Hi Franklin; hope all is well. We were chatting over on another thread (one you previously made some comments in) about the merits of the BL. During our conversation a number of questions came up regarding the amount of information it makes available to its users. Permeating this discussion was a sense of concern that the BL is not as transparent as it could be. The "About the Blacklist- section of your site says: "To us, the most important thing is that we give writers the information necessary to assess how their course of action is affecting interest in and response to their script.- Writers do get information about their individual scripts -- however, since its inception, there has been very limited information provided about how the site is performing as a whole. This is a concern because, knowledge of the site's performance is the best barometer of its overall value proposition. And a clear value proposition is important to any customers who are paying for a service.
These are the current benefits of the BL:
-For a $50 flat fee:
A reading of one's script, scores on various categories and an overall score (both indicating "willingness to pass the script to a higher-up-), and an evaluation consisting of three brief paragraphs that are not linked to those scores.
The possibility that the script will get listed in the weekly e-mail if the score is an 8 or above.
The possibility that the script will get selected for a Live or Table Read if the score is high enough.
The possibility that the script will get selected for a fellowship if the score is high enough, among other criteria.
The possibility that the writer will get selected for a Lab if his/her performance on the site is strong enough
-For a $25 monthly hosting fee:
The possibility that the script will get downloaded by a Pro member
The thing about these benefits is -- most of them are just possibilities. And with most of these possibilities, chances are very slim. We know that only a small percentage of scripts on the site get an 8. We know that only a fraction of uploaded scripts translate to Live Reads and Table Reads each year. We know that that only a fraction of writers who upload scripts will get selected for fellowships each year.
Knowing that most of the possible benefits are very unlikely increases the importance of knowing the likelihood of the most realistic benefit - having the script downloaded by a Pro member. We pay $25 a month for this possibility -- yet we have no idea how often it actually occurs. We don't even have an idea of how often actual searches for scripts occur (for all we know, it could be five in a given week). This contributes to a strong feeling of a lack of transparency on the part of the site. It also contributes to a feeling that it only truly benefits a fraction of its customers.
Therefore, I'd like to propose something - a report distributed to customers on a quarterly basis giving information on the site's performance in that past quarter. It would provide the following highly useful information:
--Total number of uploaded scripts for the quarter
--Percentage of Pro members that conduct actual searches for script in the database on a weekly basis
--Total number of Pro downloads for the quarter
--Percentage of Pro members that downloaded scripts in the quarter
--Percentage of hosted scripts that have gotten one or more downloads without an evaluation
--Percentage of hosted scripts that have gotten one or more downloads with an evaluation score of 7 or below
--Percentage of Pro members that download a script listed in the weekly e-mails
--Number of script downloads by genre for the quarter
--Number of writers known to have gotten repped/received options through the site (and their specific identities if it has been published or if they are comfortable revealing this information)
This information would give users of the site a greater sense of what they are getting out of the $25 per month they spend on the site - and thus, why exactly it is justified. Especially since for those who pay for evaluations, much of the hosting month goes by before they actually get them back. Right now, you have the means to collect a lot of data on your site, but for its members -- it largely just disappears into a vacuum.
I do not think that this is an outrageous proposition. Nicholl, a screenwriting program which you often like to compare with the Black List, publishes data on its number of entrants and provides a breakdown by genre. Since the BL is essentially a year-round contest - one that charges a monthly fee -- why can't it do something similar? It has published 2 or 3 such reports in the past (with a handful of the data points I suggested), but the last one was over a year ago.
I doubt that this data cannot be collected. Or that it would take a lot of time to do it. I see that Terry publishes data summaries on the Black List blog on a regular (it appears monthly) basis; a quarterly data dump would not be a big deal. Is there any reason you could not publish this information?
There's another thing I'd like to touch on. A topic that came up in the other thread was the "lottery mentality- that the BL encourages among its customers. I know that you have the disclaimer that if you get consistently low scores you should probably "remove your script from our site". But this frankly does little to discourage many writers with a dream from buying as many evals as possible with a hope that this time will finally be the one. It's true that you are under no obligation to do more to help discourage the purchase of numerous reads for a hopeless script. But, on the other hand -- the BL positions itself strongly as having a "do no harm" stance with regard to writers. So honestly -- I find not doing anything to address the irresponsible personal spending issue to be pretty heavily at odds with that stance.
As of right now, the $50 per evaluation fee, combined with the potential for unlimited evaluation purchases, combined with the low percentage of people who get multiple downloads on the site, make it all too easy for detractors to level charges of exploitation against the service. And that's not a good look for a service that claims to be a writers' advocate.
Therefore, I'd like to propose introducing a volume discount for evals, so that people purchasing multiple reads can save just a little bit of money. So for example, $135 for three reads, $225 for five reads, etc. If you cannot stop writers from spending frivolously, at least you can help them lose less of their earnings along the way. I first brought up this suggestion all the way back in 2013. At the time you responded as follows:
"As for the discount for multiple purchases, it's something we've considered, along with a higher price point for an expedited read (probably $100 for 72 hour guaranteed turnaround.) The main reason we haven't is because we don't to be perceived as trying to manipulate people into behavior against their own interest. You'd be amazed at the emails we've received accusing us of being desperate for money when we send an email announcing an improvement to the site that doesn't encourage people to spend more money. It's noted and under serious (near constant at this point) consideration."
http://messageboard.donedealpro.com/...=73634&page=13
I haven't heard any mention of this possibility since. I honestly do not find the argument against the bulk discount idea to be very strong, as many other services that provide writers access to Pros do it - for example, see pricing by Virtual PitchFest. I also find it hard to believe that many people would complain about the opportunity to save money. I think that as successful a money-making operation as the Black List has been, it would be a great thing for you to institute that would clearly be reflective of your organization's stated mission.
I don't want this post to come off as angry or accusatory. I also recognize that the BL is just one of many tools that we as writers can use to gain access, and we should never place too much stock in one pathway. I just think that there are some valid questions about the service that are not being addressed. Would be happy if you could take some time to do so.
These are the current benefits of the BL:
-For a $50 flat fee:
A reading of one's script, scores on various categories and an overall score (both indicating "willingness to pass the script to a higher-up-), and an evaluation consisting of three brief paragraphs that are not linked to those scores.
The possibility that the script will get listed in the weekly e-mail if the score is an 8 or above.
The possibility that the script will get selected for a Live or Table Read if the score is high enough.
The possibility that the script will get selected for a fellowship if the score is high enough, among other criteria.
The possibility that the writer will get selected for a Lab if his/her performance on the site is strong enough
-For a $25 monthly hosting fee:
The possibility that the script will get downloaded by a Pro member
The thing about these benefits is -- most of them are just possibilities. And with most of these possibilities, chances are very slim. We know that only a small percentage of scripts on the site get an 8. We know that only a fraction of uploaded scripts translate to Live Reads and Table Reads each year. We know that that only a fraction of writers who upload scripts will get selected for fellowships each year.
Knowing that most of the possible benefits are very unlikely increases the importance of knowing the likelihood of the most realistic benefit - having the script downloaded by a Pro member. We pay $25 a month for this possibility -- yet we have no idea how often it actually occurs. We don't even have an idea of how often actual searches for scripts occur (for all we know, it could be five in a given week). This contributes to a strong feeling of a lack of transparency on the part of the site. It also contributes to a feeling that it only truly benefits a fraction of its customers.
Therefore, I'd like to propose something - a report distributed to customers on a quarterly basis giving information on the site's performance in that past quarter. It would provide the following highly useful information:
--Total number of uploaded scripts for the quarter
--Percentage of Pro members that conduct actual searches for script in the database on a weekly basis
--Total number of Pro downloads for the quarter
--Percentage of Pro members that downloaded scripts in the quarter
--Percentage of hosted scripts that have gotten one or more downloads without an evaluation
--Percentage of hosted scripts that have gotten one or more downloads with an evaluation score of 7 or below
--Percentage of Pro members that download a script listed in the weekly e-mails
--Number of script downloads by genre for the quarter
--Number of writers known to have gotten repped/received options through the site (and their specific identities if it has been published or if they are comfortable revealing this information)
This information would give users of the site a greater sense of what they are getting out of the $25 per month they spend on the site - and thus, why exactly it is justified. Especially since for those who pay for evaluations, much of the hosting month goes by before they actually get them back. Right now, you have the means to collect a lot of data on your site, but for its members -- it largely just disappears into a vacuum.
I do not think that this is an outrageous proposition. Nicholl, a screenwriting program which you often like to compare with the Black List, publishes data on its number of entrants and provides a breakdown by genre. Since the BL is essentially a year-round contest - one that charges a monthly fee -- why can't it do something similar? It has published 2 or 3 such reports in the past (with a handful of the data points I suggested), but the last one was over a year ago.
I doubt that this data cannot be collected. Or that it would take a lot of time to do it. I see that Terry publishes data summaries on the Black List blog on a regular (it appears monthly) basis; a quarterly data dump would not be a big deal. Is there any reason you could not publish this information?
There's another thing I'd like to touch on. A topic that came up in the other thread was the "lottery mentality- that the BL encourages among its customers. I know that you have the disclaimer that if you get consistently low scores you should probably "remove your script from our site". But this frankly does little to discourage many writers with a dream from buying as many evals as possible with a hope that this time will finally be the one. It's true that you are under no obligation to do more to help discourage the purchase of numerous reads for a hopeless script. But, on the other hand -- the BL positions itself strongly as having a "do no harm" stance with regard to writers. So honestly -- I find not doing anything to address the irresponsible personal spending issue to be pretty heavily at odds with that stance.
As of right now, the $50 per evaluation fee, combined with the potential for unlimited evaluation purchases, combined with the low percentage of people who get multiple downloads on the site, make it all too easy for detractors to level charges of exploitation against the service. And that's not a good look for a service that claims to be a writers' advocate.
Therefore, I'd like to propose introducing a volume discount for evals, so that people purchasing multiple reads can save just a little bit of money. So for example, $135 for three reads, $225 for five reads, etc. If you cannot stop writers from spending frivolously, at least you can help them lose less of their earnings along the way. I first brought up this suggestion all the way back in 2013. At the time you responded as follows:
"As for the discount for multiple purchases, it's something we've considered, along with a higher price point for an expedited read (probably $100 for 72 hour guaranteed turnaround.) The main reason we haven't is because we don't to be perceived as trying to manipulate people into behavior against their own interest. You'd be amazed at the emails we've received accusing us of being desperate for money when we send an email announcing an improvement to the site that doesn't encourage people to spend more money. It's noted and under serious (near constant at this point) consideration."
http://messageboard.donedealpro.com/...=73634&page=13
I haven't heard any mention of this possibility since. I honestly do not find the argument against the bulk discount idea to be very strong, as many other services that provide writers access to Pros do it - for example, see pricing by Virtual PitchFest. I also find it hard to believe that many people would complain about the opportunity to save money. I think that as successful a money-making operation as the Black List has been, it would be a great thing for you to institute that would clearly be reflective of your organization's stated mission.
I don't want this post to come off as angry or accusatory. I also recognize that the BL is just one of many tools that we as writers can use to gain access, and we should never place too much stock in one pathway. I just think that there are some valid questions about the service that are not being addressed. Would be happy if you could take some time to do so.
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