Click to access 2016_black_list_rev1.pdf

A running feature on this site is to always (at least three other times in 4 years) link back to the yearly Black List: a list of the best unproduced screenplays in Hollywood. Keep in mind these are the best in terms of being most-talked about rather than quality, which is why the fruition of such projects may not always match their critical potential. There has been a resurgence in producing screenplays in previous iterations the more popular the series gets, so the very foundation of the blacklist is changing as we know it. Anyways, here’s a link to this year’s selection announcements.

Notable entrants on this year’s list are Mission Impossible 5‘s story and Iron Man 3 writer Drew Pearce, Academy Award winner for The Imitation Game (A 2011 Black List entry) Graham Moore, Nightcrawler scribe Dan Gilroy, This is Us creator Dan Fogelman, and Mindy Kailing herself of Hulu’s The Mindy Project.

My favourite from last time ‘Rockingham’ would be over-saturation given the dual O.J. features that came out this year: The beyond excellent documentary series O.J.: Made in America, as well as the critically lauded The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. However my all-time favourite from 3 years ago Ink and Bone has yet to be adapted so I might just do that myself when I become a Hollywood director.

Entries from 2015 that produced in 2016 were one- Miss Sloane [now playing].

Entries from 2 years ago a more standardized production schedule for Hollywood led to the production of Manchester By the Sea [now playing], Money Monster [now available on Video/ On Demand] The Founder [opens next month], The Wall, LBJ, and American Made (formerly Mena).

Entries from three years ago include; the highest grossing movie of 2014 American Sniper, 2015 Best Picture Winner ‘Spotlight‘, A Monster Calls [opens in theatres next week], The Autopsy of Jane Doe [in theatres and on demand next week], plus four others. Going back even further to 2007 we have Passengers [out next week], 2009 led to Prisoners, The Spectacular Now, 2010 to Gold [opens next month], That Awkward Moment, and 2011 to The Accountant [now playing].

Finally entries from way back in 2012 on the first year of this site that I haven’t previously mentioned include; ‘The Story of Your life’ which turned into the pretty decent; Arrival [now playing], the 2014 & 2015 Sundance Grand Jury Prize Winners Whiplash (which also won 3 Academy Awards) & Me, Earl and the Dying Girl respectively. The Denzel Washington hit The Equalizer which will become the sequelizer. Finally, and most importantly ‘Comanchiera’ by Taylor Sheridan turned into my favourite movie of the year “Hell or High Water“.

•  Seven of these movies are in theatres now [4] or come out next week [3]
• Two are currently available on demand, and two open next month.
• The Black List is seemingly becoming more and more lucrative though rule changes now have movies that have already entered production as entries so its not quite so pure anymore