The New Black List

[FranklinLeonard]

Re: The New Black List

Couple of critical questions:

1. There should be some ballpark indication of the current turn-around times for an evaluation. If it takes a month to get one (not saying it does), then essentially your first month's fee would be wasted.

2. How does the system handle multiple evaluations? Does it average the scores or is each evaluation independent?

1. Entirely contingent on the number of purchases of reads from our members. For obvious reasons, we're trying to keep that turnaround time under one month, and given current load, we expect to be able to deliver on that. We're also instituting other measures to drive traffic to uploaded scripts based on genre and subject matter before we have quality evaluations from our readers.

2. It's neither an average nor entirely independent. We use a few factors tricks of math, like Bayesian estimates, to determine our top scripts, and the recommendations are even more complex, as you'd imagine.

[FranklinLeonard]

Re: The New Black List

I'd actually prefer if the readers got a 'Finders Fee' when getting a script sold. It gives them more motivation to find a sell able script, no?

If the readers were finding scripts we wouldn't otherwise know about, I'd agree. They're being paid to evaluate the scripts we route to them, not find.

[Deion22]

Re: The New Black List

To be honest, you might want to look at putting a limit on the number of reads that someone can purchase. Considering the way that you are going about launching this, i.e., doing the planning and information gathering necessary to be certain that this is a reasonably ethically driven venture, I think you may owe it to the writers to protect them from themselves. Maybe three reads would be a good limit? If someone is spending a lot of money that they don't have because they are unrealistic about their material but are trying to incrementally improve their standing, well, I think that would be really unfortunate, and not in line with your mandate.

Agreed. Don't want to give some of these writers false hope. Someone might think if i can get a few more reads this will lead to the sale for me and might spend themselves into poverty. I think a limit on the reads is a good idea ethically.

[Geoff Alexander]

Re: The New Black List

I'm saying that you have to make a decision about how many reads you'd like to get. It's a bit like deciding how many times you're going to take the SAT.

To be honest, you might want to look at putting a limit on the number of reads that someone can purchase. Considering the way that you are going about launching this, i.e., doing the planning and information gathering necessary to be certain that this is a reasonably ethically driven venture, I think you may owe it to the writers to protect them from themselves. Maybe three reads would be a good limit? If someone is spending a lot of money that they don't have because they are unrealistic about their material but are trying to incrementally improve their standing, well, I think that would be really unfortunate, and not in line with your mandate.

[FranklinLeonard]

Re: The New Black List

Okay, so now you're saying it's best to get more evaluations, at $50.00 a pop, in order to get read. Or at least keep trying until you get a good one? But one might not be enough? Yikes. This IS getting expensive.

I'm saying that you have to make a decision about how many reads you'd like to get. It's a bit like deciding how many times you're going to take the SAT.

[FranklinLeonard]

Re: The New Black List

I'm confused. I saw a posting on Lockhart's Inside Pitch Facebook group. It says this has nothing to do with the Black List that comes out once it a year.

The end of year Black List will constructed using the same process we've used for the last seven years. This is a new service designed to further accomplish our mission of helping moviemakers find great scripts and helping great scripts find moviemakers to make them.

[FranklinLeonard]

Re: The New Black List

Yep, so how many months is "ideal" for you to leave it up so it actually gets a shot if, in fact, it is a viable project for a sale? If you were only going to leave it up one month, that may be worth it -- but months and months...?

And JoJo -- I agree. Wow!!

I mention this in a few answer later in this thread but it bears repeating. All writers will be able to track the volume of traffic to their script (page views, downloads, etc.) which should give them enough information to make responsible decisions about how long to leave it up.

[FranklinLeonard]

Re: The New Black List

Franklin, I appreciate your transparency. It would be helpful if you could post a sample review on the website. I'm interested in knowing just how close/extensive a read these scripts get.

Not something we're ready to do yet, but what can say is this:

Scripts are evaluated overall from 1-10 and along half dozen other metrics like dialogue, structure, premise, etc. in the same way. There are also three short answer questions re: the script's greatest strengths and weaknesses and how a reader assesses the commercial prospects of the script.

The numerical assessment is what matters to our algorithm.

[lordmanji]

Re: The New Black List

You do have to pay the $25 to list your script before you can purchase a read of it. We did this because while we don't recommend it, we wanted to give people the option to list their script without purchasing reads. It is entirely possible, though admittedly not probable, that one of our members could stumble upon your script via a logline or genre search and decide to read it.

If you have a kick-ass concept and log, you're welcome to query individual companies with it. The advantage of the Black List is that a positive read here results in exposure to hundreds of companies and over one thousand industry professionals instead of just one.

So do you have to list every script each month at 25, or is it just the first script that must be listed and every script after that if you pay for the read then it will automatically be listed?

[CColoredClown]

Re: The New Black List

Sorry about getting those numbers wrong, Franklin.

And thank you for answering all of these questions. I kept thinking up of questions to ask, but most have been addressed in this thread alone. After reading up on the topic, I decided to pony up the $50 for the read too.

[figment]

Re: The New Black List

I similarly don't have any data yet on "how long it takes." What I can say though - and this wasn't mentioned in any of the news coverage today - is that writers have the ability on our site to monitor the volume of traffic to their script generated by the site. # of views of their script page. # of downloads. # of ratings from our membership, etc. Ultimately, it's our belief that it is the writer's prerogative when to remove the script from our database and seek out access to our membership and their equivalents elsewhere.

Thank you for continuing to answer our questions, Franklin.

This new info is interesting, as it gives the writer a bit of control as s/he is able to see how many people are downloading/viewing and rating their script. That would definitely help one decide to keep a script up or pull it.

[Manchester]

Re: The New Black List

You're welcome to query the people on the producers' list for free.

Consider it another way though: imagine you've written a brilliant script. You pay $75 for a month's hosting and a single read from our readers. If it's reviewed incredibly well, word of your brilliant script is immediately communicated to now over 1200 film industry professionals ranging from agency assistants to multiple studio presidents of production (including Greg Silverman at Warner Brothers and Hannah Minghella at Sony who are on our board of advisors) and A list talent and directors.

It's not as cheap as writing 1200 query e-mails, but the upside is considerably higher, if your script is strong.

Yes - But only if you do get that read/feedback soon. That was why I raised that question, above.

As much as this seems like an interesting venture, and as much as the $50 read seems like a reasonable thing (with all of the details as to how it's handled), here's where I run into a wall with the concept:

If someone is going to do this, the $50 read makes sense. For starters.

Then... Since all of the potential buyers know about the $50 read deal, if there are any scripts posted without one - seems reasonable to assume the person (a) could not do the math, or (b) got a bad review. And if it is (b) - which would be a reasonable assumption (especially after the first month a script is posted), how many potential buyers want to check scripts that they presume received a bad review?

And so from a writer's perspective, this seems to be the proposition (assuming you can get the read results back within a week or so): $75 for a read and posting for one month - plus, if you get a positive read, maybe another $25-$50 to have it posted for 1-2 more months. But if the read results are bad, then $75 - and that's it.

As someone else mentioned above, this is kinda like a contest, from a cost perspective. OTOH, you don't have to wait 6 months or more to find out what happens.

[FranklinLeonard]

Re: The New Black List

Just signed up for the $25 service and am giving it a shot. There's already been about 3,000 uploads for scripts, so it's pretty freakin' popular at the moment.

Edit: 3,778 uploaded as of 2:30 PM PST.

As much as I'd love to claim that in the first seven hours of our launch we had several thousand scripts uploaded, that is NOT what that number refers to.

The ~3800 refers to the # of titles in our database (both pro and non-pro). We don't have nearly that many uploaded scripts. Suffice it to say that it's in the low three figures. The rest are title, author, rep, logline information similar to what you'd find on the Black List that exists are part of our industry pro website wherein industry professionals can find a real time Black List and recommendations on that material as well.

Give us time though, we only launched this morning after all.

[FranklinLeonard]

Re: The New Black List

It seems like you'd almost have to pay for an evaluation, and get a good one, in order to really get any reads. But then after a month or two with no takers, you could just quit. I wonder if they let you get the evaluation for $50.00 bucks first, and then decide to be listed based on that, before you have to pay the $25.00, too. If you have a kick-ass concept and log, you might be best served to just query for free, but then again, if you have the money to spare, this might be easier?

You do have to pay the $25 to list your script before you can purchase a read of it. We did this because while we don't recommend it, we wanted to give people the option to list their script without purchasing reads. It is entirely possible, though admittedly not probable, that one of our members could stumble upon your script via a logline or genre search and decide to read it.

If you have a kick-ass concept and log, you're welcome to query individual companies with it. The advantage of the Black List is that a positive read here results in exposure to hundreds of companies and over one thousand industry professionals instead of just one.

[halloweenjak]

Re: The New Black List

How is Carson going to make his rent now?

God bless America.