Black List founder Franklin Leonard answers your questions about the Black List

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  • Re: Black List founder Franklin Leonard answers your questions about the Black List

    From the new FAQ:

    My script has gotten great coverage elsewhere, and your reader gave it a low rating. What gives?

    We stand by our readers work. It’s impossible for us to comment on evaluations of material received elsewhere, but our standard for excellence is extremely high in order to accurately represent the standard the Hollywood film industry expects of writers working with in it.


    Another thing I don't get is, if someone gets a rating of, say, 9, but doesn't make it public, will the score have its effect and the system will "promote" that script?

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    • Re: Black List founder Franklin Leonard answers your questions about the Black List

      everything I have read/ heard says your rating will go into the equation, regardless of you making it public or not.
      www.JustinSloanAuthor.com

      http://www.CreativeWritingCareer.com
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      Twitter: @JustinMSloan

      Want a free book?

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      • Re: Black List founder Franklin Leonard answers your questions about the Black List

        I've known of scripts that got read all over town, sold even, and couldn't get past the quarter finals of the Nicholl.

        And come on, there have been scripts to land at number one on the Black List that you didn't like AT ALL.

        Reading will always be subjective.

        This is also why I never try a new thing until other people have jumped in first to see how it all shakes out.
        Chicks Who Script podcast

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        • Re: Black List founder Franklin Leonard answers your questions about the Black List

          Sure, Emily.

          And those cursed with an unjustly low rating are in a really difficult position, because it's so damn humiliating to argue against an unfavorable review of your own work.

          P.S. thanks, Stainjm!

          Comment


          • Re: Black List founder Franklin Leonard answers your questions about the Black List

            Hello everyone, obviously a great deal of conversation as reviews start coming back in.

            Wanted to weigh in with a few thoughts:

            1. I can't emphasize enough the extent to which we are responsive to critique and complaint. I would hope that my responses to questions here makes that clear, ditto our direct customer service via Twitter, Facebook, and email. More than 24 hours represents a VERY rare response time lag for us, and it typically means that we are investigating something further so that we can provide a substantive answer to your question or have been engaged in a bit of a product development marathon.

            I very much wish that the folks who have been extraordinarily dissatisfied with their reviews had contacted us directly so that we could address them. As you've all readily identified, the quality of our reviewers is of paramount importance to us. If there are reviewers doing shoddy work, we want to know about it immediately so that their work can be further examined and they can be dealt with accordingly. I have contacted each writer in this forum who has expressed deep displeasure with their reviews directly and given then my personal email address so that I can address their concerns. If there is a rogue writer in the mix, suffice it to say that they will not be reading for the Black List going forward, and anyone who has been evaluated by them will be receiving a gratis read and probably more.

            2. I have said many times, and I will say again, that these readers have been selected based on their previous experience working as first filters for studios, major agencies, production companies, and management companies. They've further been vetted by me, personally (and continue to be). Less than 25% of those who applied with the relevant experience were hired. This is not a Craigslist cattle call situation as has been previously alleged. These are the people who would be reading your script if it was submitted at any of the companies you'd likely be submitting your script to.

            3. Evaluating scripts is an inherently subjective endeavor. The overall rating reflects the individual reader's assessment of an individual script, not the writer's abilities overall. Moreover, our readers have explicit instructions to rate these scripts as they would if they were evaluating them for a boss at any of their past or current jobs. That is an extraordinarily high standard, as it should be.

            We will be breaking out numbers on professional and non-professional scripts in the near future and will provide a considerable amount of helpful data re: the distribution of ratings for uploaded scripts once there is enough data for us to present something that is, in fact, helpful.

            In the meantime, note that only 5% of the (over 19000) ratings on the site are 10s, and only 12% are 9s, and this includes the ratings of the over 3500 titles by professional writers with current representation. And even that figure isn't perfectly representative. Industry professionals will seek out the best scripts in town to read at their leisure and subsequently rate them on our site at a rate more frequently than they rate mediocre scripts. I don't have the immediate figures accessible, but I feel very secure in saying that those 9s and 10s likely represent fewer than 5% of the professional scripts on our site, and probably less.

            3. On privacy, we take "do no harm" very seriously.

            We have designed our site specifically to not stigmatize scripts that receive a low rating from one reader. We've done so in the following ways:

            a. The writer has the discretion to hide any of their individual evaluations and their overall average rating at any time.

            b. Any script that gets a particularly high rating from any individual reviewer can expect that script to get spotlighted to our industry professional members. Practically, if you write a script that gets a 1 from one reader and a 9 from another reader, that script will still be included as part of our email spotlighting recent scripts that got a strong review. Presumably people who are interested in your genre and logline will download it, read it, and rate it, which will then result in your overall rating changing over time based on those members thoughts on your script.

            I'm sure there are specific issues that have been raised in the last few days that I haven't yet addressed. Please raise them again and I will do my best to address them in future responses.

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            • Re: Black List founder Franklin Leonard answers your questions about the Black List

              (Deleted because it doesn't make sense with above post of copious explanation.)

              My hunch -- over the next month or two you'll see a big BL success story of a writer who was already repped by a manager and agent before their script was uploaded. A writer who would have likely sold anyway. And Franklin will declare BL3.0 a huge success and trailblazer.
              Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

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              • Re: Black List founder Franklin Leonard answers your questions about the Black List

                Originally posted by sc111 View Post
                (Delted because it doesn;t make sense with above post of copious explanation.)

                My hunch -- over the next month or two you'll see a big BL success story of a writer who was already repped by a manager and agent before their script was uploaded. A writer who would have likely sold anyway. And Franklin will declare BL3.0 a huge success and trailblazer.
                Oh, bullshit.

                My hunch, you will see a previously unrepped writer get repped and sell a script and then other people will declare BL 3.0 a success.

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                • Re: Black List founder Franklin Leonard answers your questions about the Black List

                  Thank you, Franklin, for your clarifications.

                  1) I'd like to ask what are the consequences of hiding your average rating/reader's review. Is your rating still in the system and your script still promoted accordingly?

                  2) Shouldn't there be some ways to tag scripts so that searching becomes more feasible? Things like: budget, locations, cast, or even some word tags like: murder, incest, blasphemy, ponies? ;-) It's hard to write a logline that is both attractive (thus, lean!) and including all search criteria.

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                  • Re: Black List founder Franklin Leonard answers your questions about the Black List

                    Franklin,

                    Thank you for continuing to come in here and answer questions. I am really looking forward to seeing the data/numbers you will be releasing soon and I am hoping the functionality of searching for scripts will improve. I remain optimistic about BL3.0.

                    To everyone else,

                    I think it is pretty clear Franklin is all about transparency and making something that works at the highest level for all parties involved. In any endeavor like this you will not please everyone but it seems to me that Franklin Leonard operates with a great deal of integrity and is proactive about solving problems and addressing concerns.

                    BL3.0 was publicly birthed less than two weeks ago. There are some legitimate concerns and questions to address but cut Franklin and his team a little slack.

                    Comment


                    • Re: Black List founder Franklin Leonard answers your questions about the Black List

                      The Black List FAQ, which for the record is a living document and will continue to updated and improved, is now live.

                      https://www.blcklst.com/faq/

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                      • Re: Black List founder Franklin Leonard answers your questions about the Black List

                        Originally posted by Geoff Alexander View Post
                        Oh, bullshit.

                        My hunch, you will see a previously unrepped writer get repped and sell a script and then other people will declare BL 3.0 a success.
                        That's cool. Time will tell.

                        This, I don't understand:

                        b. Any script that gets a particularly high rating from any individual reviewer can expect that script to get spotlighted to our industry professional members. Practically, if you write a script that gets a 1 from one reader and a 9 from another reader, that script will still be included as part of our email spotlighting recent scripts that got a strong review. Presumably people who are interested in your genre and logline will download it, read it, and rate it, which will then result in your overall rating changing over time based on those members thoughts on your script.


                        Overall ratings include both the paid evaluation and evaluations from those members who happen to read it. As a result, your rating can change over time? Then why offer the $50 evaluation at all?
                        Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

                        Comment


                        • Re: Black List founder Franklin Leonard answers your questions about the Black List

                          @sc111

                          If you upload your script then it stands little chance of being read and rated by users on the industry side. Now, if you send a link to users or something of that nature you may be able to get some reads and ratings but if you are looking to BL3.0 to potentially get reads then you will need to get your script rated and the fastest way is to purchase a read.

                          Every rating you get (paid or not) goes into your cumulative score. You do not have to share this score publicly. However, the data is still going to be used to determine if BL3.0 is going to promote your script beyond just hosting it for you. In addition, ANY RATING THAT IS HIGH will be to your advantage because it will trigger BL3.0 to promote it via newsletter, email or whatever.

                          So if you purchased a read and the score comes back as a 4 but you decide to purchase another one anyway (or a non paid read happens) and it comes back a 9 the high score of 9 will get you some exposure regardless of the 4.

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                          • Re: Black List founder Franklin Leonard answers your questions about the Black List

                            Originally posted by wickedlies View Post
                            @sc111

                            If you upload your script then it stands little chance of being read and rated by users on the industry side. Now, if you send a link to users or something of that nature you may be able to get some reads and ratings but if you are looking to BL3.0 to potentially get reads then you will need to get your script rated and the fastest way is to purchase a read.

                            Every rating you get (paid or not) goes into your cumulative score. You do not have to share this score publicly. However, the data is still going to be used to determine if BL3.0 is going to promote your script beyond just hosting it for you. In addition, ANY RATING THAT IS HIGH will be to your advantage because it will trigger BL3.0 to promote it via newsletter, email or whatever.

                            So if you purchased a read and the score comes back as a 4 but you decide to purchase another one anyway (or a non paid read happens) and it comes back a 9 the high score of 9 will get you some exposure regardless of the 4.

                            Oh - I got that. Your rating can go up and down. Like the stock market.

                            Your script doesn't get better or worse, but your rating can.

                            Does anyone else see an exploitable gap in this approach that has nothing to do with quality?
                            Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

                            Comment


                            • Re: Black List founder Franklin Leonard answers your questions about the Black List

                              I was going to start another thread on this but figured might as well post it here.

                              While I am not going to say the rating system is perfect, I think more than anything, you are finding out that most of the scripts that the tens of thousands of aspiring writes out there send out thinking are ready for Hollywood are just not good.

                              I will repeat that, are just not good.

                              This service is comparing you to established pro writers. You are not in an amateur competition, winning the best of the rookies, but are going up against the pros.

                              For most of you, this is shedding light on how far away you are from being ready for Hollywood and how your work stands up against the pros.

                              Again, everything is subjective, but I think you'll find when compared to those playing in the big leagues, the numbers are probably somewhat in line. These, as Franklin said, are professional readers.

                              BUT, all of that can change with your next script. Every pro writer has that moment when it all comes together and they write that script that is THE ONE. While many amateurs will never have that moment (just being realistic), all you can do is keep writing.

                              Hope this sheds some realistic light on to all of the ratings. I'm one of a thousand executives on the site that looks over the amateur script ratings WANTING to find something. No other site can say that.

                              Best,

                              MB
                              Last edited by michaelb; 10-25-2012, 08:05 PM. Reason: fixed a typo
                              twitter.com/mbotti

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                              • Re: Black List founder Franklin Leonard answers your questions about the Black List

                                Originally posted by sc111 View Post
                                Oh - I got that. Your rating can go up and down. Like the stock market.

                                Your script doesn't get better or worse, but your rating can.

                                Does anyone else see an exploitable gap in this approach that has nothing to do with quality?
                                I don't. Can you explain that?

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