The New Black List

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  • Re: The New Black List

    Originally posted by JeffLowell View Post
    A script that gets one or two great reviews will absolutely get quality reads, especially in the beginning.
    Absolutely - the early adopters made off like bandits with Amazon. I think there are definite advantages in diving in now while the concept is still fresh.

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    • Re: The New Black List

      This concept has interesting potential as a mechanism for allowing material to be thrown into the pot and trying to distill the best stuff out.

      Originally posted by stainjm View Post
      Can someone in the business explain why you would read these scripts and take the time to score them? Would one or two good coverage scores really be enough?
      These are good questions and they raise further questions. Why would someone in the industry give a good rating to a great script they've just read? Wouldn't it be in their interest to not rate it or to score it down? Why would they want to draw other industry interest to it?

      The original Black List didn't have this problem because the scripts being considered are already in circulation in the town. The executives have had their chance to go for the project and these are the ones they admired, but which got away. The new list is essentially new material, and while industry people are trying to get something together to make a move on it they have every reason to want to keep it quiet.

      If the industry ratings become unreliable or are only infrequently provided, then all the weight falls on the reader ratings. That might be fine and it'll work out for some. But it becomes like a never ending contest in which the first round readers have the imperial thumb power.

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      • Re: The New Black List

        Exactly! Why rate it when, if they love it, they can just contact the writer and go from there?

        There are scripts already rated on the site, but I wonder if those are just the coverage ratings or combined with industry ratings.

        Maybe time will show these worries are misguided, I hope so because this could be pretty darn cool.
        www.JustinSloanAuthor.com

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        • Re: The New Black List

          How'd you break through?

          Originally posted by Hamboogul View Post
          Jeff,

          I agree with your analysis. But I also come from the POV of that struggling writer with marginal contacts who lives several time zones away. In fact, that was exactly my situation a year ago.

          I want to believe that every great script will get discovered. I really do.

          I know how much I bleed and bare my soul with every script. And there's nothing more defeating and heartbreaking than when your labor of love is ignored by the gatekeepers.

          So the version of me 12 months ago would have done this BL 3.0 in a heartbeat. Because that version of me 12 months ago sent out query letters and could not even get read for a script that, ironically, is in a lot of people's radars now.

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          • Re: The New Black List

            I have a couple of questions. Sincere questions.

            Let's say a writer researches contacts and develops a list of those most likely to be interested in scripts like their own. Then queries a logline to this targeted list only to end up with radio silence, no reads. Why would the same logline be more likely to garner reads on the NBL?

            Is it because the reader can remain anonymous? He/she doesn't have to reveal their identity to the writer and deal with anxious 'Did you read it yet?' emails. Is it the coverage score?

            I guess I'm still not clear on why this service improves your odds over traditional querying. Doesn't it still come down to concept first?
            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: The New Black List

              Quick note Franklin, when I received the invite 2 days ago, it went straight to my spam folder in Gmail. Not sure what triggered it as spam, but thought it was something worth mentioning.
              "Write every day. Don't quit. The rest is all bullshit." - Brian Koppelman

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              • Re: The New Black List

                Jeff,

                The shorter answer:

                A Wednesday query email to a manager who NEVER reads query emails. But that week, the manager agreed to promote his assistant to junior manager. And feeling empowered, this not-yet-junior manager went through the trash bin of his boss's email box. And the not-yet-manager confessed that he noticed my query email because he's Korean and my name is Korean. And he requested the script because the logline felt promising.

                And then the following Monday, he told his boss "You have to read this script. It's amazing." The boss would reply "Don't get too excited about query letters. They are all bad. Read a dozen more and you'll know exactly what I mean." And every single day, the assistant would bother the boss "You have to read the script, you have to read the script." And the assistant called me every other day and lied with "My boss really digs the concept. He's busy but it's on his desk." So it took another month for the boss to read it. And probably another week before WME, UTA, and CAA all expressed interest on the same script that was unanswered by 50+ query letters except for that one assistant who felt empowered that one week.

                So it was through a query letter. And lots of fortunate timing for everyone.

                The longer answer deals with my writing journey which is not nearly as relevant in this thread about Blacklist and about using any means to find the one gatekeeper who will champion your script.

                Comment


                • Re: The New Black List

                  Originally posted by Hamboogul View Post
                  Jeff,

                  The shorter answer:

                  A Wednesday query email to a manager who NEVER reads query emails. But that week, the manager agreed to promote his assistant to junior manager. And feeling empowered, this not-yet-junior manager went through the trash bin of his boss's email box. And the not-yet-manager confessed that he noticed my query email because he's Korean and my name is Korean. And he requested the script because the logline felt promising.

                  And then the following Monday, he told his boss "You have to read this script. It's amazing." The boss would reply "Don't get too excited about query letters. They are all bad. Read a dozen more and you'll know exactly what I mean." And every single day, the assistant would bother the boss "You have to read the script, you have to read the script." And the assistant called me every other day and lied with "My boss really digs the concept. He's busy but it's on his desk." So it took another month for the boss to read it. And probably another week before WME, UTA, and CAA all expressed interest on the same script that was unanswered by 50+ query letters except for that one assistant who felt empowered that one week.

                  So it was through a query letter. And lots of fortunate timing for everyone.

                  The longer answer deals with my writing journey which is not nearly as relevant in this thread about Blacklist and about using any means to find the one gatekeeper who will champion your script.
                  Love this kinda stuff. Good for you, Ham.

                  HH

                  Comment


                  • Re: The New Black List

                    Originally posted by sc111 View Post
                    I have a couple of questions. Sincere questions.

                    Let's say a writer researches contacts and develops a list of those most likely to be interested in scripts like their own. Then queries a logline to this targeted list only to end up with radio silence, no reads. Why would the same logline be more likely to garner reads on the NBL?

                    Is it because the reader can remain anonymous? He/she doesn't have to reveal their identity to the writer and deal with anxious 'Did you read it yet?' emails. Is it the coverage score?
                    I would imagine it would be because of the coverage score. Because they'd feel like it would be worth their time -- somebody else has already given it a thumbs up.

                    I just don't know why anyone would keep a script up if it wasn't given a great score, to be honest.

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                    • Re: The New Black List

                      This could be a good gamble for exceptional writers. The cream scripts will get plenty of attention. Another credible outlet is always good... of course naive writers with bad scripts will finance the whole experiment.

                      Comment


                      • Re: The New Black List

                        Another thing that I realized about this from reading a post on the other BL thread. (There really should be one thread on this somehow.)

                        The poster joined, unrated, and immediately had some views. He probably correctly came to the conclusion that every time another curious unrepped writer reads your logline it will count as a view. So you could have 500 views and no read requests without knowing if a professional ever read your LL. You could come to the erroneous conclusion that nobody is requesting your script because the pros don't like your LL, etc., and take it off, when that might not even be the case.

                        One of my concerns is the fact that all unrepped writers could see all the others. Here's another reason why that's not a good idea. It muddies the whole tracking of your stats benefit, one of the supposed selling points.
                        "The Hollywood film business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." Hunter S Thompson

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                        • Re: The New Black List

                          Originally posted by sc111 View Post
                          I have a couple of questions. Sincere questions.

                          Let's say a writer researches contacts and develops a list of those most likely to be interested in scripts like their own. Then queries a logline to this targeted list only to end up with radio silence, no reads. Why would the same logline be more likely to garner reads on the NBL?

                          Is it because the reader can remain anonymous? He/she doesn't have to reveal their identity to the writer and deal with anxious 'Did you read it yet?' emails. Is it the coverage score?

                          I guess I'm still not clear on why this service improves your odds over traditional querying. Doesn't it still come down to concept first?
                          Because the writers' targets, i.e., buyers/reps create a profile within the system that includes their preferences and taste as interpreted by ranking a minimum of 50 scripts and thereby generating matches. The system takes that profile and then finds scripts which match in terms of genre, ratings, etc.. So, the reads aren't being generated by someone seeing your logline, as they would in traditional queries, they are generated by the system matching your script to people who have already expressed an interest in its qualities.

                          The theory seems to be that, as users add data into the system about their own taste, the system gets really good at predicting if you will like a script or not, and then actively pings the user with specific recommendations.

                          At least that's how it seems to work. I started rating scripts and I can see it starting to dial in the prediction on how I will rate i the future. Pretty interesting.

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                          • Re: The New Black List

                            It's an interesting idea. My guess is that most people will just read scripts that get great coverage. I can't see busy CEs giving themselves homework by entering in their detailed reaction to scripts. But maybe...

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                            • Re: The New Black List

                              I think one of the problems with the current system is that it relies very heavily on "the logline" or "the concept" rather than "the script" and "the execution".

                              In my utopian la-la land, companies would employ additional in-house readers to review a greater amount of material, but it appears the trend in that regard is in the other direction.

                              Comment


                              • Re: The New Black List

                                Originally posted by Rhodi View Post
                                I think one of the problems with the current system is that it relies very heavily on "the logline" or "the concept" rather than "the script" and "the execution".
                                How is this a problem?

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