Screenwriting : 2022 Black List by Eoin O'Sullivan

Thanks for the breakdown. I haven‘t figured out yet how a script can get „likes“, as opposed to ratings which you have to pay for. Does anyone have any idea how this works?

Alana Gerdes As mentioned above, The Black List (Franklin Leonard) polls or sends a survey to 300 executives. This is how the list is curated.

Scripts that are hosted and rated (paid feedback), are read by professional readers - From The Black List website FAQ; All of our readers have worked as first filters for major agencies, studios, production companies, television studios, and management companies. They're the exact type of people who would first read your script if you submitted to any of these companies

I think it's become a waste of time and money for the vast majority. Five years ago, you'd get views - even ratings - from professionals. Now you get absolutely zero interest. It's clear to me that they want customers to pay for reviews (which are now $100). I will never pay for a review again because they always give me 6/10 and the comments rarely match the score!

Sheesh, Bellevue is crushing competitors with 11 scripts!

Eoin O'Sullivan Thanks Eoin. Still a bit unclear on how to draw attention to the scripts apart from the ratings, as it might take a while for the scripts to pop up in a producer‘s search, but maybe that‘s just the way it is.

Alana Gerdes I think you'd need to ask an executive for the specifics (I can only guestimate). John Zaozirmy of Bellevue is very supportive of writers and is active on Twitter, so you could tweet him. He has retweeted Kristen Tepper (Better Luck Next Time) on how she managed to get on the list as an unrepped writer, which John acknowledges as a massive feat.

Eoin O'Sullivan That sounds great, many thanks Eoin!

That's great. Does anyone have a link to those top scripts? Would love to read what made them most liked.

Kerson Raymond The scripts may be available on other platforms, but the 2022 Black List PDF is available to download & the scripts are available to read, for any writer with a Black List account and who is actively hosting a script.

Thanks for the Black List breakdown, Eoin O'Sullivan. I plan to read some of the Black List scripts and learn from them.

Eoin: excellent job breaking down the numbers.

Screenwriters:

Here's another statistic for you. Though I could not determine how many people are members of The Blacklist script hosting site, it's safe to say there are thousands of them. I did some research and found out that since 2005, there have been 440 screenplays that were on The blacklist have been produced. If you divide that number by 18 years, that's approximately 25 screenplays per year. That demonstrates how few spec screenplays ever see the light of day, let alone get made into a big-budget production like the King's Speech or Argo. That's not meant to be a downer; it's just a reality check.

Therefore, spend your time creating content and making as many contacts as possible. In my opinion, only those who have talent, are willing to work extremely hard, and are obsessed with succeeding have a fighting chance.

Thanks, Phillip. I came across that article by No Film School with the info you mentioned above. Link here for anybody interested in reading it in full: https://nofilmschool.com/the-black-list-2022

Interesting statistics!

LOVE that we're breaking this down! There is a part of the "list" conversation that often gets dropped, though, and that is that reps can CAMPAIGN for scripts to get on the list. This is true for Blcklst, Hit List, Bloodlist, etc.

If you get on the list unrepped with no deal to go into production, that is HUGE. I would highly recommend following those writers and seeing what they do because they must be hustling and finding ways to get their script into the right hands.

For the rest (and I used to be a Lit Asst who "campaigned" for clients' spec scripts, so speaking from firsthand experience), reps will reach out to as many of those 300 producers as they can to try and secure a vote for a client's script. First calls will be to the ones who've actually read the scripts, obviously, but there are times where you might be reaching out to friends for a favor. So the idea that these are even the "most liked" aren't always the full picture (and this isn't even getting into the produced scripts -- like how the Hunger Games sequels made the list because they weren't produced YET).

This is not to say these lists aren't great or the writers on them don't deserve it because I have friends on the list, and they absolutely deserve the praise and to sit alongside household screenwriter names! But this there are so few scripts that get on here, and the list is largely to help raise a writer's profile or heat on a spec script. I would always try to prioritize professional coverage (which can land you a spot in the Stage 32 Lookbook solely because you wrote a great script!) and view lists like this as the icing. There are ways to get your name out there that you can have a lot more control over :D

This ^^^

Thanks for the great insight, Emily!

Listen to Emily! Huge insider nugget

Q: have all the owners of screenplay services ever held a summit and discuss the business and how they can work together, instead of complaining?