With all the mindless sequels and reboots that Hollywood has churned out over the last few years, it’s always nice when something original and well-written can break through and get a studio release. Unfortunately, many quality scripts can spend years without ever reaching the right executive to give it the green light. In an effort to make the process a little bit better, former production executive Franklin Leonard started The Black List in 2004. Today, the site announced its ninth annual list of the best unproduced scripts.
To come up with the list, nominations are received from over 250 executives. If a film gets 6 nominations, it gets a spot on the list. The more executives that nominate it, the higher on the list it is. Production for last year’s top film, Draft Day, is underway with the theatrical release scheduled for April, so there’s a pretty good chance that some of the screenplays on the list below could be headed to the big screen in the very near future.
Keep in mind, just because these scripts are still unproduced doesn’t mean they’re from unknown writers or even without production plans. 33% of films on this year’s list already have financing of some sort, and actors such as Hugh Jackman, Clint Eastwood, and Bradley Cooper are attached or rumored to star in some of these projects too. So the list serves as a pretty good indicator of what’s headed our way.
The top vote-getter this year is Andrew Sodroski’s Holland, Michigan, which tells the story of a woman who believes her husband is cheating on her. That’s set to be directed by Errol Morris and will star Naomi Watts. Second is Aaron Berg’s Section 6, which tells the story of the formation of MI:6. Universal already won the bidding war for the rights to that script earlier in the year so expect it sometime in the near future.
Check out the full list of films below and then head down to the comments section to share your thoughts on this year’s Black List.
46 HOLLAND, MICHIGAN Andrew Sodroski
44 SECTION 6 Aaron Berg
39 FRISCO Simon Stephenson
27 A MONSTER CALLS Patrick Ness
25 THE SPECIAL PROGRAM Debora Cahn
24 SOVEREIGN Geoff Tock, Greg Weidman
24 HOT SUMMER NIGHTS Elijah Bynum
22 SHOVEL BUDDIES Jason Mark Hellerman
20 THE INDEPENDENT Evan Parter
20 REMINISCENCE Lisa Joy Nolan
20 POX AMERICANA Frank John Hughes
19 THE GOLDEN RECORD Aaron Kandell, Jordan Kandell
19 BEAST Zach Dean
18 SWEETHEART Jack Stanley
18 FAULTS Riley Stearns
17 SUPERBRAT Eric Slovin, Leo Allen
16 DOGFIGHT Nicole Riegel
16 THE CIVILIAN Rachel Long, Brian Pittman
15 BURN SITE Doug Simon
15 QUEEN OF HEARTS Stephanie Shannon
14 GAY KID AND FAT CHICK Bo Burnham
14 BROKEN COVE Declan O’Dwyer
13 THE MAYOR OF SHARK CITY Nick Creature, Michael Sweeney
13 AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE Richard Naing, Ian Goldberg
13 1969: A SPACE ODYSSEY OR HOW KUBRICK LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LAND ON THE MOON Stephany Folsom
13 WHERE ANGELS DIE Alexander Felix
12 A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD Alexis C. Jolly
12 INK AND BONE Zak Olkewicz
11 THE BOY AND HIS TIGER Dan Dollar
11 THE KILLING FLOOR Bac Delorme, Stephen Clarke
10 THE COMPANY MAN Andrew Cypiot
10 I’M PROUD OF YOU Noah Harpster, Micah Fitzerman-Blue
10 THE SHARK IS NOT WORKING Richard Cordiner
10 SEED Christina Hodson
9 THE CROWN Max Hurwitz
9 TCHAIKOVSKY’S REQUIEM Jonathan Stokes
9 DIABLO RUN Shea Mirzai, Evan Mirzai
9 RANDLE IS BENIGN Damien Ober
8 LINE OF DUTY Cory Miller
8 INQUEST Josh Simon
8 CAPSULE Ian Shorr
8 FULLY WRECKED Jake Morse, Scott Wolman
8 SPOTLIGHT Josh Singer, Tom McCarthy
8 EXTINCTION Spenser Cohen
8 REVELATION Hernany Perla
8 ELSEWHERE Mikki Daughtry, Tobias Iaconis
8 CLARITY Ryan Belenzon, Jeffrey Gelber
8 THE POLITICIAN Matthew Bass, Theodore Bressman
8 AMERICAN SNIPER Jason Dean Hall
8 THE LINE Sang Kyu Kim
8 HALF HEARD IN THE STILLNESS David Weil
8 TIME & TEMPERATURE Nick Santora
8 CAKE Patrick Tobin
7 PURE O Kate Trefry
7 THE END OF THE TOUR Donald Margulies
7 NICHOLAS Leo Sardarian
7 MAN OF SORROW Neville Kiser
7 DIG Adam Barker
7 THE FIXER Bill Kennedy
7 SUGAR IN MY VEINS Barbara Stepansky
7 SEA OF TREES Chris Sparling
7 MAKE A WISH Zach Frankel
6 BURY THE LEAD Justin Kremer
6 FROM HERE TO ALBION Rory Haines, Sohrab Noshirvani
6 FREE BYRD Jon Boyer
6 BEAUTY QUEEN Annie Neal
6 THE REMAINS Meaghan Oppenheimer
6 LAST MINUTE MAIDS Leo Nichols
6 PAN Jason Fuchs
6 DUDE Olivia Milch
6 PATIENT Z Michael Le
6 MISSISSIPPI MUD Elijah Bynum