The 2013 Black List Revealed

Deadline Hollywood is live updating its announcement of the 2013 Black List selected screenplays. The Black List is a yearly list that recognizes the best unproduced screenplays of the past twelve months. Initially, the list was meant to showcase new work by emerging talent, and placement on the list often led to representation, sales, production deals, and the like. More recently, the List has experienced some controversy, since many well-known writers with projects that have already been set up feature heavily in the ranking. Technically, their featured screenplays are still unproduced, though when Tarantino's DJANGO UNCHAINED made the list a couple years back, for example, many felt the nature of the list had been besmirched. Still, kudos to all who have made it on, especially those who are new to the industry.

Check out the 2013 Black List Screenplays here. 

UPDATED 12/17

You can now read the loglines and representation and production/financing info for all Black List screenplays on the Black List's official site.   

Article Alert - Diablo Cody's Advice for Screenwriters

Like her, love her, or loathe her, it's hard to deny that Diablo Cody (Juno, Jennifer's Body, Young Adult) has had a career that any young screenwriter could lust after. In the six years since Juno's come out, she's kept busy, been a rising star, and earned some solid bank. Deadline recently posted an article wherein Cody talks about seven things that nobody tells successful screenwriters. It's worth the quick read. Whether you put any stock in what she says is up to you.

Breaking In - Profile of a Screenwriter (Jason Hall)

Deadline Hollywood today posted a worthwhile article on how struggling actor, Jason Hall, became an "overnight" screenwriting sensation. (Note - there are few to none actual overnight major screenwriting success stories. All writing takes time, deliberation, and, usually, defeat. Hall's story is no different.) 

Give it a read, but keep in mind - no two writers break into the industry in the same fashion. My climb, which is far from over, has been a long one with many near successes, and more rejections. As you'll see from Hall's mini history, he was at it for years before he "made it." 

Moral: keep at it, no matter what. 

101 Best Written TV Series

WGA writers have recently voted on the Top 101 Best Written Television Series of all time. (If the WGA site list won't load, you can check out the full list - with some write up - at Deadline Hollywood.)

What are your reactions? Any omissions? Any that shouldn't be on there?

Oscar Nominated Scripts Recap

Hollywood's big night is coming up on Sunday, and all the pundits are predicting who will win, and who will be snubbed. For those of us wishing to break in (and those in the industry, I'd imagine), the Oscars can be incredibly fun - or incredibly aggravating. 

What do you mean that was the best picture?! 
I can write better than that with my eyes closed!
How did they overlook him/her/that movie (cough Dark Knight cough)?!

Whatever your opinions may be, it's good to take a close look at the Best Screenplay Nominees - adapted and original - to see what caught the Academy's eye this year. Deadline has done a nice wrap-up of them.

You can read the Original and Adapted screenplay write ups there.

2012 Black List Announced

December brings many things - holidays, family and friend gatherings, best (and worst) of the year lists. For the past eight years now, one of the more prestigious lists a screenwriter can find his or her work on is one that chronicles not the best films to come out that year, but rather the best unproduced screenplays that made their way around Hollywood in the past twelve years. Collected from mentions by agents and producers and those of a similar ilk, the Black List catalogs the best scripts of the year that have yet to begin production. 

A quick aside - the impetus behind the original Black List was to call out lesser known work by lesser known writers, to then forward their careers and thrust them (and their films) into production. Many of the titles and writers that show up nowadays are by known commodities (some very high profile talent makes it into the mix), which has caused the ranking to lose some of its street cred. That said, I know most (unproduced) writers dream of being on the Black List. I sure do.

Click over to Deadline for a full list, including titles, writers, who is repping them, and loglines of the chosen material. 

The Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) Hollywood Writers Report

Deadline today featured a release from the Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) - a report on the earning levels of disparate groups of Hollywood television and film writers. The study, which you can download here, analyzes the earnings, ages, genders, and races of writers over a span of five years (2005-2009). I won't bother you with my own in-depth analysis, but it's worth checking out. As with many statistics (such as, most likely to be serial killers) white men came out on top. 

Supposedly, the earning gap between genders shrunk, but women remain statistically paid less then men according to the study. Similarly disheartening is the fact that the work share done by minority writers fell compared to years past. I work in New York Theatre as my day-job, and that industry, too, is trying to grapple with the limited and historically lower number of opportunities for and work by both female and minority writers. It is prevalent across the board -film, television, and the stage - and studies like this can be valuable in drawing attention to the issue. 

A longer version of the study's findings is apparently available, but I have not read it.

Fall and Oscar Movie Preview - 2010

Fall is here, and in movie land, that means Oscar season. The following three articles are definitely worth reading if you're trying to track what's coming out between now and the end of the year and which - if any - of the releases are potential Oscar fodder.

Ken Levine does his annual fall movie preview in two parts here and here. Always good for a laugh, Levine's previews offer a good-natured (I think), usually well-deserved mocking look at what Hollywood has lined up for the final months of the year. When he lists them all out side by side that way, it's baffling to see just how many are remakes, sequels, three-quels, and adaptations. Count the original stuff. I doubt you need more than two hands.

While Nikki Finke is on vacation, Pete Hammond sums up the potential Oscar nominees at Deadline Hollywood. Granted, you don't have to care or buy into any of this if you don't want to. But lists like these are always useful as tracking devices (at the very least) for me. Regardless of how much stock you put in the Academy's decisions each year, knowing what's getting a lot of buzz at the festivals is generally pretty important for anyone looking to break into the industry, as being able to speak about what's hot (and understand the references when producers or agents make them to you) is crucial.