How It's Used

"Two years ago a young executive at Leonardo DiCaprio's production company, hungry for some good scripts to read over the holidays, asked 100 peers to send him their 10 favorite new screenplays that would not make it into theaters before the New Year. He whipped up a spreadsheet ranking the responses, titled it 'The Black List,' e-mailed it around and then watched it become a Hollywood phenomenon, the kind of underground document that writers with projects stuck in development pray will mention their script.

"That 2005 list began with 'Things We Lost in the Fire,' 'Juno' and 'Lars and the Real Girl,' three movies that came out this fall, with the last two attracting much Oscar buzz for their screenplays. Atop the 2007 list of 130 screenplays, which the list's compiler, Franklin Leonard, issued on Friday: 'Recount,' by Danny Strong, about the 2000 election battle in Florida; 'Farragut North,' a political drama by Beau Willimon; and 'Passengers,' by Jon Spaihts. HBO and Warner Brothers are already making the first two. The third, by a new writer, about a spaceship passenger prematurely thawed from a cryogenic slumber a century before anyone else, is available to studios or financiers, with Keanu Reeves attached to produce and star."

—David M. Halbfinger, "Tomorrow's Oscar Hopefuls Today," The New York Times, December 8, 2007.

"The most recognised script in the latest Black List is 'Recount,' by Danny Strong, a behind-the-scenes view of the disputed 2000 US presidential election, which drew 44 nominations from the approximately 150 contributors. The sci-fi drama 'Passengers,' by Jon Spaihts, drew 29 votes with its story of a passenger on an intergalactic spaceship who awakens from his suspended state 100 years early. Keanu Reeves is reportedly interested in the latter, although he will probably end up in 'Hangover,' a comedy about three friends who lose the groom at his bachelor party. It only had three mentions but that was enough to qualify. The Black List isn't infallible—the 2005 list had notable duds 'Wild Hogs' and 'The Number 23.'"

—Craig Mathieson, "News: Film," The Age (Australia), December 21, 2007.

"The Brit List is in its second year. It is the UK's equivalent to the Black List, set up in America by Franklin Leonard, a creative executive at Leonardo DiCaprio's production house Appian Way after he started asking his colleagues to recommend the best unmade works. The talent agent who put together the UK version, who did not want to be named ('the whole point is that it's anonymous'), says: 'In answer to and inspired by our peers in the US and their wonderful Black List, the UK and Irish film community have taken it upon themselves to compile their own list.'

"The criteria for a screenplay to qualify are that it is unproduced, did not feature on the previous year's list and has been recommended by at least two executives. Despite being called the Brit List, all non-US writers can qualify, although the list is largely kept to British and Irish nationals. Scripts are then ranked by the most number of votes cast by producers, sales agents and senior executives at talent agencies and public film bodies, all of who vote anonymously. 'Nowhere Boy' tops this year's list with 11 votes."

—Nick Clark, "The Best of British," The Independent (UK), October 17, 2008.

"In Hollywood they say that you can't make a great movie from a bad screenplay. But even seasoned veterans will hedge that rule. Franklin Leonard, a development executive with Universal, has for the past few years developed the Black List, an annual collection of the industry's best unproduced scripts (past Black List scripts include 'Lars and the Real Girl,' 'Juno,' 'Things We Lost in the Fire' and 'I Am Legend'). He notes that the script and other filmmaking elements such as direction and editing 'aren't necessarily distinguishable when you watch a movie.'

"Until last year, Leonard worked for Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella's production company. 'I remember Anthony saying many times that he thought of the screenplay as an architectural document,' Leonard says. 'And I think that's pretty accurate. When you see a great building, you don't know what the plans looked like, but it's hard to imagine seeing a great building that didn't have great plans.' As for how he knows one when he sees one, he says, it comes down to three questions. 'Is it a good story well told, do I care what happens next and do I want to talk about it after the movie's over? Those things are usually clues that the script is better than most. But even then there are no guarantees.'"

—no author listed, "Words, Camera, Action!: Without the Art of Screenwriting, Hollywood's Greatest Movies Would Not Have Been Great," The Washington Post, July 12, 2009, p. E06.

"In an odd confluence of events just as the Muppets were racking up page views, 'The Muppet Man,' a script by Christopher Weekes, attracted a great deal of attention after it was named the best unproduced script in Hollywood as part of film executive Franklin Leonard's annual survey The Black List."

—Brent Lang, "The Great Muppet Comeback: Prematurely put out to pasture, Jim Henson's puppets have re-emerged as Internet stars," The Wrap, January 5, 2010.

Links

Beyond eAlmanac
The 2009 Black List on Deadline.com