Every year the Black List comes out, and every year there’s a debate around what happened to all the good scripts. Is the Black List getting worse? That’s not an easy question to answer. But there are a few factors involved to help you come to a conclusion.
For starters, Hollywood has become terrified of original spec screenplay ideas. And why wouldn’t they be? They’ve given them box office bomb after box office bomb (Draft Day, Transcendence, American Ultra, That Awkward Moment, 47 Ronin). If we, the writers, haven’t been giving them something they can make money off of, why should they keep buying scripts from us?
As a result, Hollywood looks almost exclusively to IP. Stuff needs to be proven in another form of media before they risk millions of dollars on it. This has caused screenwriters to adapt. We can’t give them original spec ideas anymore, so we have to give them a pseudo form of IP – biopics and “the true story.” It’s the only loophole we have. This is why you read The Black List and see all of these unimaginative uninspiring true stories/biopics. Because that’s the only thing the studio system will allow us to sell them anymore.
The original spirit of The Black List celebrated imagination, originality, and creativity, which is why we feel so robbed that those qualities no longer seem like priorities. And to that end, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Bubbles snagged the top prize. It was the only script that gave Hollywood what it wanted (a true story/biopic) and the Black List voters what they wanted (a fresh/original way of telling a story).
This could lead to a whole other discussion about why our original-idea specs have gotten so bad (because Hollywood has put so many restrictions on them. They must be quick reads, have low page counts, contain an overly simple premise, etc.). But to go there would be bitter and I don’t want to do that. Not on the same week that The Force Awakens opens!
So I’ll leave you with this – and it’s something I continue to believe wholeheartedly – if you write something really fucking good, no matter whether it’s a biopic or something insanely original, it will make The Black List. It will sell. It will get attention. Because there aren’t many really good scripts out there. Your content is needed. So keep writing my friends. Your time will come as long as you work your ass off for it.
Some Black List reviews of mine!
Number 1, Bubbles.
Number 3, The Libertine.
Number 5, Crater.
Number 8, Pale Blue Dot.
Number 11, Eli.
Number 12, Septillion to One .
Number 17, The Water Man.
Number 22, Hammerspace.
Number 25, The Virginian.
Number 29, Mayday.
Also, join me on Twitter as I live-tweet thoughts on the Scriptshadow 250 contest scripts I’m reading. You can access the archives of my thoughts via the hashtag #ss250.
