In the late nineties, a writer could sell a very mediocre screenplay based on an excellent idea. Just five years ago, writers, reps, and development execs were making a killing selling available scripts through bidding wars, tight producer relationships, and strategic marketing techniques. Today, however, both the script and the concept have to both be excellent to create a sale. This is largely because the decreasing strength of the Spec Screenplay market.

A spec (speculative) screenplay is a script written under the speculation that it will get set-up. Technically, any available screenplay, in which the writer has never been paid for, is a spec. In more general, industry terms, however, a spec is an available script shopped to multiple markets in the hopes that it will find a home. In order to generate revenue, sellers tend to seek well-written material that will fit the needs of a specific market at a particular time.

While there are a number of reasons for the decline of the Spec Market, it probably adds up to one very simple notion - oversaturation. The main set of buyers - the studios - spent a large amount of money during the mid-late nineties stocking their shelves with a vast amount of material. Because of this, there isn't the appetite to buy projects without significant pieces of talent already attached.

In turn, this creates a trickle down effect, starting at the studios and ending at the screenwriter. With less pusrchasing, agents and managers have a lower spec-to-sale ratio, making it harder for them to take on new clients. This, in turn, pushes the honus on writers to come up with better written material - not better concepts. As an effect, agents and managers tend to be moving toward pushing their writers to work with a sole producer and develop the story out. The investment here translates into a company that wants to see their project pushed through the studio gauntlet.

So what's the best thing to do about this? Write an excellent screenplay. More than ever, the quality of writing must be consistent, and the ability to execute characters, story structure, and general mechanics is demanded.