The 2010 Black List (pdf format) is out.  

Some previous Black List scripts included Juno, The Social Network, 500 Days of Summer and Lars And The Real Girl.

This year, with 49 votes leading the pack is College Republicans by by Wes Jones

Based on true events. Aspiring politician Karl Rove runs a dirty campaign for national College Republican Chairman under the guidance of Lee Atwater, his campaign manager.

A few other notable (well, at least to me) nods are:

Hunger Games by Billy Ray.  Based on the novel The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.  

I'm heartened to see this make The Black List.  My boys and I have read the series and I hope that the scripts appearance on The Black List means that they'll be able to pull off which appears to me to be a very difficult book to film.

Also appearing is Chris Sparling's ATM.  Chris wrote Buried which came out last year.

Three co-workers end up in a desperate fight for survival when they stop to use an ATM.

Another script that caught my eye was Boy Scouts Vs. Zombies by Carrie Evans & Emi Mochizuko.  

A troop of Boy Scouts on their weekend camping trip must protect an island town from a zombie outbreak and save the local girl scout troop.

Check out Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood which has an excellent writeup and analysis of The Black List.


*For those of you who don’t know, The Black List is an annual list of Hollywood’s most liked unproduced screenplays. It started in 2004 when Franklin Leonard, a development executive for Appian Way, asked folks in the business to send in their list of top 10 unproduced screenplays. Those lists were complied into The Black List (which now as a site entirely devoted to The Black List).

Excellent. The Black List is always intriguing reading.

Thanks Don!

Hey Bert, check out "What happened to Monday?" with 12 votes. Ring any bell? Haha.

Quoted from Mr.Z Hey Bert, check out "What happened to Monday?" with 12 votes. Ring any bell? Haha.

You bet I noticed that one, Z -- a few weeks ago, actually.

But I neglected to bring it to your attention -- primarily because I sooooo appreciated the heads-up you gave me on "Cowboys and Aliens" a few years back.

The comments on the list are almost as interesting as the list itself, and there must be a dozen comments that say, "This list is B.S. if 'CAPITAL' is not on it!"

What is this script, "Capital"?  Would appreciate a PM on that one if it is floating around somewhere.  Seems to be a real crowd favorite.  

First - If those were the loglines that kept these out of slush piles I'd say the majority of SS regulars have little to worry about.

Although some did, most of those read like "interesting" stories to tell rather than knock-your-socks-off cheek hooks with radical, mind bending twist conflicts.

Second - I'm surprised at how many semi-historical "based on actual events" (sorta) stories there are. And how many (tired) "hit-man/assassin" stories there are. Sigh.

Third - The logline for PERFECT MATCH (10 votes) reads like ZACK & MIRI MAKE A PORNO.
           THE GIRL WITH SOMETHING EXTRA (7 votes) sounds like a remake of THE JERK.
           ZOMBIE BABY (7votes) is in the crib beside TEETH.


Lists of previous years.

A recently fired salesman comes home to find out he's been kicked out of his house by his wife. So he takes his things, which she's left outside, sets them up in the front lawn, and starts living there.

Guy with amnesia wakes up on a train. The train may or may not be a target in a terrorist attack.

Microscopic proteins/aliens ride human beings as passengers for their own personal enjoyment.

Two women are held hostage in a prison-like farmhouse.

In the city of The Burgue, a police inspector pursues a serial killer who is targeting fairies.



I'd have to say that a logline takes on new meaning once you've read the script. They can be pretty tame loglines that don't jump out at you yet behind it is a good script.

Hi i'm new to the discussion board.

Some of the ideas are good here, and i was wondering what The Black List is ? Are These Future Scripts going into development or ones rejected. Because when people complain Hollywood has no originality, i see ideas here and i think "Studios should take these scripts and make films like this".

Quoted from Don *For those of you who don’t know, The Black List is an annual list of Hollywood’s most liked unproduced screenplays. It started in 2004 when Franklin Leonard, a development executive for Appian Way, asked folks in the business to send in their list of top 10 unproduced screenplays. Those lists were complied into The Black List (which now as a site entirely devoted to The Black List).

ah thank you. So eventually, the studios will get to these in due course then as some production companies like Dreamworks and 20th Centruy Fox (Fox Searchlight is up there a lot).

Hopefully these screenwriters will be able to get their idea on screen and acheieve their dream.

Ideas I Like

49
College Republicans

47
Jackie(Cmon Fox Searchlight and get this in production already. This can be Danny Boyle's new film.)

39
Stoker

32
999

31
Margin Call

28
Argo

24
The Last Son Of Isaac Lemay

21
Family Getaway

17
Better Living Through Chemistry

16
Snow White & The Huntsman

15
Free Country

13
Hunger Games

12
What Happened to Monday ?

11
The Butler
The Escort

10
One Day (Being Made for This Year starring Anne Hathaway)
Perfect Match

7
Abudction (Being Made into a film starring Taylor Lautner)
Hyde
Ricky Stanicky

6
Boy Scouts Vs Zombies
Lola Versus
Prom (Disney are making this for Spring 2011. Seen a trailer and looks good)

5
F---ing Jane Austen
Serena

Ideas I Dislike

45
All You Need Is Kill
Not Interested

16
Chronicle
I swear i've read this premise before as a TV series

12
Welcome To People
its the guys who wrote Transformers 1 & 2

6
Hovercar 3D
Anything with 3D i will instantly dislike