The New Black List

[Crashlander]

Originally Posted by FranklinLeonard

You can edit after sign up. Just click the "Edit Details" button on your script page. Let us know what needs to be changed, and we change it, almost always within twelve hours.

As for my words being "as long as a few weeks," I'm curious where you're quoting that from, because I've never described the time frame in that way. It will vary, yes, based on demand, but our current estimate is two weeks.

It's on the My Scripts page.

PROFESSIONAL FEEDBACK
Purchase reader credits to get your script professionaly reviewed. Your script will be read as soon as possible by a Black List reader. Due to high demand during our initial launch, reads may take as long as a few weeks.

So how come a user can't edit their script details? Is it to prevent someone crazy changing it every day?

[Bitter Script Reader]

I've got a video interview with Franklin up on my blog. It covers a lot of what you're curious about. True, Franklin has answered many of those questions here, but on my site, you get the benefit of seeing him argue with a puppet.

[Jules]

Why would you want to give professional writers access to amateur scripts? What's the point? You're like the reverse scriptshadow.

[itsallgood]

I read the blog post and listened to the interview, thanks for the info. I still have a concern about the low level readers. In my view they've always had too much power. In this model, they have even more because now they don't just influence one company's opinion, but many. If you query on your own, and a random reader doesn't like it, that's it, but here their negative opinion affects others as well. I know you can hide a negative review, but people aren't dense.

Also, I don't like a system that says "I can read yours, you can't read mine" to the people who are unprotected by the WGA (if it comes to litigation) for plagiarism. If anything, it should be the other way around, no?

[Hamboogul]

This is the history of the Nicholl fellowship.

1986 – The first Nicholl fellowships are awarded to Allison Anders, Dennis Clontz, and Jeff Eugenides at a reception held in the Academy’s Grand Lobby. In the initial year of competition, the 99 entrants were not required to submit screenplays; they could submit a screenplay, a teleplay, a TV series episode, fiction or a stageplay. The competition was limited to California college students.

1987 – The Nicholl Fellowships expanded eligibility to include college students in nine states and to residents of Texas.

1989 – Eligibility was expanded again to include all United States residents who had not sold or optioned a screenplay or teleplay.

1990 – Rules for judging were modified to:
Early rounds – paid, professional readers narrow thousands of entries to the top five percent which are then passed onto the quarterfinal round.

1991 – Eligibility was expanded to include international entrants writing in English who had not sold or optioned a screenplay or teleplay.


I pasted this from the Oscars.org to highlight a few points to those people who are arguing AGAINST the new Blacklist.

In 1987, The Nicholl decided to expand the fellowship to Texas. Surely, California (more specifically, Hollywood) is where all the good scripts will come from. Why is the Nicholl expanding to include Texas? What a debranding of a wonderful fellowship backed by the prestigious Oscars.

In 1989, they decided to include EVERY U.S. resident who has not sold or optioned a screenplay. WHY? Surely, they must not have sold for a reason. Now you are telling me anyone with a typewriter can enter a script?!?!?! Have these "writers" even seen a screenplay?

In 1991, they decided to include EVERYONE, even "writers" whose first language isn't even English. WHY? Surely, these scripts must be terrible. Wow, they are letting anyone with a script and $30 to enter... as many scripts as they want.


Within 6 short years of inception, The Nicholl fellowship went from being limited to 99 California college entrants who didn't even have to submit a screenplay (if there's ever a closed shop for a contest, this is it) to having thousands of entrants from around the world in 1991.

Is the Nicholl better for it? History would say yes. Are the writers better off for it? Again, think of all the people who finished a script because of a Nicholl deadline. Think of all the people who got their first break because they became quarterfinalists, semifinalists, finalists, fellows. And think of all the people who used the Nicholl fellowship as motivation to spend those extra hours at night writing instead of sleeping, watching TV, or whatever.

Every argument that the naysayers are saying about the new Blacklist could have been made for the Nicholl every time it broadened its reach to enable more undiscovered writers (first from Texas, then the U.S., then around the world).

And finally to those who argue that Franklin Leonard is going to make a financial killing from this, you are using the same flawed math of:

7,000 Nicholl entries x $50 (for simple math) - 5 $30K fellowships = $200,000.


I don't want to overestimate the importance of the New Blacklist. But I am certain that WRITER A who posts his script on Blacklist has a better chance of getting discovered by someone in Hollywood than WRITER B who writes his script and does nothing.

[gregbeal]

From the beginning, the goal of the Nicholl Fellowships has been to identify and encourage new screenwriters. Administered by a non-profit organization, the competition's monetary awards and expenses exceed the income generated by entry fees by hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.

The primary goal of the enterprise being discussed in this thread appears to be the monetization of a brand.

[JoJo]

Questions for Franklin:

1. Can we ask for our reader to be male or female?

2. Can someone reading our scripts download the pdf onto their computer/ereader? What's to stop our scripts from being distributed in an email or posted by a third party to some tracking board?

[omovie]

Originally Posted by gregbeal

The primary goal of the enterprise being discussed in this thread appears to be the monetization of a brand.

I agree.

[JeffLowell]

Ham:

First off, Nicholl operates at a hefty loss, as Greg has posted many, many times. They pay their readers well, and scripts get multiple reads.

That said, I don't fault for profit operations.

And, to be honest, if I were trying to break in, I probably would take a shot at this. A script that gets one or two great reviews will absolutely get quality reads, especially in the beginning. (I say in the beginning, because I think these services get caught in a pickle: more recommendations equals better business, but more recommendations means that people will be less likely to read the scripts.)

But...

But I am certain that WRITER A who posts his script on Blacklist has a better chance of getting discovered by someone in Hollywood than WRITER B who writes his script and does nothing.

Yes. But are those really the two paths? Are your options writing a script and putting it in a drawer, or paying Black List 3.0 to list it?

You can't query or enter a legit contest?

Because if that's the case, then this new service is definitely a godsend.

My problem with this is the philosophical one. I don't think Hollywood is hopelessly broken. I think managers, agents, producers and studios are constantly looking for new material and writers, and they have a voracious appetite.

But these services play on the feeling that the above isn't true - you're being unfairly kept out! We're going to get you by the gatekeepers, for a fee!

In my opinion, it's getting you to the gatekeepers, and it's getting you exactly what you could get with a great script and a great query letter.

I also - and this is personal - am uncomfortable about services that will help 1% of their customers, and know it. There've been plenty of stories here from readers for companies that are reading mostly scripts from professional writers - and they talk about how few "recommends" they give out.

And I go back to Amazon - ten thousand scripts from amateur writers, and the "winners" all were basically picked for concept and then underwent page one rewrites. Black List 3.0 isn't going to break twenty people a month - if it breaks one a month, I'd say it's a wild success.

Again, if I were starting out, I'd probably give this a shot. I get the allure. And if you look it as paying 75-125 bucks (with two reads) to roll the dice, instead of (or to augment) querying... why not?

I just don't see anything revolutionary. It's Script Shark with a better pedigree. (Which absolutely counts for something!)

[JeffLowell]

Originally Posted by JoJo

Can we ask for our reader to be male or female?

Which one would you want?