Eleven scripts from the Black List that you need to read
By Mohummad Humza Elahi
Created by Franklin Leonard in 2005, The Black List is an annual compilation of screenplays that are “most liked” by over 375 film executives in Hollywood. These screenplays can be either unencumbered by attachments and available, optioned, or sold – but all are currently unproduced.
There are over 70 scripts ranked on the 2021 Black List. Which scripts can you learn the most from – and put to the top of your reading list?
How about we follow the money?
Nothing gives a script more validation in Hollywood than having a studio willing to part with cold, hard cash (as either a sale or an option). In my previous article What I Learned From the Top Ten Black List Scripts I made a distinction between a Get Noticed versus a Get Made script. Get Noticed usually happens in Phase One of a screenwriter’s career, but Get Made is the dream.
So here are the scripts that compelled studio execs to dip into their pockets:
Ultra by Colin Bannon
(Tristar Pictures – 19 votes)
You need to read if you want to sell horror. Horror scripts are quite hard to write as so much is dependent on the lighting, score, mood, etc., and the visual experience. But Ultra does one thing really well, it essentially combines something that is already full of conflict (ultra-running) and then ups it again by adding a supernatural force. If you’re writing horror, make sure that even without the blood, guts, etc., there’s still tons of conflict in the premise.
Homecoming by Murder Ink
(Lionsgate – 15 votes)
You need to read if you want to sell comedy (#1). More specifically, the core concept is a twist on ‘familiar yet fresh’. The script doesn’t break any new ground; the characters, beats, sub-plots, etc., are all things we’ve seen before, especially if you remember the early 2000s boom for films such as Old School, Road Trip, Accepted, and the like. It just flips it so that instead of a Yale or Harvard, you have Howard University. There’s also the studio appeal of leveraging HU alum (who are name-dropped) to step in for an easy payday.
The College Dropout by Thomas Aguilar and Michael Ballin
(Columbia Pictures – 13 votes)
You need to read this if you want to sell a biopic (#1). This script does what The Villain and Mr Benihana didn’t – create true empathy for the protagonist. I loved this script. Being a hip-hop head, imagining those scenes where Kanye makes beats on the MPC is exactly the type of stuff I live for. Not only that, it’s built on the backbone of a deep relationship with his mother, Donda, and explores a specific period in his life, from college to his first album. I’m very hopeful it makes it to the screen and doesn’t get stuck in development hell. There’s another lesson there too – if you want to sell a biopic of someone who is still alive, you need to convince them that this is how they should appear on screen. Awesome script.
This script actually made me laugh, which is no mean feat.
Abbi and The Eight Wonder by Matt Roller
(Tristar Pictures – 10 votes)
You need to read this if you want to sell comedy (#2). I’m not dead inside after all! This script actually made me laugh, which is no mean feat. Although it’s set in the 1930s and is a send-up of Indiana Jones-esque adventure movies it proves a core comedic concept – comedy comes from character. If you strip away all the Shane Black rubbish from Divorce Party and Killer Instinct, there’s not much there. With this script, I was smiling on the first page. Study this script if you write comedy.
Shania! By Jessica Welsh
(Sony – 10 votes)
You need to read this if you want to sell a biopic (#2). If you want to write something that’s more “cradle to grave”, this is how you approach it. Specifically, you need to answer the question “How much do I actually know about my protagonist?” Shania! does a great job of answering that question because so much is dedicated to what we don’t readily know about her ie the girl growing up, her relationship with her first husband and her life after the peak of her fame. And it does in spades what The College Dropout did, building deep empathy for the protagonist. By page 30, I was ready to bawl my eyes out for this little girl in a terrible situation (I have a daughter myself) and willing her to win, even though she becomes a success. That’s why Sony snapped this up and will probably do great box office if Shania Twain gives it her blessing.
Go Dark by Josh and Spencer Marentette
(Miramax – 8 votes)
You need to read this if you want to sell action. The dialogue has a tonne of exposition, the characters are pretty standard and it needs to be at least 7-10 pages shorter. Leave all that stuff for the A24 crowd. If you want to sell action, you need a killer concept – and this has it. Imagine the following dialogue:
Exec: So, what is it?
Writer: A team of Delta black op specialists –
Exec: Seen it –
Writer: Who need to bring back their leader –
Exec: Seen it –
Writer: Using a new technology –
Exec: Seen it –
Writer: That allows you to retrieve the dead from the afterlife.
Exec: You sonofabitch, I’m in.
That’s why Miramax snapped this up. Know the audience you’re trying to get to watch this. They’re not interested in some existential monologues looking wistfully out of a window, breeze blowing back their hair. Just entertain me.
St. Mary’s Catholic School Presents The Vagina Monologues
by Hannah Hafey and Kailin Smith
(Amazon Studio – 8 votes)
You need to read this if you want to sell an adaptation. In all honesty, this one is a bit of an anomaly. The script is based on a book, the pair seem like established writers (due to develop a series on HBO Max) and Amazon has bought it. So why does it need to be pushed on the Black List? Grateful if anyone has further info on it. If you’re into adaptations, this one will be a great case study. The script wasn’t for me but maybe that’s the additional power of the list itself; increased awareness and publicity for a project that could’ve been buried on the development slate.
Their school is even called Hawkins as a little “nod nod wink wink” and there’s inter-dimensional shenanigans with monsters.
The Dark by Chad Handley
(Picturestart – 7 votes)
You need to read this if you want to sell sci-fi. You could also call your script Dark Dark Dark and it might be enough. Although it’s a different genre, it has clear comparisons with Homecoming; this script is a reimagined Stranger Things set in New York. Their school is even called Hawkins as a little “nod nod wink wink” and there’s inter-dimensional shenanigans with monsters. It’s even reminiscent of The Warriors in their “need to get across NY” journey. It’s not a true original in the way Cauliflower was but if you take enough familiar elements and mash them together, it might work.
Dennis Rodman’s 48 Hours in Vegas by Jordan VanDina
(Lionsgate – 7 votes)
You need to read this if you’re thinking of playing it safe. Seriously. That idea you scribbled out because you thought it was too “out there”? This script will show you otherwise. I wrote in my previous post that any idea you land on, you need to commit to it 100%. Go all in. Who know if this will actually get made but in order to get to that bridge, you need the option ore sale. Sometimes standing way out there might convince a studio to take a gamble.
The Family Plan by David Coggeshall
(Skydance – 7 votes)
You need to read this if you want to sell comedy (#3). There are certain types of movies that studios churn out every year. This is one of them. A normal suburban family is thrown into a wild adventure when X happens. I know it’s not the Oscar-bait most aspiring writers want to work on but there’s very little harm (and quite a bit of upside) in writing something with proven commercial potential. This script is a lesson in execution above originality, because sometimes the work is the work and you need to deliver it to time, budget and quality.
Lift by Daniel Kunka
(Netflix – 7 votes)
You need to read this if you want to sell to Netflix. Netflix is now classified as its own genre. And one way to crack into this genre is look at what becomes bona fide hits in that genre – and write them. In this case, there are easy flashes of Red Notice here. I was hoping for more of a thriller but oh, well. Daniel Kunka, per IMDB, wrote a movie starring John Cena back in 2009, so congrats to him for landing this. Similar to The Family Plan, it’s all in the execution and sometimes that might be enough to make a studio dip into their pockets.
Key Takeaways
Studios buy concepts
Genre or original/high concept, it doesn’t matter. At the core of each of these is a commercially viable story, budget considerations aside. If you come up with a story idea, test it with people – would you sit through this for two hours? Scripts get re-written all the time, so the execution has to be top-notch but the concept and the hook are what people hand over money to see.
Model on successful comparators
Your script needs a reference point for a studio to assess against. Unless you consider yourself an “auteur” and can finance yourself, you will need to put aside the “why do bad movies get made?” mind-set and look at commercial performance. What are the recently and most successful movies of the genre which you’re trying to write?
Reimagining is a viable strategy
It obviously depends on what you’re trying to “reimagine”. But if you’ve created a concept from which there have been successful movies, this third element adds another twist. The Dark is essentially an urban telling of Stranger Things. The concept existed, was proven successful, so find the next order variable that suits your interest. I think this is what execs mean when they say “familiar yet fresh”. The nuts and bolts are generally the same, you just change the packaging.
Keep writing
I’m shouting out Daniel Kunka here. If against all odds you write something, it sells, gets made, then disappears into the annals of movie history, you have to just keep plugging away. We should admire that level of commitment and motivation. I’m not sure if Daniel sold something in between (it would be good to find out) but it doesn’t change the fundamentals – read scripts, watch movies, write pages.
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