Fifty-four Academy Awards and 267 nominations. That’s the kind of concrete impact the Black List has had since its launch in 2005 as the go-to index of emerging screenwriters for Hollywood insiders. The Social Network, edge of tomorrow, selma, Don’t worry darling—Each one began as a Blacklist submission.
“I knew there were great writers and great scripts outside of the Hollywood ecosystem,” says founder Franklin Leonard. “I wanted to find a way for that to benefit everyone.”
With success came growth, and growth brought opportunity. Created as a website in 2012, Black List has proven to be a vital resource for agents, producers and studios looking for their next hit. Throughout its almost 20 years, it has been the platform for thousands of television scripts and pilots. Today it has about 7,000 entertainment professionals.
In September, Leonard took another leap: expanding into the world of books. The Black List now houses fiction manuscripts. To help navigate the uncharted meadows of publishing, he brought in Randy Winston, former director of writing programs at the New York Fiction Center and a kingmaker in his own right.
As for how it works: Interested writers create a profile (free), upload their novel manuscripts of any genre ($30 a month), and, if they wish, can pay for expert feedback from literary professionals through the site ($150). ). Like the annual Black List, the best manuscripts appear in Leonard’s subscriber newsletter and are guaranteed to land in the inboxes of the publishing industry’s power players.
Curious about the expansion, I called Franklin to find out how he plans to once again capture lightning in a bottle.
JASON PARHAM: There’s no good way to ask this, so I’ll just do it. What makes you think you can do it again?
FRANKLIN LEONARDO: It’s a fair question (laughter). And I’ll be honest, I was reluctant to jump into it. It’s not a good look to say, “I’m from Hollywood and I’m here to save you.”
Yes, I know Hollywood’s savior complex well.
And that was the last thing I wanted to do. I built this specifically to solve the problem and a system I saw in Hollywood. I didn’t work on books, so I didn’t want to be presumptuous and assume that you just take that and apply it. So last year, Allie Sanders, a book agent at Anonymous Content, set up a series of meetings for me. She said: “You tell people how you plan to do this and ask them to tell you where you’re wrong.” I was very happy to discover that people were saying that this is necessary. The question was: how does this model need to change so it can be successful?
There is an obvious need, as you said, but only because of very obvious problems endemic to institutions like Hollywood and publishing. Why are they so reluctant to change?
There are many reasons. The more material is really just practical: there is an overabundance of material. More scripts are written every year than a single person or a small group of people could read. More novels are written every year than any editorial team at a publishing house could read.