The Black List Gives Unrepresented Screenwriters Access to Hollywood

All unproduced writers dream of their script making the prestigious annual list, The Black List, and now writers from Iowa to Europe have a chance. The Black List founder Franklin Leonard and co- founder/CTO Dino Sijamic announced today the launch of a paid service that allows any screenwriter, amateur or professional, to upload their script to The Black List’s database, have it evaluated by professional script readers, and depending on its evaluation(s), have it read by as many as 1,000 film industry professionals currently a part of its membership site.

Breaking in outside of Hollywood is now truly possible.

“For years people have been asking me how to get their scripts to Hollywood. Short of endless rounds of unanswered query letters and screenplay competitions that may, in the best case scenario, attract the notice of a few people, I never had a good answer,” said Leonard. “We built this to provide one. It’s essentially a screenplay competition with rolling admission, as many prizes as there are good scripts, and instead of a check, you may be rewarded with a career as a professional screenwriter. But it’s also more than that: we’re delivering the best scripts directly to the hundreds of people who can help get them bought and made.”

Leonard and Sijamic described this new service as consistent with their mission of heralding great screenwriting in order to help moviemakers find great scripts to make. “We have an iron- clad ‘do no harm’ policy. A script’s evaluation will only be made public if a writer wishes to make it so. Moreover, the only time an industry professional’s attention will be drawn to a script is if it’s been evaluated positively or if our algorithm believes they personally will like it,” added Leonard.

Aspiring screenwriters will pay $25 a month to have their scripts hosted on The Black List’s website, accessible only by a closed community of Hollywood professionals. They can further pay $50 for evaluations by anonymous script readers hired by The Black List. Every read by industry professionals generated by those evaluations is entirely free.

Moreover, The Black List will not claim a commission, finder’s fee, or producer credit on business generated by their service. “Writers retain all rights to sell and produce their work and are free to negotiate the best deal they can get. All we ask is an email testimonial, letting us know of their success,” added Leonard. Over 200 scripts that have appeared on the annual Black List of most liked unproduced scripts have been produced and released for the domestic market, making over $16BN in worldwide box office and earning 148 Academy Award-nominations and 25 victories, including two of the last four best pictures (THE KING’S SPEECH and SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE) and five of the last ten screenwriting Oscars.

As always, it’s critical your script is ready. First impressions matter. Write, rewrite, get feedback, rewrite again… and then upload to The Black List for a chance at getting discovered.

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