The Black List (survey)

The Black List is an annual survey of the "most-liked" motion picture screenplays not yet produced. It has been published every year since 2005 on the second Friday of December by Franklin Leonard, a development executive who subsequently worked at Universal Pictures and Will Smith's Overbrook Entertainment. The website states that these are not necessarily "the best" screenplays, but rather "the most liked", since it is based on a survey of studio and production company executives.
Of the more than 1,000 screenplays The Black List has included since 2005, at least 450 have been produced as theatrical films, including Argo, American Hustle, Juno, The King's Speech, Slumdog Millionaire, Spotlight, The Revenant, The Descendants, Promising Young Woman, and Hell or High Water. The produced films have together grossed over $30 billion, and been nominated for 241 Academy Awards and 205 Golden Globe Awards, winning 50 and 40 respectively. As of the 92nd Academy Awards, four of the last 10 Academy Awards for Best Picture went to scripts featured on a previous Black List, as well as 12 of the last 20 screenwriting Oscars. Additionally, writers whose scripts are listed often find that they are more readily hired for other jobs, even if their listed screenplays still have not been produced, such as Jim Rash and Nat Faxon, two of the writers of the screenplay for The Descendants, who had an earlier screenplay make the list. Slate columnist David Haglund has written that the list's reputation as a champion for "beloved but challenging" works has been overstated, since "these are screenplays that are already making the Hollywood rounds. And while, as a rule, they have not yet been produced, many of them are already in production."

WWW blcklst.com/lists 𝕏 theblcklst IG theblcklst

History

The first Black List was compiled in 2005 by Franklin Leonard, at the time working as a development executive for Leonardo DiCaprio's production company, Appian Way Productions. He emailed about 75 fellow development executives and asked them to name the ten best unproduced screenplays they read that year. To thank them for participating, he compiled the list and sent it to the respondents. The name The Black List was a nod to his heritage as an African American man, and also as a reference to the writers who were barred during the McCarthy era as part of the Hollywood blacklist.
The screenplays to top The Black List, from 2005 to 2025 respectively, are: Things We Lost in the Fire; The Brigands of Rattleborge; Recount; The Beaver; The Muppet Man; College Republicans; The Imitation Game; Draft Day; Holland, Michigan; Catherine the Great; Bubbles; Blond Ambition; Ruin; Frat Boy Genius; Move On; Headhunter; Cauliflower; Pure; Bad Boy; One Night Only; and Best Seller.
On January 27, 2019, at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, it was announced that the LGBT media advocacy group GLAAD had partnered with The Black List to create The GLAAD List, a new curated list of the most promising unmade LGBT-inclusive scripts in Hollywood.

Structure

The Black List tallies the number of "likes" various screenplays are given by development executives, and then ranks them accordingly. The most-liked screenplay is The Imitation Game, which topped the list in 2011 with 133 likes; it went on to win the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 87th Academy Awards in 2015.

Films on the Black List

More than 450 screenplays have been put into production after appearing on The Black List. These include:

2005 Black List

21 Afternoon Delight – then titled TricycleAll God's Children Can Dance – then titled K-Town Super FrogThe American – then titled A Very Private Gentleman, by Laura HarringtonAltered Carbon – adapted to televisionAnonymous – then titled Soul of the AgeArmored – by Andrew Kevin WalkerBabel Balls Out: Gary the Tennis Coach Black Snake Moan Blades of Glory Blind Blood Diamond – by Edward Zwick and Marshall HerskovitzBreach The Brothers Solomon The Bucket List The Burial Buried in Barstow – then titled BarstowCarnival Row – then titled A Killing on Carnival Row; adapted to televisionChapter 27 Charlie Wilson's War Charlie Bartlett Cougars, Inc. – then titled Mother's Little HelpersDan in Real Life Dangerous Parking Dark Around The Stars – then titled StarsDeath at a Funeral Delirium – then titled HomeDexter – adapted to televisionDisturbia The Dirt Dream House Eight Below – then titled AntarcticaEnder's Game – by D.B. WeissThe Expendables – then titled BarrowFactory Girl Fanboys The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift The Forger Freedomland Fur The Game Plan – then titled Daddy's Little GirlGet Low The Good Lie – then titled Lost Boys of SudanA Good Old Fashioned Orgy Hal Buckley Hall Pass Hancock – then titled Tonight, He ComesHarold The Hawk Is Dying Henry Poole Is Here – then titled StainThe Highwaymen The Hoax Horrible Bosses Hot Rod The Hunting Party – then titled Spring Break in BosniaInfamous – then titled Every Word is TrueIn Secret – then titled Terese RaquinJuno Killer Elite – by John JarrellKing of California The Kingdom The Kite Runner Lars and the Real Girl The Ledge Legendary – then titled Oxley's RoadLife After Beth – then titled Winged LifeThe Life Before Her Eyes – then titled In BloomLittle Children Little Miss Sunshine Love in the Time of Cholera Lucky Number Slevin The Maiden Heist – then titled Lonely MaidenMama's Boy Margaret Married Life – then titled MarriageMeet Bill – then titled BillMeet Dave – then titled Starship DaveMessage from the King Michael Clayton A Million Little Pieces – by James FreyThe Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor My All American – by Jeff RodaThe Mysteries of Pittsburgh Nacho Libre Nebraska Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist Not Another Happy Ending – then titled Happy EndingsNotes on a Scandal The Number 23 One Percent More Humid The Only Living Boy in New York The Other Boleyn Girl Pathfinder Passengers Peacock Post Grad – then titled Ticket to RideThe Prestige The Proposal, by Jennifer KirbyThe Promotion — then titled QuebecThe Pursuit of Happyness Pu-239 Quid Pro Quo The Queen Reservation Road Righteous Kill The Sasquatch Gang – then titled The Sasquatch Dumpling GangStardust The Starling Stop-Loss Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip – then titled Studio 7Survivor The Ten Tenure Things We Lost in the Fire The Time Traveler's Wife – by Jeremy LevenTuristas Under the Skin – by Alexander StuartWanted We Are Marshall The Whistleblower Wild Hogs The Words World Trade Center X-Men Origins: Wolverine The Year of Getting to Know Us – then titled Eliot RockettYouth in Revolt

''Zodiac''

2006 Black List

3:10 to Yuma – by Stuart Beattie500 Days of Summer A Mighty Heart – by Michael Winterbottom & Laurence CoriatAll About Steve Assassination of a High School President Away We Go – then titled This Must Be the PlaceThe Brothers Bloom The Bucket List Changeling Crash Pad – then titled Bim Bam BabyCurve Dear Dictator – then titled Coup d'EtatDeath at a Funeral The Devil's Double The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Dracula Untold – then titled Dracula Year ZeroThe Fighter – by Lewis ColickFrost/Nixon Get Smart Get On Up – then titled SuperbadHanna Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay In Bruges Life of Pi – by Jean-Pierre Jeunet & Guillaume LaurentLions for Lambs The Men Who Stare at Goats The Messenger My All American – Jeff RodaNatural Selection The Other Woman – then titled Love and Other Impossible PursuitsOpen Grave Rendition Scott Pilgrim vs. the World – then titled Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little LifeSeven Pounds Seven Psychopaths She's Out of My League State of Play Superbad There Will Be Blood Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

''Year of the Dog''

2007 Black List

The Answer Man – then titled The Dream of the RomansAdventureland All Good Things Bartali – then titled Lion Man of Tuscany, by Nathan SkulnikBig Eyes Blindness Blitz Bohemian Rhapsody – then titled Somebody to LoveThe Book of Eli The Book of Love – then titled The Devil and the Deep Blue SeaBurn After Reading Burnt – then titled Untitled Chef ProjectCharlie Countryman – then titled The Necessary Death of Charlie CountrymanClash of the Titans Dear John Demolition Dirty Girl Doubt The Duchess Duplicity Eagle Eye Genius The Hangover Happy. Thank You. More. Please. Hitchcock – then titled Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of PsychoHow to Lose Friends & Alienate People The Ides of March – then titled Farragut NorthThe Invention of Lying – then titled This Side of the TruthInvictus – then titled The Human FactorJack Ryan: Shadow Recruit – then titled DubaiJennifer's Body Justice League Last Chance Harvey, by Stephen HopkinsLet It Fall: Los Angeles 1982–1992 Love & Other Drugs – then titled Untitled Charles Randolph Pharmaceutical FilmManagement Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House – then titled Deep ThroatNever Let Me Go Orphan Passengers Recount The Revenant The Road Salt – then titled Edwin A. SaltSelma Slumdog Millionaire Source Code The Town Valkyrie The Wackness The Way, Way Back – then titled The Way BackWhip It The Wolf of Wall Street World War Z The Wrestler Yes Man

''Zombieland''

2008 Black List

47 Ronin 50/50 – then titled I'm With CancerA.C.O.D. – then titled ACOD: Adult Children of DivorceAll I Wish – then titled A Little Something for Your BirthdayBachelorette The Back-up Plan – then titled Plan BBad Teacher The Beaver Broken City Butter Child 44 Cop Out – then titled A Couple of DicksDate and Switch – then titled Gay DudeThe Debt The Descendants Easy A Everything Must Go The F Word – then titled The F-WordFoxcatcher The Fourth Kind Going the Distance Hope Springs – then titled Untitled Vanessa Taylor ProjectInglourious Basterds Killing Season – then titled ShrapnelLondon Boulevard Lovelace – then titled Inferno: A Linda Lovelace Story, by Matt WilderNo Strings Attached – then titled FuckbuddiesNowhere Boy The Oranges Our Brand Is Crisis Out of the Furnace – then titled The Low DwellerRemember Me – then titled MemoirsSherlock Holmes Sleeping Beauty Sunflower Unlocked [Up in the Air (2023 American film)|Air (2009 film)|Up in the Air] What's Your Number? – then titled Twenty Times a LadyWorth – then titled ''What Is Life Worth?''

2009 Black List

2 Guns 30 Minutes or Less Arthur The Baytown Outlaws – then titled Baytown DiscoBooksmart Buried Cedar Rapids Celeste and Jesse Forever Cut Bank Dark Was the Night – then titled The TreesDesperados Due Date The Duel – then titled By Way of HelenaFeud – then titled Best Actress; adapted to television as an anthology seriesThe Guilt Trip – then titled My Mother’s CurseHanna If I Stay The King's Speech The Kings of Summer – then titled Toy's HouseThe Last Stand Lawless – then titled The Wettest CountyMixtape Motor City Pawn Sacrifice Prisoners Red Riding Hood – then titled The Girl With the Red Riding HoodRestless Seeking Justice – then titled The Hungry Rabbit JumpsShimmer Lake The Sitter The Social Network The Spectacular Now Take This Waltz That's My Boy – then titled I Hate You DadThe To Do List – then titled The Hand JobThe True Memoirs of an International Assassin The Umbrella Academy – adapted to television The Vatican Tapes The Voices Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps – then titled Wall Street 2: Money Never SleepsThe Watch – then titled Neighborhood WatchWater for Elephants

''Z for Zachariah''

2010 Black List

Abduction Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter American Hustle – then titled American BullshitArgo ATM Better Living Through Chemistry The Butler Can You Keep a Secret? – by Megan MartinChronicle Cinema Verite Crazy, Stupid, Love Danny Collins – then titled ImagineDie in a Gunfight Edge of Tomorrow – then titled All You Need Is Kill, by Dante HarperThe Escort Everly Freaks of Nature – then titled Kitchen SinkFun Size Gangster Squad Get a Job Gold The Gray Man – then titled Gray Man, by Adam CozadHow It Ends The Hunger Games – then titled Hunger GamesThe Impossible Jackie The Last Son – then titled The Last Son of Isaac LeMayThe Last Witch Hunter Lola Versus Looper Margin Call Murder of a Cat One Day Oz the Great and Powerful – then titled Oz: The Great and PowerfulPaint People Like Us – then titled Welcome to PeopleProm Ricky Stanicky Safe House Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse – then titled Boy Scouts vs. ZombiesSearch Party – then titled Road to NardoSerena Snow White and the Huntsman Stoker Succession – then titled Murdoch; adapted to televisionThat Awkward Moment – then titled Are We Officially Dating?Triple 9 – then titled 999What Happened to Monday – then titled ''What Happened to Monday?''

2011 Black List

The Accountant Arizona Bad Words Before I Fall The Broken Hearts Gallery – then titled The Museum of Broken RelationshipsThe Current War Dirty Grandpa Django Unchained The DUFF Ezekiel Moss Father Figures – then titled BastardsFuture Man – then titled The Slackfi Project, adapted to televisionGood Kids Grace of Monaco Hidden The Hitman's Bodyguard The Imitation Game Jane Got a Gun Long Shot – then titled FlarskyMaggie The Outsider Playing It Cool – then titled A Many Splintered ThingThe Pretty One Saving Mr. Banks Self/less Sex Tape St. Vincent – then titled St. Vincent de Van NuysTwo Night Stand When the Streetlights Go On – adapted to television

2012 Black List

The Adam Project – then titled Our Name Is AdamArrival – then titled Story of Your LifeBlockers – then titled CherriesCome and Find Me Don't Make Me Go Draft Day The Equalizer Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile Fathers and Daughters The Fault in Our Stars Flower Hell or High Water – then titled ComancheriaJojo Rabbit The Judge The Keeping Room Me and Earl and the Dying Girl Murder City The Outcasts – then titled The OutskirtsProject Almanac – then titled AlmanacRun All Night – then titled All-NighterSand Castle Shut In Stockholm, Pennsylvania The Survivalist Sweet Virginia Transcendence

''Whiplash''

2013 Black List

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood – then titled I'm Proud of YouAmerican Sniper The Autopsy of Jane Doe Cake Dude The End of the Tour Extinction Faults The Gateway – then titled Where Angels DieHolland – then titled Holland, MichiganHot Summer Nights The Independent A Monster Calls Pan Patient Zero – then titled Patient ZReminiscence The Sea of Trees Shovel Buddies

''Spotlight''

2014 Black List

American Made – then titled MenaThe Babysitter Big Time Adolescence Bird Box Coffee and Kareem The Founder Gifted How to Make a Killing – then titled RothchildJosie – then titled HuntsvilleLBJ Manchester by the Sea Money Monster Morgan My Friend Dahmer On the Basis of Sex The Shallows – then titled In the DeepThe Wall

''Tau''

2015 Black List

All the Money in the World American Woman – then titled The Burning WomanBed Rest City of Lies – then titled LabyrinthChappaquiddick Crater Dreamland Eli Lou Lucy in the Sky – then titled Pale Blue DotMiss Sloane Nyad – by Robert SpeclandOperation Finale – then titled Hunting EichmannRough Night – then titled Move That BodySenior Year Set It Up The Standoff at Sparrow Creek – then titled MilitiaStronger Three Months The Water Man Wish Upon

''White Boy Rick''

2016 Black List

America: The Motion Picture Adrift Bad Education Free Guy Hala Hotel Artemis The Housewife I Think We're Alone Now I Am Mother – then titled MotherI, Tonya In the Blink of an Eye Late Night – then titled Untitled Late Night ComedyLife Itself Miller's Girl Oxygen – then titled O2Palmer The Post Roman J. Israel, Esq. – then titled Inner CitySpace Oddity

''Villains''

2017 Black List

All My Life Ballerina Breaking News in Yuba County Call Jane Daddio Finch – then titled BiosFUBAR – then titled Fubar, by Brent Hyman – adapted for televisionGreenland Heart of the Beast Infinite Kate The Other Lamb Project Power – then titled PowerThe Lodge The Mother The Saviors The Sleepover The Survivor – then titled The BoxerWoman of the Hour – then titled ''Rodney & Sheryl''

2018 Black List

Asphalt City – then titled Black FliesCobweb The High Note – then titled CoversThe Half of It King Richard Little Fish Meet Cute Promising Young Woman Queen & Slim

''Young. Wild. Free.''

2019 Black List

8-Bit Christmas Breathe The Devil's Mouth – then titled ApexDon't Worry Darling Knock at the Cabin – then titled The Cabin at the End of the WorldThe Menu Relay – then titled The BrokerResurrection Shut In They Cloned Tyrone The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

''Voicemails for Isabelle''

2020 Black List

A Big Bold Beautiful Journey Anything's Possible – then titled What If?Bella Borderline Bubble & Squeak Chang Can Dunk Emancipation Emergency Fight or Flight Flight Risk Get Lite The Gorge Hold Your Breath – then titled DustHorsegirls – then titled Horsegirl I.S.S. If You Were the Last Lurker Magazine Dreams May December Mouse Nanny Sharper Suncoast The Woman in the Yard – then titled ''The Man in the Yard''

2021 Black List

A Nice Indian Boy Air – then titled Air JordanApex Barron's Cove Challengers The Family Plan

''Lift''

2022 Black List

Eternity Him – then titled GoatJingle Bell Heist Madden

''Subversion''

2023 Black List

Forbidden Fruits Perfect Girl – then titled UnnieRunner Sender – then titled ''Return to Sender''

2024 Black List

One Night Only

''Tony''