I have just been taking a look at the new Black List.

This is supposedly the list of those unproduced screenplays (though it contains at least two that have been filmed) that carry the biggest buzz in Hollywood. In the past, scripts like "Juno" have featured.

But this is the first list I have read. And...well, is it just me, or do some of these scripts sound a bit, well, what's the word...cr**?

I mean one of them is about a stuttering British monarch. Not exactly likely to get us rushing to the multiplexes, is it?

Anyone any thoughts?

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Obviously, I'm judging this on the loglines listed in the scripts, which may be unfair - but aren't we told that a good logline that sells a script, and I wouldn't call some of these good loglines.

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The Black List

The Hand Job!?  Really?

I actually think some of these sound really interesting...whether the films turn out to be good remains to be seen. Wonder how Sorkin feels about NOT being top of the list?

And one of them is called Neighbourhood Watch! Poor Brian - a title change may be in order.

Quoted from Alffy The Hand Job!?  Really?

That's what I thought.

If this is the stuff that has got Hollywood excited, it doesn't say an awful lot for Hollywood, does it?

I'm not interested in all the teenage stories at all nor all the "comedies", but some sounds interesting and I thought Buried was good and can't wait to see how that one turns out as film.

Medieval sounds good to me.

I looked at The Hand job, but it's another teenage thing...

The only one that struck me as of any real interest was the one about Bettie Davies and Joan Crawford, "Best Actress", partially because I like old Hollywood.

I have the script of this and may give it a read, see what it's like. I doubt I would pay to see any of these though.

Quoted from JonnyBoy And one of them is called Neighbourhood Watch! Poor Brian - a title change may be in order.

I couldn't even begin to tell how p*ssed I was when I saw that. I still think the title fits my script better after reading the logline for the black list version but it still looks like I'm going to have to change it. Ba$tards.  

Looking at the list, very few look eye-catching, but again, that opinion is based on loglines only. There may be a gem or two among them.  

Brian,

Don't forget - that picture is not filmed yet. So why change the name of yours when it's in the same boat?

That's like two struggling actors without SAG cards worrying about having the same name...

AJR

Sorry Brian...

Neighborhood Watch

It just gets better. To be fair, Niles, the above link is a very low budget effort so I wouldn't be so worried about that. The main problem is, after some more research, the Black List version had Will Ferrell attached at one point so it's safe to say that this will get made sooner or later with big money behind it.

Maybe my only hope is to pray Will Ferrell does indeed film it so everyone will have forgotten about it a year later. Otherwise, a title change may be needed.

I wouldn't worry Brian. Movies get retitled a lot.

Isnt Desperados like the exact plot of Roadtrip, cept with the genders switched and in mexico?

Quoted from alffy The Hand Job!?  Really?

I hope this isn't too much like my script, The Rusty Trombone.  

From what I've read a lot of the scripts on the list are not necessarily the best but just voted for by studios to create heat for projects they have in development. I've downloaded quite a few of the scripts though so will have a read through them and see if they are any good.

I'm a bit surprised Balls Out is on the list.   Whatever marketing that script did must have worked wonders.

I had a look on Scriptshadow the other day when someone mentioned that site.

Got to say there's some right yawners in the list. That's not to say they are not good, but they aren't films I'll be paying to watch.

One thing that struck me was hpw popular cop dramas are. That's got to be the most boring and cliched genre there is. Every film is the same.

I think the thing to remember is that this list is supposed to be the list of scripts the agents enjoyed reading the most. That's a wholly different thing to the scripts that the studios think would fill the most seats.

So you seem to get a lot more quirky little scripts on the Black List, like the Facebook thing that apparently is very funny, but sounds incredibly dull.