The Black List
annual film surveywww.blcklst.com
63
MENTIONS
14
EPISODES
12
PODCASTS
Search complete. 63 mentions across 14 episodes found for "The Black List".
Sep 11, 2026
Brian LandwehrHOST
For today, how's this for a career arc? Two longtime collaborators get their start as assistant editors on a documentary that goes on to win the Oscar.
Brian LandwehrHOST
They join forces as a screenwriting team, and their first script to make the black list, uh, back in 2015, sells, and a couple years later even has a director attached.
Brian LandwehrHOST
Now, 11 years and two more black list scripts later, their first produced feature is finally headed to theaters.
Brian LandwehrHOST
And at the helm is a director known for putting the audience inside the action-
Bailey PattersonHOST
Hmm
Tansy GardamHOST
This film was released at Christmas, and even before it was scheduled, Universal were pinning their big fantasy film bet on a script that ended in the death of almost every single character.
Tansy GardamHOST
And helping to hype up that script was The Black List, the annual list of the most popular unproduced scripts in Hollywood, which in 2008 included Chris Morgan's script for 47 Ronin.
Tansy GardamHOST
However, The Black List was a little less prestigious then than it is now.
Tansy GardamHOST
The list polls industry insiders about their favorite unmade scripts of the year, and today, any script that gets mentioned by 10 or more people gets on the list.
Tansy GardamHOST
But back in 2008, you only needed four mentions to make the list, and four was exactly the number of endorsements that the 47 Ronin script got, meaning that it sat at the very bottom of the list, along with an untitled Channing Tatum project and another samurai movie called Samurai, and the script for Sherlock Holmes, which would later be directed by Guy Ritchie.
Tansy GardamHOST
The highest-ranked script on The Black List in 2008, by the way, was The Beaver, later made into a film by Jodie Foster starring Mel Gibson.
Tansy GardamHOST
[ship horn blows] Morgan's early draft of 47 Ronin opened with a black screen and almost a full page of voiceover, basically giving a glossary of terms for the rest of the film.
Tansy GardamHOST
This was later seriously cut down and spiced up with visuals, but the opening voiceover did make it into the final cut.
Chris HillHOST
This is Blacklisted.
Chris HillHOST
I'm Chris Hill.
Chris HillHOST
Welcome to the show.
54 MINS LATER
Chris HillHOST
Well, Alex, I can't wait to continue the conversation.
Chris HillHOST
We're going to go from Bagman Beyond on the premium feed.
Chris HillHOST
But Alex, thank you so much for coming on to Blacklisted.
Alex ConveryGUEST
Yeah, it was a pleasure, Chris.
Alex ConveryGUEST
Thanks.
Zeth LundyHOST
But it's also about Cheryl Bradshaw, the female contestant on that show who picked from three eligible bachelors that she could talk to but she could not see.
Zeth LundyHOST
Back in 2017, the script for this film, the Ian McDonald script, it was featured on The Black List.
Zeth LundyHOST
Uh, The Black List is this annual list of the, uh, best unproduced screenplays floating around Hollywood any given year.
Zeth LundyHOST
If you know Hollywood history and you know the inner workings of Hollywood, you know that it can take a while for a script to actually get produced.
Zeth LundyHOST
A lot of times scripts don't get produced at all.
Zeth LundyHOST
But there is this annual poll of development executives, I guess people in positions of power when it comes to developing projects in Hollywood, and out of this poll comes a list of the most liked unproduced screenplays.
Zeth LundyHOST
So anyway, in 2017, this script, which at the time was not called Woman of the Hour but instead was called Rodney and Cheryl, was on The Black List.
Zeth LundyHOST
And a few years after that, four years after that, in 2021, Netflix acquired the script with Anna Kendrick attached as its star and Chloe Okuno to direct.
IanHOST
The screenplay itself had already developed a reputation before the movie existed.
IanHOST
Houghton and Alloway's script appeared on the 2023 Black List-
SamHOST
Oh
IanHOST
...
Brennan KleinHOST
Oh, yeah.
Brennan KleinHOST
Um, and would it interest you to learn that this was a Black List script? [laughs]
Caleb WimblePANELIST
What is going on-
Brian FowlerPANELIST
Ooh
Brian FowlerPANELIST
Oh, man.
Brian FowlerPANELIST
Oh, man
Caleb WimblePANELIST
... terrible films keep being Black List winners? Like-
Brennan KleinHOST
Well-
WesHOST
I think the, the, the interesting thing, and maybe this is what you'll find interesting, is looking at what the script was doing versus what the movie ended up doing.
WesHOST
And I guess to start this, this script became, uh, the top, n- number one on the Black List.
WesHOST
So the Black List, uh, there's two different Black Lists whenever you hear p- people talk about this, uh, thing.
WesHOST
Um, there's the way it started, which was [clears throat] uh, a guy at the end, during, at the end of the year, he sends out an email to all his contacts at different production companies and studios and producing people, and he, he's just asking everyone, like, "What's your favorite screenplays you read this year that are not in production?" And that's it.
WesHOST
That's the whole question.
WesHOST
It's like, "What did you love that's not getting made? Tell me what those scripts are and send them to me so I can read them over the holidays." That's how it started.
WesHOST
And then once people found out, like, "Hey, I'm curious, what, what was on that list? Would you send me, would you send me the list and the scripts?" He's like, "Yeah, here you go." And just more and more people kept requesting, "Hey, can you send me that list?" That it became known as the Black List.
WesHOST
And now it's become this famous thing because what he did was he took, he accumulated all that information and made a tally and said, "Whoa, some of these scripts are showing up in a lot of people's little list here." It's not like they're all talking to each other like, "What are you recommending? What are you..." Like, no one knows this at the beginning, right? No one knows this is even a thing.
Chris HillHOST
Welcome to the show.
Chris HillHOST
[upbeat music] This is a podcast about the motion picture screenplays that are featured on the coveted annual Black List, a prestigious list that aims to shine a light on extraordinary screenwriting in Hollywood, as voted on by industry professionals.
Chris HillHOST
Each episode, we talk to an inspiring screenwriter as they revisit their very first screenplay to feature on the buzzy compendium.
Chris HillHOST
Over the course of the episode, we'll discuss the genesis and the evolution of the project, the journey it took to end up on the Black List, and the impact such an accomplishment had on their writing career.
Chris HillHOST
[upbeat music] Today on the show, we welcome Kelly Marcel.
Chris HillHOST
Kelly is a British screenwriter, producer, and director who dropped out of school at 15, worked in a video rental shop, and somehow ended up one of the more prolific franchise writers in Hollywood.
Chris HillHOST
Her script for Saving Mr.
Chris HillHOST
Banks, the behind-the-scenes story of how Walt Disney convinced P.L. Travers to let him make Mary Poppins, landed on the Black List and was snapped up by Disney, earning her a BAFTA nomination for Outstanding Debut.
SarahHOST
Now, to be fair, I don't know how...
SarahHOST
The script was on the Black List in 2022, which is, like, a, a list of, like, the best unproduced scripts in Hollywood.
KaylaHOST
It was on the best list?
SarahHOST
I, listen.
KaylaHOST
So it's probably gotten, it's probably gotten worse.
KaylaHOST
[laughs]
SarahHOST
The version I have is the Black List version.
KaylaHOST
Okay, so the good version.
speaker_0HOST
Oh, right.
speaker_1HOST
The Deadline piece specifically notes that this script made the 2022 Black List.
speaker_0HOST
And for those who might not know, the Black List is an annual survey where Hollywood film executives basically vote on their favorite unproduced screenplays of the year.
speaker_0HOST
It's essentially the industry's internal compass for identifying top-tier writing talent.
speaker_1HOST
Ah.
speaker_0HOST
A lot of massive Oscar-winning movies started on the Black List, and her Black List script is being produced by Stacey Sher with Salma Hayek and Riley Keough attached to star.
speaker_1HOST
star.So you have a writer who is simultaneously handling a prestige sci-fi thriller with A-list talent, a Chinese comedy adaptation, and now a new adult college swimming romance driven by podcasts and TikTok culture.
speaker_0HOST
It requires an insane amount of range.
4 more episodes mention The Black List.
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