While the number of participants has ballooned, Leonard says the purpose of the list remains the same: to recognize solid screenplays. Today, over 300 people participate in compiling the list those invited to participate contribute an unranked list of up to 10 of their favorite scripts of the year. He compiled those answers into a dossier he dubbed the Black List - part self-referential title (Leonard is African American) and part ironic nod to the 1940s and '50s Hollywood blacklist of suspected communists and communist sympathizers that on occasion derailed careers. He turned to his counterparts in the industry for a life preserver, and his simple e-mail to 75 Hollywood execs asking for good script suggestions resulted in an avalanche of replies. Then a development executive at Appian Way, Leonard had been drowning in a sea of bad screenplays. Writers are including emotions, camera angles and specific music in the scripts, which has long been a NO, No.įilm executive Franklin Leonard has been compiling The Black List since 2005.
The most fascinating thing is how many screenwriting rules are broken. You can also gauge different agents tastes and possibly pitch those agents your similar project. You can see what agents consider the BEST. If you can get your hands on these, I highly recommend reading them, as it gives great insight into the current writing trends.
It has already been optioned for Leonardo DiCaprio and slated for 2014. The number one script "The Imitation Game," is great.
I've got all 70 of the BlackList scripts and have begun reading them.