
C
But my point being that when you've got a bunch of stuff that is being developed into the ground, maybe over years and years and years, when a spec walks in the door and it actually feels like a movie, that's very comforting. And you feel like as an executive and having once been one, that you've got something that you can talk about that is actionable today. That's real nice.
- [05:46]
B
Okay. And you think this is replacing the package movement? Like, we heard so much in the streaming boom about packages, where agents or producers would shop a major package with a star, two stars, filmmaker, producers attached. F1 is a perfect example. F1 was shopped around with Bruckheimer, Kaczynski, Brad Pitt, all attached, major price, and then Apple bought the package. Is the spec market now replacing those big packages? Are the studios frustrated with the results of some of those packages?
- [06:26]
C
I certainly wouldn't say they're frustrated. That's not the sense that I get. I think that as you begin to see movies that aren't necessarily gigantic, like F1, where they can go to the studios to buy original material, call it anyone but you, that is the spec market. So the question always becomes, is it worth packaging that material or not? And can you get it to the level where it's going to create a feeding frenzy in the marketplace?
- [06:50]
B
Yeah, there's only so much of that, you know, Top Gun director, Brad, like, there's only so much of those, and it takes time.
- [06:57]
C
These things take a long time to package. And on the flip side, anyone at our company, over 24 hours, and I'm doing it right now, we can get it out to 50 producers all at the same time, get a sense for whether or not it's working in the market, and it can go into studios 24 hours later. We've done that again and again and again without packaging. And. And it's been working.
- [07:17]
B
And I have picked up frustration from some of the studios where, yeah, they like the packages. But there's also limitations. Maybe they don't want Brad Pitt. Maybe they have their own ideas about what would work. And you're sort of handcuffed by the package when they come in the door fully formed like that. And some of these executives do want to do their job and develop these projects internally.
- [07:41]
C
F1 is, you know, the perfect example of it all working. And at the same time as exactly as you say, some of them come in the door and there's a history with a particular part of the package and. Or they're just not a person that that studio is familiar with, be it a director or even quote unquote, a movie star for one reason or another. And the decisions have already been made. People can be much more comfortable having more ownership on the studio side when. When they see something that's just clean.
- [08:08]
B
Right. So why did the spec market decline so much? Is it just the rise of IP and that if it was coming in the door and it didn't have some kind of pre branded attachment to it, that it was not worth even developing because they knew they weren't going to make it? Like, why. Why was the market so bad?
- [08:25]
C
I think part of it was just the aura of the superhero genre, right. Which is the superhero success for the last 12 years, 15 years, this is my opinion. It really established a benchmark for studios of which have to go big, we have to go really wide. And the only way to do that is to build out movies that feel gigantic and they definitely, absolutely work. I think that what you're seeing with the slowdown in the interest in the superhero market, what you're feeling is that the audiences are generally interested in different types of material. And I think that there's kind of a flywheel that's that you're seeing, which is the specs that went away because everyone was trying to make things feel like superhero film films. Now that we're no longer doing that, it actually opens up opportunities for writers to write original things.
- [09:14]
B
So the decline of Marvel is really boosting originality in your view?
- [09:20]
C
That is a subjective opinion, but yeah, I think that the reliability of those juggernauts to deliver those movies, those box office results, as you've seen that happen, and more importantly, as you've seen a curiosity from the audience for original material, those two things are combining alongside with studios need movies to fill their pipeline. So if we're not going to make superhero movies and the audiences seem more curious about original material, why shouldn't we be buying more specs?
- [09:49]
B
Hmm. Interesting. I mean, because I would have thought that the superhero stuff is just being replaced by other IP games. Or like we saw Disney just moved a Marvel title out of a summer slot and put a Simpsons movie there.
- [10:02]
C
Yeah. I think the flip side, though, we didn't have any clients in the origination. You look at a movie spec like Love of youf Life, which sold last year, Julia Cox, she sold it for several million dollars. Again, we don't represent the writer, but when you. You see that, and you see that a year later, it's got Rachel Morrison on as a director, Margaret Pauley, Aaron Pierre and Patrick Schwarzenegger starring. There is a. There's a comfort in the idea that that actual. That machine actually, actually works sometimes.
- [10:29]
B
Right.
- [10:29]
C
Which is a piece of material is taken out and then a movie miraculously comes out the other side. IP is amazing. It takes a long time to develop.
- [10:38]
B
Yeah, well, and there's a lot of voices often in the development of ip, whether it's, you know, Hasbro with a toy or whether it's Marvel with, you know, the. The management of 12 different superhero movies at the same time. And they've all got to connect. The IP comes with attachments and strings is my point.
- [10:57]
C
Yeah. And there is an efficiency to a spec going out to the market, which can be amazing. It can also be heartbreaking if no one wants to buy it. But at least, you know, as opposed to waiting for your opportunity to go and pitch on a piece of IP that, you know, you're hoping to be hired to write.
- [11:12]
B
Yeah, I mean, I don't want to overstate this because we had David Bobert on the show last year around this time, and he did some research. The producer at the time, he noted that between 2022 and 2026, only 1/10 of the 500 plus movies that were either released or scheduled for release by the major studios and streamers actually came from a studio or streamer's internal development slate. So we're generated by original material. That's 1, 10. Do you see that increasing now?
- [11:44]
C
I think it is. I think that there's a curiosity in the marketplace and, and by the way, it's being borne out in how many scripts are being bought. And I would again, I would point to a handful of movies being made. David is as smart as they come. And the research is absolutely spot on. And at the same time, I think when you. When you go back and you look at how the market is shifting, I would point to those movies, by the way. I'd point to a movie like Materialists.
- [12:08]
B
That made that grossed a hundred million dollars this summer.
- [12:11]
C
Yeah. And you know, not based on any IP and got to $100 million. I mean, that is a movie that you want on your slate whether you're a 24 or whether or not you're a gigantic studio.
- [12:22]
B
Yeah, Sony would have killed for that. Yeah, yeah. And it's funny, I was looking at the Paramount slate for next year. I mean, they had a lot of chaos with their sale and everything. But they barely have any movies on their slate for next year. They just didn't greenlight movies. And I feel like now with Paramount ramping up, that's another buyer that's out there actually trying to make movies and put them in theaters.
- [12:48]
C
Certainly that team is expressed in the community. We are moving, we're moving fast. We're going to make movies that you haven't necessarily seen before. Don't forget. Also you've got a 24 making films that are bigger. You got Neon, who had success with Long Legs last year. They're going to start making bigger movies.
- [13:03]
B
A lot of these are horror. What about comedies? What about, you know, thrillers? Like, is there a specific mandate in the market right now from your perspective?
- [13:13]
C
It feels like there was a huge push into the erotic thriller market. At least what we read.
- [13:18]
B
Erotic thrillers are back.
- [13:20]
C
Oh yeah, is this the 80s? We're in the 90s. That was, that was definitely a push and you could feel the market scooping them up. It does feel like with budget pressure coming on and also, you know, you're seeing green shoots of success of films like Naked Gun relative to budget, people are pushing into comedy too. It feels like people want to laugh in the world. At least that's what we're reading and the studios are responding.
- [13:46]
B
Let's talk about prices. Now. You don't have to attach any prices to any particular sales, but what is the market right now for a high concept, hot commodity script that you take out? You know, because the fear here is that the studios are just going to load up on low budget and low price scripts. But can you generate those mid six figure, seven figure sales like you once could?
- [14:11]
C
I think that you can. I think it's about approaching the marketplace simultaneously. You need everyone to be looking at, at the same time and feeling like there is something special here and they want to step in and do bid on it.
- [14:25]
B
Explain how this goes down because I was not familiar with this new software that you can use where everyone gets the script at the same time and it's on a protected iPad. Or something where it cannot be shared or photographed or anything. And it like will what self destruct after like 10 minutes? Like what, what is, what is the. If you have a hot property, what is the path to getting a bidding war going?
- [14:52]
C
You're referring to a lot of people use something called Embershot, which controls who and how can read it.
- [14:56]
B
Yeah. What is that?
- [14:57]
C
Embershot is something that if you really want to control the process of who and how something is being read and quite frankly keep it confidential, you can send out digital versions of the script that cannot be screenshot. They basically can only be read on one computer by the person whose email was sent.
- [15:15]
B
So you don't have to sit in the office of the executive anymore as they read it.
- [15:19]
C
You don't. That's a very particular choice and it can work for, for the right project. We actually, we encourage people to not use Amber shot simply because the great part about 2025 is things get shared. And as much as you can be a proponent for your material with the people you're going out to, once it gets in the water and gets starts getting shared, where that market turns from interest to, to people trying to purchase, it comes from people sharing it to their friends. This isn't really right for me, but it might be right for you. And that's where the opportunity is, in my opinion.
- [15:49]
B
So you think unless you're Chris Nolan or PTA or someone and it's like, you know, you make Donna Langley sit and read Oppenheimer and it's a yes or a no on my terms, like you think it's better to have wider availability for the project.
- [16:05]
C
I think that your best case scenario is having strong producers submitting to every studio where they have a strong relationship and having the incentive on their side to get their studio to buy on their behalf. And when that works and you get not just one bid but two bids, that's where things get interesting. We've seen seven figure sales. We saw a multi seven figure sale for something in the last year. You can make life changing money. You do it right.
- [16:38]
D
This episode is brought to you by Scene on the Screen, a podcast presented by Make It Universal and Rotten Tomatoes. Join me, Jacqueline Coley, as I meet the filmmakers, actors and industry insiders influencing entertainment. Each episode is an intimate, fun conversation about the impact of film as guests share their journeys, inspirations and answer trivia about the movies that shape them. Seen on the screen. Screen is available now. To listen, simply search Seen on the screen.
- [17:04]
B
Wherever you listen to podcasts, streamers versus Studios. How is the process different at a Netflix or an Amazon or one of these other kind of less development friendly places? Or is Netflix becoming more friendly to development? It used to be they just buy as many packages as they could to get movies made and on the streamer. Is that changing under Dan Lin?
- [17:31]
C
I don't think there's much of a difference between the streamers these days and the normal streams.
- [17:35]
B
No, there isn't. They're not, they're. They're open to specs at Netflix, I.
- [17:38]
C
Think everyone is open to specs if it's the right spec at the right time. I think that, you know, packages were certainly the word of the day around town. Everyone is looking at spec screenplays because everyone has a different strategy and the spec might be right for one place and not right for another.
- [17:52]
B
Okay, so it's not a, you know, this is a studio style or a Netflix style script. So we've got to take it there.
- [18:01]
C
No, what we encourage our clients to do is try to think of ideas that can play everywhere. When you have, and we've had it, spec screenplays go out where A24 and Warner Brothers are both bidding on it. These are two very different studios with very different mandates. If they can both see a version of that movie, their version is in terms of how they would put a director on it and cast. That's where you win. Right. If you make something that is just for one particular place because it has the style of the head of that studio, you're not going to be in a competitive situation. And also it's probably a less interesting screenplay to begin with. So how do we come up with ideas that play across town?
- [18:37]
B
And people don't realize the managers actually play a key role in development as well. I mean, agents are typically there to set, sell, sell, sell. But you, as a literary manager, you are probably working on these scripts with your clients at some point.
- [18:53]
C
We do draft after draft after draft. And it's not to say that agents don't do that. It is one of our focuses as a company.
- [19:00]
B
Don't. Right.
- [19:01]
C
We're obviously not talking to the same agents.
- [19:03]
B
Okay.
- [19:03]
C
But we, it is something that we do pretty intensely. The other thing, by the way, is that agencies are also open for the spec business. And it's something that that has definitely changed in the last year.
- [19:14]
B
Oh, explain that.
- [19:15]
C
It doesn't really matter where the spec comes from. It can be internal or it can be external. The specs are being shared across town either through an intermediary, someone like a manager, and or just by a producer sharing with someone who might be curious at the agency. Everyone is really looking at material for the purposes of can I even package it in real time? So a lot of stuff does go out without anyone on the project. But they definitely do make their way into agencies as they're out in the market. And sometimes people attach during in their mid sale.
- [19:47]
B
Yeah. And I think the agencies are more willing to take out specs now than they were maybe even a year ago because it seems like the market has changed and there's more likely going to be a sale. I mean it felt like the agencies were even reluctant to sell, sell these projects without big talent attached at one point because they just didn't see viability there. And now that it seems that that's.
- [20:12]
C
Changing, I think that agencies, you know what they do great is they do service their internal clients and that's part of their job. The balance with that though, again I really think is the passage of time. Right. Which is if you have something that is great, that can go out into the market and the market can decide a little bit what it is meant to be, that can happen very quickly, particularly for writers who are anxious to get some feedback. You can spend a long time packaging a piece of material, which is not to say you shouldn't do it. But I think that agencies have come to realize that they can. That it's actually the speed and the sort of the aura again of the spec selling that can then motivate clients internally to really take a hard look at something.
- [20:55]
B
So do you recommend to your writer clients to go the spec route or go the package route?
- [21:01]
C
It's project dependent. If it's going to require one of the top 15 directors on the planet, guess what? We're packaging the material. We try to get in there earlier than that and really go over the ideas beforehand. My preference is I have a spec that is to a certain degree it can be built for any studio. Those are the ones where you can take it out to market. And again, everyone can see their, their version of the movie and the idea.
- [21:26]
B
And don't you worry a little about languishing in so called development hell at these studios where they're just buying up stuff to have and then maybe a year later they have a meeting with an actor and they say, oh, we have this thing. Like you don't have much control over the project if it's not packaged and if it's at a studio.
- [21:45]
C
I worry about development hell every day.
- [21:48]
B
I guess you can write in stuff to the Deal where you get it back after a couple years you can.
- [21:52]
C
And at the same time, depending on the strength of the market for that particular project, you can get even more aggressive and put progress production language in and the rest. It's all hard. And some packages sell and they still don't get made. So the reality is that there's sort of two jobs for us, which is number one, let's get it on the board. That's piece number one. And these are working writers who a meaningful spec sale whether the movie gets made. That is an important part of their, of their life.
- [22:22]
B
So are you prepared to declare that original movies are back?
- [22:26]
C
Sure.
- [22:28]
B
Sure. Why not?
- [22:30]
C
From the 23rd floor in century City?
- [22:32]
B
Sure. Well, we are all about accountability on this show. So in a year, if they're not back, we're coming for you.
- [22:38]
C
I'll give you my home address.
- [22:41]
B
My take is I think that the they are back to the extent that studios now see a path to success for some of these original ideas. It's not just the original script or the spec. It's smart development and putting a meaningful star or catching a star at the right moment into something original that can turn into an anyone but you. It's getting that filmmaker who maybe would have had to take their passion project to Netflix five years ago, maybe let's make that passion project and let's turn it into Sinners, something like that.
- [23:18]
C
Yeah. And I mean you can quibble with these examples but you know, to a certain degree and they're all specific. But look at this year and look at Warner Brothers. They've got sinners, they've got weapons, they've got one battle after another. They're all lofty projects with gigantic elements involved, but none of them are based on ip. And I think when you talk about the trickle down effect of those movies working so successfully.
- [23:41]
B
Yeah, well, one battle jury's out on that one. But that's mostly just because it's got such a high budget. But I see what you're saying. It turned into a good movie that will win then some awards.
- [23:50]
C
Yeah. And more importantly, those three movies point to there's an interest in the audience and not just things that they have probably seen before or feels familiar.
- [24:00]
B
It's fascinating that you're connecting it to the decline of Marvel because I agree. Craig was early on this, by the way. He said Marvel's over two years ago and I was skeptical. And I do think that there is a real audience shift going on away from the superhero genre. Not dead, just it's going to be less.
- [24:19]
C
I'm never going to bet against Kevin Feige. The numbers do bear out that there has been a decline, and maybe we'll come back. For the moment, though, it just feels like audiences, at least to me, there is curiosity about other parts of the movie business, other genres.
- [24:36]
B
Yeah.
- [24:36]
E
Jeff, do you find that a lot of these original specs are being sold to streamers over. Over studios that are willing to commit to theatrical releases? Or do you think the theatrical releases are something that studios only want to give to ip still, right now, we.
- [24:50]
C
Let the market decide. We can't rely on Netflix and Amazon and Apple to just be hoovering up projects that aren't gigantic pieces of ip. And we've seen sales in the marketplace that demonstrate that a place like Paramount again deployed multiple millions of dollars in the last couple of months purely on comedies. They don't have anywhere to go with those projects except theatrical. They're not going to be putting them on Paramount. Plus, it's not part of their strategy.
- [25:17]
B
But you know what they're going to do. They're going to definitely put theatrical, quote, unquote, elements into those movies, whether it's big stars or whether it's a filmmaker who matters or maybe, you know, call it some IP or something like that to make it feel theatrical.
- [25:31]
C
Movies are hard. That's the headline, you know, which is. It's hard to put a movie together. It's hard for any of us on the zoom to feel like we want to go out and spend the money and find the babysitter to. To go to the theater. It's really, really hard. The good news for me is that it isn't necessarily only the biggest movie stars that can get people out the door. I'm a broken record. Anyone but you. This was pre twisters, Glenn.
- [25:58]
B
I know, but that was also 18 months ago, and we're still talking about it. Like, doesn't happen every day.
- [26:03]
C
Okay? You got anyone but you. You got challengers, you got warfare, you got materialists, you got the amateur. You got Nosferatu. You got weapons, you got sinners. And those are just the ones I highlighted. You can feel, at least for me, that they're. At least. My belief is that there is an interest, and this is. We all live in service of the audience. That's. That's all that matters. We. We work for the audience, everyone in this industry, and it is at least my belief that originality is making. Is making a comeback.
- [26:31]
B
All right, well, we will have you on in a year, and we can debate whether that's true. Or not. Maybe five years. Maybe five years. We'll need a little more time, but I hope you're right. Thank you very much. Appreciate it, Jeff.
- [26:42]
C
You got it.
- [26:44]
B
We are back with the call sheet. Craig, do you have your tickets for Taylor Swift, the official release party of a showgirl?
- [26:51]
E
No, I'm boycotting. After she refused to do the Super Bowl.
- [26:54]
B
Oh, really? You believe that? You believe she was negotiating and then she pulled out because she couldn't own the broadcast herself?
- [27:02]
E
Yeah, the Easter eggs she dropped on new heights were real. She doesn't just do that for fun.
- [27:06]
B
I think you've been down a little bit too many rabbit holes in the T. Swift media universe. That was one tabloid reporter's substack who reported that. We will never know if it's true, but this movie is expected to gross between 35 and 38 million this weekend, according to the tracking services. I have seen. NRG has it at 35 screen dollars, had it a little higher. A couple others were a little higher. Let's put the line at 37 million for this weekend. Are you over or under?
- [27:39]
E
So we should say the description of this movie.
- [27:43]
B
This is not really a movie.
- [27:45]
E
It's an 89 minute event packed with a music video and behind the scenes footage and commentary tied to her 12th studio album.
- [27:52]
B
Yes. You get. You get lyric videos of all the songs, you get an actual music video for the first single, and you get some BTS stuff and a special message from Taylor.
- [28:03]
E
Right, so for the majority of this film, you're just gonna be watching lyrics.
- [28:07]
B
On a screen and singing along and dancing. The album goes live on October 3rd, Friday. Yes. And then the screenings are all weekend. So presumably as a Taylor Swift fan, you will have memorized all the songs in the first 24 hours and then you will go to the movie.
- [28:23]
E
This is a real flex by her to see just how far she can go, getting people to pay money to.
- [28:28]
B
See anything she does. We're not gonna get any anywhere near the eras tour opening weekend. That was $92 million that movie opened to. But obviously that was a concert film. It was culmination of her career and it was a FOMO moment for people who either couldn't go to the show or did and wanted to relive it. This is not that.
- [28:49]
E
It's still remarkable though, even if it's not going to touch the ERAS Tour box office. This is going to double one battle after another. A PTA movie with Leo DiCaprio. It's going to double the opening weekend.
- [28:57]
B
It'S not going to double the opening, but do you think I would bet against Taylor Swift? This is not a podcast that bets against Taylor Swift. I'm going to take the over on 37.
- [29:07]
E
Okay, the next question is, are you going to bet against Dwayne the Rock Johnson?
- [29:10]
B
I know the Smashing Machine. They had to freak out when they saw this. This was only put on the calendar a couple weeks ago. And our good friend Adam Aaron, he got a better deal for this one. He is the distributor. AMC is the distributor for this movie, and he got a better deal for this one than he did for for the ERAS tour. Obviously, it's going to make less money, but the casualty here is the Smashing Machine. Dwayne Johnson. Different audiences, obviously, but the tracking on Smashing Machine has come down over the last couple weeks. It's at about 15 million. I saw it higher. I think I'll take the under on Smashing Machine.
- [29:46]
E
It's funny. So the tracking is at 15 million. Well, the standing ovation at Venice was also was 15 minutes.
- [29:52]
B
So the question is, will it gross more than the minutes of the standing ovation? Are you telling me that standing ovations at film festivals are not real, Craig?
- [30:01]
E
It's hard to say. We're going to have to go check it out for ourselves.
- [30:03]
B
How dare you. I've seen the Smashing Machine. It's fine. I mean, I'm not a critic. It's fine. But it'll be interesting to see what the exit scores are and what the cinema score is on Smashing Machine because it is not what the Rocks fans might expect from a movie that is being marketed to them. So we'll see if they like this one.
- [30:24]
E
I don't know. The fact that this is a wrestling movie starring the Rock, I'm inclined to say that this might do okay. Or maybe come in slightly above whatever the tracking is.
- [30:34]
B
All right, totally possible, and I am underestimating his star power here, but it's not WWE wrestling. This is not what you might expect from him. So you're taking the over on 15 for smashing machine. I'll take the under. And I'm going to take the over on 37 for Taylor Swift. Are you taking the under or the over?
- [30:55]
E
I'll take the over.
- [30:55]
C
I won't bet against her.
- [30:56]
E
Are you excited to listen to the album?
- [30:58]
B
Of course, I'm a fan. You say that, you know, you were in my car recently. You saw that I had pre downloaded.
- [31:05]
E
You're preparing. No, of course everybody's going to listen, whether they admit it or not. Of course I'm excited. She makes good music.
- [31:11]
B
All right. That's the show for today. I want to thank my guest, Jeff Schevitz. Bruce Greg Horbeck, editor Jesse Lopez. And I want. Thank you. We'll see one more time this week.