Wow, I can't believe there's only one week left in the year (more or less). More than any other that I can remember, this year has sped by. I'm an April baby, and it seems that the eight months since I turned 24 have virtually come and gone in the blink of an eye. Still, I've gotten a lot of writing (and even more re-writing) done in that short time, and I hope for a lot more to come.

With the year winding down - though, I plan on doing a TON of work over the Holidays - it's getting to be time to plan my projects for the next few months. I don't necessarily stick concretely to any writing plans I come up with, but I feel that having a game plan is always helpful, especially in the face of an almost two-week vacation while my office is closed between Christmas Eve and New Years. The break will largely be focused on continuing to re-write my post-Apocalyptic spec, which I hope to have finished by 2010. After that, though, I want to keep writing without stopping.

Usually after I finish a project, I wind up taking about a month break before delving into another. That's all well and good when I'm just writing for myself, but the hope is to sell the post-Apocalyptic project early into 2010. I'm certainly not banking on that, since nothing in this business is a guarantee, but I do want to plan accordingly. One of the worst things a new writer can do when making headway into the industry with a project is to have no follow-up projects whatsoever. I have a few completed drafts and a number of ideas, but nothing yet that could instantly go right out. 

If I'm truly serious about making a career of my writing, I know that I have to get those other projects lined up. So, as soon as I'm done with this new draft, I want to jump into a new project with little or no break at all. I have an outline I'm ready to work on. There's another script that can use some rewrites. There are other brand new ideas that haven't been fleshed out all all. Whichever one (or ones) I choose, I'll want to get cracking, so now is the perfect time to start planning. Who says you have to wait until January 1st to implement your resolutions?

• 436 spec scripts came out in 2009, of which 72 sold (17%).

• 373 specs went out wide in 2009, of which 19 sold (5%). Of those 19, only 3 sold after April 30th, out of 178 attempts during the period (1.7%).

• As for spec sals by genre, comedies led with 32% of sales, thrillers 29%, action adventures 21%, while dramas and sci-fi/fantasies tied with 10%.

• Universal and Warner Bros bought the most specs among the major buyers (6 each). But Warner Bros bought only 1 spec script in the second half of the year. Paramount & Sony tied with 5 each not counting ony's Screen Gems which bought another 3. DreamWorks had 4. 20th Century Fox had 3, but adding all its three banners, Fox bought 6 specs. Lionsgate purchased 3. New Line didn’t buy any specs in 2009.

• Relativity and Intrepid bought the most specs among the other buyers (3 each).

• Among agencies, CAA made 14 spec script sales out of 34 attempts, or 41%) same number of spec sales as last year, followed by UTA's 10 sales out of 30 attempts, or 33%, and ICM's 10 sales out of 33 attempts, or 30%. WME didn’t form until May 2009, but when you take the numbers for all three of its component companies -- Endeavor, William Morris, and WME -- the combined agency would have been a dominant #1 in total scripts sold, with 18 sales out of 47 attempts, or 38%)

• Benderspink among management companies had the most spec sales (5 sales out of 11 attempts, or 45%). Kaplan/Perrone had 4 sales out of 12 attempts, or 33%. Principato-Young made 3 sales out of 8 attempts, or 38%, while Circle Of Confusion did 3 sales out of 15 attempts, or 20%.