I know there are a number of these "my blacklist experience- posts but I found them helpful when I was thinking about posting to the site. So here's mine.
The process of uploading everything was easy. It was surprisingly detailed. It asks you to choose tags. There are at least a hundred (or it feels that way). The tags include everything from projected budget, content rating, race of the protag or if the protag's race is left undefined, which specific animals are featured, if there's hand to hand combat or political content. It's really thorough.
When you choose your genre you can choose two main genres. This is where it got a little tricky. I have a comedic fantasy adventure movie. The comedy is a major component of the screenplay. There are a lot of bits where you can only get away with that kind of thing in a comedy. So after some reflection, I changed the genre from fantasy/adventure (those were my original two) to fantasy/comedy. I don't know if it means I'll get reviews that are a better reflection of the project but I feel like people who like to read comedy might judge it in that light as opposed to some action/adventure reader hoping she's about to read the next Lord of the Rings or Avatar.
I paid for 1 evaluation and then about two-ish weeks later, the review came. It took about a week to get the review after the reader "downloaded- it.
The review made me depressed. Not gonna lie. I wanted those 8s+ so bad. I, like every other writer, works hard, does research, rewrites, rewrites. Then some stranger gives what feel like cursory remarks, rates it low, and now my project is deep in Blacklist-water without any oars.
The funny thing about the evaluation is that it said I did well in the areas where I thought I would surely get nicked but in areas where I thought I would be okay, I got hit.
The most confusing comment the evaluator made was in regards to its budget. I don't have any special effects, most of the scenes take place in the woods. I honestly don't know how to come up with a projected budget for a screenplay (I would love to read a good how-to) but it was surprising to read that the evaluator thought my screenplay would be on the more expensive side.
Oh! And the setting score. I'm not sure what "setting- means. How do you score high or low in setting? This is where I think I need to swap scripts with someone, get some actionable advice or impressions on all these elements. My story is about a guy chasing down a forest creature. The setting - the forest. Was my forest not foresty enough? Was it too generic? Did I miss opportunities?
From here, I think I'm going to pay for one more evaluation. I might get an even lower score but I would love to get at least one 8 in any category (c'mon setting!) and show up in some shopper's search results.
I think I would feel better about all this if the blacklist website didn't make it so difficult to become visible. My impression is that when a shopper is searching for material it's a bit like google. Only 8s and up are going to be on the first 20 pages of search results. Everything after that is going to come with a MALWARE warning or present a yes/no popup box asking if the shopper truly intended to look at that result.
Here's my review:
******************************************
REVIEW
Overall Rating 6
Premise 6
Plot 7
Character 6
Dialogue 6
Setting 6
Era:
Modern
Locations:
Wedding / Fantasy World / Rural
Budgets:
Medium
Genre:
Action & Adventure, Action Comedy, Mystery & Suspense, Sci-Fi Thriller
Logline (the evaluator comes up with their own):
A timid groom is taken to a magical port and must escape it by teaming up with a rag tag group of new friends and looking for a mythological Keeper of the Forest in an attempt to get out.
Strengths:
This is a fun fantasy adventure script with a unique premise, world and set of characters. The project does a great job of paying attention to detail with providing foreshadowing and interwoven themes throughout. An example of this would be when Jackie gets captured and is talking to Dusty, and Dusty delivers the line about never being too old to fight for the ones you love. The plight that Jackie goes on is funny, and that is due mostly in part to his interactions with Merle and Rudy. They're a hilarious trio, and their personalities are all wildly different. It works very well to have Jackie be so timid, early on. This sets his arc up for clear growth, and his set up gives some strong comedic relief. An example of this would be when he seems apprehensive to first take Rudy up on looking for the Keeper of the Forest, because it seems too dangerous. It's a fast paced script, with snappy action blocking. The story is told in an efficient and ever intriguing way, and presents a consistent tone across the board. One of the most impressive elements to the script is how it almost parodies the idea of someone being in a fantasy world and trying to get out. There's some very polished sarcasm in the dialogue from the main characters.
Weaknesses
We need to get a bit more development from Eleanor early on. Much of the plight revolves around Jackie trying to get out of the Port, obviously for his own life, but also to get back to Eleanor. It's funny that he's reluctant to actually care about her, but at the end of the day, the audience just needs to get a better idea for what her personality is like. Maybe this could come out of Jackie coming across more reasons to want to get back to her. All in all, the finale, when she shows up and then gets hit with the dart, will be much more impactful and strong if we get to know her more in the first act (at least). The dialogue is funny, but Gregory's and Mayor Moe's voices are pretty on the nose. Try to go in and give Gregory a more defined personality. His goals are clear, and the twist that comes out when he kills the bear/Keeper, and it ends up being his father, is interesting. With that in mind, the audience doesn't really get enough to connect with on Gregory's subplot, because he feels too one-dimensional, and lacking a fleshed out voice. Mayor Moe comes off as more of a filler character, and going in and developing his motivations could improve the story. Bring him back around more in the second half of act 2 as well so that we get full development before he comes back into the story in the third act.
Prospects:
This is a fun adventure story, with a timid protagonist that goes through a lot of clear growth over the course of the script. It's a unique premise, that would take a medium sized budget to pull off (at least). It's not an overly high concept, and it can be even more difficult to bring original fantasy stories (without built in audiences) to life in Hollywood, but that shouldn't be a deterrent for going after this project. There is room to make the dialogue a bit more personalized to the voices of some of the supporting characters, and although exposition plays into the humor of the story, it comes off a bit heavy handed, especially when Jackie is first getting assimilated into the Port and talking with Merle. It's a fast paced read, that at the very least is well on its way to being a strong writing sample.
The process of uploading everything was easy. It was surprisingly detailed. It asks you to choose tags. There are at least a hundred (or it feels that way). The tags include everything from projected budget, content rating, race of the protag or if the protag's race is left undefined, which specific animals are featured, if there's hand to hand combat or political content. It's really thorough.
When you choose your genre you can choose two main genres. This is where it got a little tricky. I have a comedic fantasy adventure movie. The comedy is a major component of the screenplay. There are a lot of bits where you can only get away with that kind of thing in a comedy. So after some reflection, I changed the genre from fantasy/adventure (those were my original two) to fantasy/comedy. I don't know if it means I'll get reviews that are a better reflection of the project but I feel like people who like to read comedy might judge it in that light as opposed to some action/adventure reader hoping she's about to read the next Lord of the Rings or Avatar.
I paid for 1 evaluation and then about two-ish weeks later, the review came. It took about a week to get the review after the reader "downloaded- it.
The review made me depressed. Not gonna lie. I wanted those 8s+ so bad. I, like every other writer, works hard, does research, rewrites, rewrites. Then some stranger gives what feel like cursory remarks, rates it low, and now my project is deep in Blacklist-water without any oars.
The funny thing about the evaluation is that it said I did well in the areas where I thought I would surely get nicked but in areas where I thought I would be okay, I got hit.
The most confusing comment the evaluator made was in regards to its budget. I don't have any special effects, most of the scenes take place in the woods. I honestly don't know how to come up with a projected budget for a screenplay (I would love to read a good how-to) but it was surprising to read that the evaluator thought my screenplay would be on the more expensive side.
Oh! And the setting score. I'm not sure what "setting- means. How do you score high or low in setting? This is where I think I need to swap scripts with someone, get some actionable advice or impressions on all these elements. My story is about a guy chasing down a forest creature. The setting - the forest. Was my forest not foresty enough? Was it too generic? Did I miss opportunities?
From here, I think I'm going to pay for one more evaluation. I might get an even lower score but I would love to get at least one 8 in any category (c'mon setting!) and show up in some shopper's search results.
I think I would feel better about all this if the blacklist website didn't make it so difficult to become visible. My impression is that when a shopper is searching for material it's a bit like google. Only 8s and up are going to be on the first 20 pages of search results. Everything after that is going to come with a MALWARE warning or present a yes/no popup box asking if the shopper truly intended to look at that result.
Here's my review:
******************************************
REVIEW
Overall Rating 6
Premise 6
Plot 7
Character 6
Dialogue 6
Setting 6
Era:
Modern
Locations:
Wedding / Fantasy World / Rural
Budgets:
Medium
Genre:
Action & Adventure, Action Comedy, Mystery & Suspense, Sci-Fi Thriller
Logline (the evaluator comes up with their own):
A timid groom is taken to a magical port and must escape it by teaming up with a rag tag group of new friends and looking for a mythological Keeper of the Forest in an attempt to get out.
Strengths:
This is a fun fantasy adventure script with a unique premise, world and set of characters. The project does a great job of paying attention to detail with providing foreshadowing and interwoven themes throughout. An example of this would be when Jackie gets captured and is talking to Dusty, and Dusty delivers the line about never being too old to fight for the ones you love. The plight that Jackie goes on is funny, and that is due mostly in part to his interactions with Merle and Rudy. They're a hilarious trio, and their personalities are all wildly different. It works very well to have Jackie be so timid, early on. This sets his arc up for clear growth, and his set up gives some strong comedic relief. An example of this would be when he seems apprehensive to first take Rudy up on looking for the Keeper of the Forest, because it seems too dangerous. It's a fast paced script, with snappy action blocking. The story is told in an efficient and ever intriguing way, and presents a consistent tone across the board. One of the most impressive elements to the script is how it almost parodies the idea of someone being in a fantasy world and trying to get out. There's some very polished sarcasm in the dialogue from the main characters.
Weaknesses
We need to get a bit more development from Eleanor early on. Much of the plight revolves around Jackie trying to get out of the Port, obviously for his own life, but also to get back to Eleanor. It's funny that he's reluctant to actually care about her, but at the end of the day, the audience just needs to get a better idea for what her personality is like. Maybe this could come out of Jackie coming across more reasons to want to get back to her. All in all, the finale, when she shows up and then gets hit with the dart, will be much more impactful and strong if we get to know her more in the first act (at least). The dialogue is funny, but Gregory's and Mayor Moe's voices are pretty on the nose. Try to go in and give Gregory a more defined personality. His goals are clear, and the twist that comes out when he kills the bear/Keeper, and it ends up being his father, is interesting. With that in mind, the audience doesn't really get enough to connect with on Gregory's subplot, because he feels too one-dimensional, and lacking a fleshed out voice. Mayor Moe comes off as more of a filler character, and going in and developing his motivations could improve the story. Bring him back around more in the second half of act 2 as well so that we get full development before he comes back into the story in the third act.
Prospects:
This is a fun adventure story, with a timid protagonist that goes through a lot of clear growth over the course of the script. It's a unique premise, that would take a medium sized budget to pull off (at least). It's not an overly high concept, and it can be even more difficult to bring original fantasy stories (without built in audiences) to life in Hollywood, but that shouldn't be a deterrent for going after this project. There is room to make the dialogue a bit more personalized to the voices of some of the supporting characters, and although exposition plays into the humor of the story, it comes off a bit heavy handed, especially when Jackie is first getting assimilated into the Port and talking with Merle. It's a fast paced read, that at the very least is well on its way to being a strong writing sample.
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