Screenwriting : The Blacklist site by Wayne Taylor

Thanks Wayne, can you post the address?

http://www.blcklst.com

Just be aware that the readers only have to have a minimum of one years experience and their opinions can vary a lot.

Exactly CJ.

Keep in mind though that they found American Hustle, Slumdog Millionaire, and several others on the site.

And Social Network I believe Andrew, but that's an entirely separate side of the BlackList from the paid for evaluations.

Yes, but most of the people at any agency, or management office who reads your script first is going to be some one with a year or two experience and pass that on as well. At least here, you get to read their notes instead of just being rejected.

You also pay $50 for that privilege Andrew. I'm not advising people to avoid BL. I'm a regular customer who's had two scripts spotlighted on there, and I wrote such a glowing review of the feedback I got from the service the owner (Franklin) asked my permission to potentially use it. I'm simply advising that, based on experience, people are realistic as to what they are getting. You are paying for limited feedback from someone with limited experience. I'm not saying that's wrong or bad, just that BL can only offer that and still remain both competitive and profitable. Personally I buy three evaluations at a time so I can determine a consensus.

You have to pay for the readers time too.

Yes the reader gets $25 for their time. It's a very fine line BL has to tread between being affordable, attracting good enough readers and still making profit.

I would avoid ink tip.

A buddy of mine has SOLD at least 2 scripts on Inktip.

I'll see if I can dig up the producers name. I've used Inktip in the past, garnered a few reads, but all were passes due to budget.

I've never seen an ink tip film in theaters. I have seen blacklist films.

@Andrew p. That's true but I think you are confusing the BLACKLIST put out by Hollywood manager and producers with the blacklist script evaluation and hosting site.

They're hand in hand now.

I'd guess scripts being made from inktip vs. blacklist is largely irrelevant...if the script is solid and marketable, it will probably find its way through either channel to the screen. I'm curious about the quality of the service from blacklist. Is it worth the price? Folks with experience here...was the feedback spot on? Or was it too varied to be usable?

You get mixed reviews from different people. Some say it's a waste while others spend hundreds. According to the website the big players in Hollywood search the site. Also if your score is 8 or above they email your info out. However scoring high doesn't guarantee anything. Your loglines has to interest them first.

Andrew only one film has been made as a result of being found through the BlackList evaluation service as far as I know, and I don't believe it's been released yet. You seem to keep confusing the Black List evaluation service with the annual Black List. The two are completely separate entities run by the same person. I appreciate it's confusing. I've paid for a lot of evaluations with BL and found the service very mixed. Firstly you have the subjectivity of the reviewer but then you have how valuable their feedback is too. It's very much an individual thing. I usually pay for three reviews and sometimes find the scores and feedback and align and sometimes find they polarise/contradict. You can't really score artistic material like scripts, and using averages to sort them is even worse. But BL is a good way of demonstrating just how differently readers evaluate and react to them. That fact is you may find a champion for your script on BL and that would be in the form of a reader who scores it 8 or above and thus recommends it to their audience of 2000 industry members. As John Rae says, both InkTip and BL are only as good as the scripts you submit to them.

I posted NAVY ONE to The Black List about two months ago. A producer saw it and contacted me. Said he liked my writing... If nothing else, The Black List is a good place to connect with others in the industry.

Well I got a 7 on my script LIZZIE. Not the 8 or above I was hoping for but it is above the site average of 5.81.

I like this site. Have two script on it. The only thing I don't like is not having a clue as to what "Industry professional" downloads my scripts. Not that I want to contact them or anything, but I would be good to know whose eyes are looking at your material... just in case. InkTip has a system whereby when someone looks at your material -even it's just the Logline- you get notified and are able to go to the site and see a blurb with the name of the individual or company. In any case, I think The Black List is worth it.

I recently posted a sci-fi script, RIDE OF THE VALKYRIES, up on the Black List site. Another script of mine, an assignment, had previously been put up on the site by the graphic novel publisher for a (very) brief period and that one made the Top Lists, so I have hopes for this one... Of course, sci-fi is always hard to predict...

everything is subjective with those readers (well I suppose all readers). Good luck with it.

Were you happy with their evaluation?

Have there been any actual success stories of late?

@Thor- I would have been happy with a score of 9 and a glowing eval. The evaluation I got wasn't bad. This script is being shopped around, I was just curious what kind of score I'd get on it. @CJ - I really don't keep up with it. There has been a lot of success over there from what I hear.

I don't really keep up with it either. Congrats on the 7 Wayne, that's good going :)

Wayne, You're so right about readers. But the script received 8s and 9s, so I'm obviously not going to complain about THAT reader! :) I don't know how much "heat" the script actually generated since it was mostly done for "investor packaging" and I wasn't the one paying for the posting or even listed as the contact (since it was on assignment). Anyway, best of luck on your script!!!

I've had 6 or 7 clients of mine now receive 8 or 9 ratings on the BL site and get recommended/sent out in their emails. None of them have found any success through it though (yet).

I have put my scripts on Blacklist and enjoy the feedback I'm getting, however, I was put off by finding out how many evaluations you need to get put on the top lists. I got two high scores on my animated pilot, but my script didn't get put on the top list, because after one month, you need three ratings, and after 3 months, you need four ratings. Came off as just a way to get me to purchase more evaluations.

Yeah they seem to keep moving the goalposts to get more paid reads.

Lyse my experience has been pretty much exactly the same. Scores all over the place, conflicting feedback and pretty much a blackhole in terms of industry traffic. It taught me a lot more about readers than it did about my writing.

Yep, sounds a very familiar feeling! I've been on the wagon for a little while now too, but may have to join a Blacklistoholics Anonymous group to keep my nose clean.

There are so many ways to spend your money as a screenwriter that I find it difficult to know where to put my limited resources. I posted my pilot, Saybrook, on TBL and purchased a read. The first one I got was pretty bad; very little about the script itself, aside from getting a character's name wrong, and mostly one paragraph of conventional wisdom about period pieces. When I pointed this out to TBL customer service, they cancelled that read and gave me a new one. The second one was much more helpful and I agreed with the criticisms, most of which I anticipated. I'll probably keep Saybrook up there, once I finish revising it, but again, it's hard to know what to do given all the opportunities to spend money in trying to market a script.

I know you asked CJ but I'll throw my two cents in. The scripts made their way around and for some reason or another were never produced. They are considered the best scripts not produced for the year and this list gives them a second wind. Your logline on the site is what garners interest. If you have a good score then it's a bonus. A number of repped writers have gotten 9's on the site with no traction on their script what so ever.

As Wayne says, the annual BlackList is list of the best unproduced scripts circulating in HW, however many on the list are actually in production when the list is released. So it seems to be more like a script hotlist. I don't know how you get into it. When Wayne said traction I don't think he meant downloads on the site. But there have been writers who've got 9's, lots of downloads showing in their stats, and not a single contact. To be honest I'm very wary of saying anything negative about TBL on public forums.

If you've got the money to spend I recommend it for a script you think is 100% ready. Get 2 reviews and see what they say. People say it's too expensive, but that's $125. You'd spend that much on a pro coverage from 1 reader anyway. The TBL is just another tool writer's can use to get exposure. It doesnt guarantee anything.