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M. Night Shyamalan hit the jackpot with his 1999 movieThe Sixth Sense, which established him as a brand in suspense-thriller movies. While pitching the story to different studios, Shyamalan wanted them to fulfill a few of his conditions. The director knew that he was making a risky gamble since he was only known in the industry for writing a few spec scripts at the time. However, his gamble paid off as studios were fighting each other to bid for his film.
Shyamalan’s story revolved around Haley Joel Osment’s Cole who claims to see dead people in the movie. He has the caring psychologist Malcolm Crowe, played by Bruce Willis, guiding him through his newfound abilities. However, Crowe doesn’t realize that he’s helping himself by helping the kid.
M. Night Shyamalan’sThe Sixth SensePitch Was A Risky Gamble
M. Night Shyamalanrecalled in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that he had put his potential film career at risk for the 1999 film,The Sixth Sense. Shyamalan left Philadelphia with his wife and baby to pitch the story to studios in Los Angeles. He knew that there was no going back, and if the film failed to take off, he’d be doomed in his career.
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Shyamalan wrote some impressive screenplays for comedy and romantic movies at the time, which were yet to see the theaters. He was trying his hands at an entirely new genre, but theVillagedirector decided to risk it further when he laid out a few stipulations to his agents.
Before these agents approached the studios withThe Sixth Sensescript, Shyamalan told them that the project would move forward only if he was attached as the director and if the minimum bid amount was going to be $1 million. Shyamalan told his agents (via THR):
“I have to be attached as director, and we’re going to have a $1 million minimum bid. If they want to read it, they have to know that this is going to start at $1 million.”
Shyamalan explained that he had to determine the worth of his own script, which was written with no specific demands from studios. TheGlassdirector shared that he was not going to compromise on his script’s worth and decided to shelve the project if no studio wanted to pay a million for it. Shyamalan shared with THR:
“[I told my agents], ‘It’s fine if no one wants to pay that money for it. If they don’t want to make it, I will shelve it.’ You have to not be bluffing when you say stuff like that. I wasn’t bluffing. I’ll do other things, but I won’t make the movie.”
TheSignsdirector’s decision would’ve doomed the movie, if he had come up with a weak script. Fortunately,Shyamalan’s gamble was backed by an exceptional scriptthat fooled the audiences in the theaters.
M. Night Shyamalan’s Pitch Got Great Responses From Studios
The studios were impressed with M. Night Shyamalan’s pitch forThe Sixth Sense. Multiple studios entered the mix to bid for the film and Shyamalan met with a few of them. He recalled how Hollywood Pictures, the now-defunct label of Disney, sealed the deal for the film. He shared with THR:
“I went over to a studio, and then there was another call [from my reps] and they said, ‘Someone else just bid, you go drive over to another studio.’ I remember it ended with Disney hearing that another company was going to come in with a big offer. So they called immediately and said, ‘We want to close it. Right now.’”
The deal with the studio was worth $2.2-3 million. Other famous studios were also in the mix, including Columbia, DreamWorks, and New Line Cinema. The first order of business was the casting ofBruce Willisin the lead role of Malcolm Crowe.
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According toBox Office Mojo, the film collected $672.8 million at the worldwide box office. It was the second highest grosser of 1999 after the billion-dollarStar WarsfilmThe Phantom Menace. It also began a working relationship between Shyamalan and Willis that spawnedthree films in theUnbreakablefilm series.
The Sixth Senseis now available for streaming on FX Now.
Hashim Asraff
Senior Writer
Articles Published :3019
Hashim Asraff is a Senior Entertainment Writer at FandomWire, with over 2,800 articles published on celebrity culture, comic book movies, and major TV franchises. With a background in Sociology and a keen interest in pop culture, Hashim brings a unique lens to breaking news stories, character deep-dives, film rankings, and fan-driven perspectives.His coverage often includes the MCU, DCU, hit network shows, and celebrity profiles, giving readers a rich blend of entertainment and analysis. A longtime fan of crime and investigative series, Hashim has watched thousands of episodes of NCIS, Criminal Minds, Law & Order: SVU, Bones, Blue Bloods, and The RookieA passionate storyteller and wordsmith, Hashim has also worked as a ghostwriter and managed multiple social media handles. He brought his writing expertise to FandomWire to also pursue his lifelong love for cinema and television.
