The Black List
The annual survey of Hollywood's most-liked unproduced screenplays, and an online script hosting platform connecting screenwriters with industry professionals.
Overview
The Black List is both an annual survey and an online platform that serves as a critical bridge between unproduced screenwriters and Hollywood decision-makers. The annual Black List -- first published in 2005 by former development executive Franklin Leonard -- surveys Hollywood development executives about the best unproduced scripts they have read each year, compiling the results into a widely circulated list that has become one of the most significant indicators of screenplay quality in the industry.
The online platform (launched in 2012) allows screenwriters to host their scripts, receive professional coverage and ratings from Black List readers, and make their work accessible to the industry executives, producers, and agents who use the site to discover new writers. The platform democratizes script discovery in an industry where access has historically been gatekept by representation relationships that are difficult to build without prior credits.
The Annual Survey
The annual Black List survey polls hundreds of development executives, producers, and agents about the unproduced screenplays they most admired during the year. Scripts that receive enough votes appear on the list, with the most-mentioned scripts appearing at the top. The list is published in December and generates substantial industry coverage.
The annual Black List is not a ranked "best of" list in the conventional sense -- it reflects which scripts are generating the most enthusiasm among industry readers at a given moment, which often correlates with scripts that are in active development or that studios are competing to acquire. A script appearing on the annual Black List is immediately exposed to the broadest possible audience of industry decision-makers, and many Black List scripts go on to production within one to two years of appearing on the list.
High-profile films that appeared on the Black List before production include Juno, The King's Speech, Slumdog Millionaire, Argo, Whiplash, The Imitation Game, and dozens of other significant productions. This track record gives the annual Black List substantial credibility as a quality signal for scripts in development.
The Online Platform
The Black List platform allows any writer to upload a script, pay for professional coverage (script evaluation), and make the script available for industry executives to discover. Scripts rated 8 or above on the platform's 1-10 scale are highlighted to industry users, making the platform a practical discovery mechanism for unrepresented writers with high-quality material.
The platform's coverage service connects scripts with professional readers who evaluate them against industry standards and provide written feedback. This feedback -- while not equivalent to development notes from a producer or studio executive -- provides unrepresented writers with professional evaluation of their work that helps them understand how their script reads to industry professionals before submitting it more broadly.
What Filmmakers Should Know
For unrepresented screenwriters with polished feature scripts, the Black List platform provides a legitimate industry discovery pathway that does not require prior agent representation. A script that earns strong ratings and is featured on the platform's weekly newsletter reaches industry professionals who are actively seeking material.
For directors and producers sourcing material, the annual Black List and the platform's highly-rated scripts represent a curated pool of quality unproduced screenplays. Many independent productions have been built around Black List scripts by emerging writers who did not yet have representation when their script was discovered.
Understanding the Black List's role alongside traditional representation pathways -- agents, managers, query letters, writing competitions -- helps screenwriters build a multi-channel approach to getting their work in front of industry decision-makers.
See Also
For how script development relates to production financing, see Distribution Deals Explained. For the WGA's credit determination role once a Black List script goes into production, see Writers Guild of America, West in this directory.
