The Black List (survey)

The Black List is an annual survey of the "most-liked" motion picture screenplays not yet produced. It has been published every year since 2005 on the second Friday of December by Franklin Leonard, a development executive who subsequently 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]

This article is about the list of top unfilmed movie screenplays. For the NBC TV series, see The Blacklist (TV series). For other uses, see Blacklist (disambiguation).
The Black List
Created2004 (2004)
Locationblcklst.com/lists/
Author(s)Franklin Leonard
PurposeRanking of top unproduced screenplays

Of the approximately 1,000 screenplays The Black List has included since 2005, nearly a third have been produced as theatrical films, including Argo,[6] American Hustle, Juno,[1] The King's Speech, Slumdog Millionaire,[7] Spotlight, The Revenant, The Descendants, and Hell or High Water. The produced films have together grossed over $25 billion, and been nominated for 241 Academy Awards and 205 Golden Globe Awards, winning 48 and 40 respectively.[8] As of the 92nd Academy Awards, three of the last 10 best picture Oscars went to scripts featured on a previous Black List, as well as nine of the last 20 screenwriting Oscars (Original and Adapted Screenplays). Additionally, 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 screenplay for The Descendants, who had an earlier screenplay make the list.[3] 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]

On January 27, 2019, at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, it was announced that the LGBTQ media advocacy group GLAAD had partnered with The Black List to create The GLAAD List, a new curated list of the most promising unmade LGBTQ-inclusive scripts in Hollywood.[10]

History
A Black List live script reading panel at the 2018 ATX Television Festival (pictured from L–R): Moderator Franklin Leonard, with Matt Lauria, James Lafferty, Jason George, Katherine Willis, Taylor Dearden, Nick Wechsler, Tyrel Jackson Williams, and Riley Scott.

The first Black List was compiled in 2005 by Franklin Leonard, at the time working as a development executive for Leonardo DiCaprio's production company, Appian Way Productions. He emailed about 75 fellow development executives and asked them to name the ten best unproduced screenplays they read that year.[11] To thank them for participating, he compiled the list and sent it to 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.[12]

The screenplays to top The Black List, from 2005 to 2021 respectively, are: Things We Lost in the Fire; The Brigands of Rattleborge; Recount; The Beaver; The Muppet Man; College Republicans; The Imitation Game; Draft Day; Holland, Michigan; Catherine the Great; Bubbles; Blond Ambition; Ruin; Frat Boy Genius; Move On; Headhunter; and Cauliflower.

Structure

The Black List tallies the number of "likes" various screenplays are given by development executives, and then ranks them accordingly. The most-liked screenplay is The Imitation Game, which topped the list in 2011 with 133 likes; it went on to win the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 87th Academy Awards in 2015.[13]

Films on the Black List
Main article: List of produced films included in The Black List

More than 400 screenplays have been put into production after appearing on The Black List. These include:[14][15]

2005 Black List

(120/286 screenplays have been put in production)

2006 Black List

(40/87 screenplays have been put into production)

2007 Black List

2008 Black List

(39/105 screenplays have been put into production)

2009 Black List

(42/97 screenplays have been put into production)[17]

2010 Black List

(44/76 screenplays have been put into production)

2011 Black List

(68/71 screenplays have been put into production)[7][18]

2012 Black List

2013 Black List

2014 Black List

2015 Black List

2016 Black List

2017 Black List

2018 Black List

2019 Black List

(43/66 screenplays have been put into production)[19]

  • 10-31
  • 8-Bit Christmas (2021)
  • Affairs of State
  • An Aftermath
  • Apex (Screenplay listed is by Stephen Vitale)
  • Assisted Living
  • Betty Ford (Adapted to Television)
  • Breathe
  • The Broker
  • Doll Wars
  • Don't Go in the Water
  • Don't Worry Darling (2022)
  • Field of View
  • First Ascent (Adapted to Television)
  • First Harvest
  • Grandma Wants to Die
  • Helldiver
  • High On Christmas
  • The House is Not for Sale
  • I Heart Murder
  • A Magical Place Called Glendale
  • The Man in the Woods
  • Move On
  • The Menu (TBA)
  • My Boyfriend's Wedding
  • No Good Deed
  • The Perdition in Liege
  • The Process
  • The Repossession
  • Resurrection
  • Ripple
  • Rumours
  • Say Something Nice
  • The Searchers
  • The Showrunner
  • Shut In (2022)
  • Super Dad
  • The Swells
  • T
  • They Cloned Tyrone (2022)
  • Til Death
  • The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022)
  • Voicemails for Isabelle

2020 Black List

(4/80 screenplays have been put into production)[20]

References
  1. Sperling, Nicole (December 10, 2008). "The Black List: How Hollywood's Buzziest Scripts Get Their Juice". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on September 29, 2015. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  2. Sperling, Nicole (September 19, 2012). "Black List founder Franklin Leonard out at Overbrook Entertainment". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 6, 2013. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
  3. Edgars, Geoff (February 23, 2012). "Hollywood's talent pool". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on May 3, 2012. Retrieved May 3, 2012.
  4. Dodes, Rachel (December 21, 2012). "For Budding Screenwriters, a Way Past the Studio Gates". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on December 27, 2014. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
  5. Sperling, Nicole (December 13, 2011). "A 'Black List' that's a career boost". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on December 16, 2011. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
  6. Finke, Nikki (December 13, 2010). "The Black List 2010: Screenplay Roster". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on December 16, 2010. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
  7. Child, Ben (December 13, 2011). "Hollywood's 'Black List' of best unproduced scripts of 2011 revealed". TheGuardian.com. Archived from the original on September 25, 2013. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
  8. "Black List Films". The Black List. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
  9. Haglund, David (December 13, 2011). "The Mostly Dull-Sounding Screenplays on This Year's 'Black List'". Slate. Archived from the original on December 11, 2018. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
  10. Kilday, Gregg (January 27, 2019). "Sundance: GLAAD and The Black List Join Forces to Promote LGBTQ Screenplays". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on July 11, 2021. Retrieved January 28, 2019.
  11. How an underground script list changed movies (Online video). Vox. September 14, 2017. Archived from the original on October 14, 2021. Retrieved October 13, 2021 – via YouTube.
  12. Rottenberg, Josh (December 15, 2014). "Franklin Leonard's Black List can help green-light screenplays". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 16, 2015. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
  13. "Oscar Winners 2015: Complete List". Variety. February 22, 2015. Archived from the original on February 23, 2015. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
  14. "The Black List" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on January 31, 2016. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  15. Ford, Rebecca (December 14, 2015). "Michael Jackson Chimp Script 'Bubbles' Tops Black List". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on October 14, 2021. Retrieved October 14, 2021.
  16. Ouellette, Jennifer (September 4, 2019). "Carnival Row Brings a Richly Textured Fantasy World to Life". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on September 9, 2019. Retrieved October 14, 2021 – via Wired.com.
  17. Finke, Nikke (December 11, 2009). "The Black List 2009: Full Roster". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on September 15, 2014. Retrieved October 14, 2021.
  18. Han, Angie (December 12, 2011). "The 2011 Black List: The Year's Best Unproduced Screenplays". Slashfilm. Archived from the original on October 15, 2021. Retrieved October 14, 2021.
  19. D'Alessandro, Anthony; Ramos, Dino-Ray (December 16, 2019). "The Black List 2019 Screenplays Unveiled & Ranked: Ken Kobayashi's Frozen-Time Romance 'Move On' Tops List". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on December 27, 2019. Retrieved October 14, 2021.
  20. Lindahl, Chris (December 14, 2020). "The 2020 Black List Presents the Year's Best Unproduced Scripts". IndieWire. Archived from the original on December 16, 2020. Retrieved February 27, 2021.
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