Black List (survey)

Created 2004
Location https://www.blcklst.com/lists/
Author(s) Franklin Leonard
Purpose Ranking of top unproduced screenplays

The Black List is an annual survey of the "most liked" motion picture screenplays not yet produced. It has been published every year since 2004 on the second Friday of December by Franklin Leonard, a development executive who formerly worked at Universal Pictures[1] and Will Smith's Overbrook Entertainment.[2][3][4] The website states that these are not necessarily "the best" screenplays, but rather "the most liked", since it is based on a survey of studio and production company executives.[5]

Of the 987 screenplays The Black List has included over the years, 295 have been later produced as theatrical films, including successful and award-winning examples such as American Hustle, Lars and the Real Girl, Juno,[6] The King's Speech, Slumdog Millionaire,[7] Argo,[8] and 50/50.[5] The produced films have all together grossed well over $24.87 billion, and have been nominated for 223 Academy Awards and 197 Golden Globe Awards, winning 43 and 40 respectively. In addition, writers whose scripts are listed often find that they are more readily hired for other jobs, even if their listed screenplays still have not been produced, such as Jim Rash and Nat Faxon, two of the writers of the Oscar-winning screenplay of The Descendants, who had an earlier screenplay make the list.[3] On the other hand, Slate columnist David Haglund has written that the list's reputation as a champion for "beloved but challenging" works has been overstated, since "these are screenplays that are already making the Hollywood rounds. And while, as a rule, they have not yet been produced, many of them are already in production."[9]

History

The first Black List was compiled in 2001 by Franklin Leonard, at the time working as a development executive for Leonardo DiCaprio's production company, Appian Way. He emailed about 90 fellow development executives and asked them to name the 10 best unproduced screenplays they read that year. To thank them for participating, he compiled the list and sent it the respondents. The name The Black List was a nod to his heritage as an African American man, and also as a subtle reference to the writers who were barred during the McCarthy era as part of the Hollywood blacklist.[10]

Films on the Black List

Currently, 295 screenplays have been put into production after appearing on the Black List. These include:

2007 Black List

2008 Black List

2009 Black List

2010 Black List

2011 Black List

2012 Black List

2013 Black List

References

  1. ↑ Sperling, Nicole (December 10, 2008). "The Black List: How Hollywood's Buzziest Scripts Get Their Juice". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  2. ↑ Sperling, Nicole (September 19, 2012). "Black List founder Franklin Leonard out at Overbrook Entertainment". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Geoff Edgars, "Hollywood’s talent pool", Boston Globe, February 23, 2012.
  4. ↑ The Wall Street Journal 12/13/2012
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Nicole Sperling, "A 'Black List' that's a career boost", Los Angeles Times, December 13, 2011.
  6. ↑ Nicole Sperling, "The Black List: How Hollywood's Buzziest Scripts Get Their Juice", Entertainment Weekly, December 10, 2008.
  7. ↑ Ben Child, "Hollywood's 'Black List' of best unproduced scripts of 2011 revealed", The Guardian, December 13, 2011.
  8. ↑ Finke, Nikki. "The Black List 2010: Screenplay Roster". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 6 November 2013.
  9. ↑ David Haglund, "The Mostly Dull-Sounding Screenplays on This Year’s 'Black List'", Slate, December 13, 2011.
  10. ↑ "Franklin Leonard's Black List can help green-light screenplays". LATimes.com. 2014-12-15. Retrieved 2014-12-15.

External links