Analysis: 2018 Black List
A deep dive into the scripts named to this year’s annual Black List.
A deep dive into the scripts named to this year’s annual Black List.
The 2018 Black List rolled out Monday — you can find titles, writers and loglines for all of the selected scripts here — and as promised, today we have some statistics and analysis for you.
First some interesting stats about this year’s Black List:
- There are 73 screenplays on the 2018 Black List (There were 76 screenplays on the 2017 Black List)
- Over 300 working film executives at major Hollywood financiers and production companies contributed to the 2018 Black List
- 27% of the scripts on the 2018 Black List have a financier attached (27.6% on 2017 Black List)
- 74% of the scripts on 2018 Black List have a producer attached (71.2% on the 2017 Black List)
- There are 22 scripts written at least in part by a female writer on the 2018 Black List and 34 scripts featuring a female protagonist (based on their loglines.) This represents twice as many scripts on both fronts as the Black List’s historical average. The previous high was last year (2017): 25 scripts from female writers and 34 scripts with female protagonists.
Drilling down into the scripts, here are some interesting notes (courtesy The Black List:
Based on a True Story
73 SECONDS by Shawn Dwyer
ANALYTICA by Scott Conroy
CONVICTION by Chris Kekaniokalani Bright
THE DEFENDER by Nicholas Mariani
DRUDGE by Cody Brotter
ESCHER by Jason Kessler
THE FASTEST GAME by Katie Werner, Zach Werner
FRAT BOY GENIUS by Elissa Karasik
GUNFIGHT by Jake Disch
HAPPY LITTLE TREES by Shawn Dwyer
ISLEWORTH by Charlie Efron
JUST THE FACTS by Kenny Kyle
KING RICHARD by Zach Baylin
THE KINGS OF COOL by Jon Dorsey
MAMBA by Mike Schneider
ME & TAMMY FAYE AT THE BETTY FORD CLINIC by Pamela Garcia Rooney
QUEEN by Harry Tarre
QUEENS OF THE STONED AGE by Elyse Hollander
RIDE by Krystin ver Linden
RUB & TUG by Gary Spinelli
SADDAM & ME by Larry Cohen
SHARON by Ryan Jaffe
TILLMAN by Sean Thomas
TO THE EXTREME by Chris Goodwin and Phillip Van
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA V. BILL GATES by Justin Kremer
UNTITLED COAST GUARD by Alex Sohn
WENDI by Amy Wang
Technology, Its Creators, Its Uses, Its Consequences
73 SECONDS by Shawn Dwyer
AMA (ASK ME ANYTHING) by John Wikstrom
ANALYTICA by Scott Conroy
BLUR by Jacob Colman
DRUDGE by Cody Brotter
FRAT BOY GENIUS by Elissa Karasik
GET HOME SAFE by Christy Hall
IN RETROSPECT by Brett Treacy, Dan Woodward
INHUMAN NATURE by Matt Fisch
JUST THE FACTS by Kenny Kyle
NAKED IS THE BEST DISGUISE by Graham Moore
NOBODY NOTHING NOWHERE by Alex Fischer & Rachel Wolther
THE SECOND LIFE OF BEN HASKINS by Matt Kic, Mike Sorce
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA V. BILL GATES by Justin Kremer
Women by Women
(PLEASE) MATERNITY LEAVE by Ari Berkowitz, Ava Tramer
COVERS by Flora Greeson
DEAD DADS CLUB by Amanda Idoko
GET HOME SAFE by Christy Hall
ME & TAMMY FAYE AT THE BETTY FORD CLINIC by Pamela Garcia Rooney
MEET CUTE by Noga Pnueli
POPULAR by Hannah Hafey, Kaitlin Smith
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN by Emerald Fennell
QUEENS OF THE STONED AGE by Elyse Hollander
THE HALF OF IT by Alice Wu
UNTITLED SYRIA PROJECT by Stephanie Carrie
WENDI by Amy Wang
War, What Is It Good For?
ESCHER by Jason Kessler
INFIDELS by Mark Bianculli
SADDAM & ME by Larry Cohen
THE LIBERATORS by Madison Turner
THE SEVENTH by Julian Silver, Reiss Clauson-Wolf
TILLMAN by Sean Thomas
UNTITLED SYRIA PROJECT by Stephanie Carrie
Politics in America
ANALYTICA by Scott Conroy
THE BISCUIT by Jack Waz
CONVICTION by Chris Kekaniokalani Bright
DRUDGE by Cody Brotter
GRACE by Will Lowell
GUNFIGHT by Jake Disch
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA V. BILL GATES by Justin Kremer
TILLMAN by Sean Thomas
Race in America
CI-34 by Sascha Penn
CONVICTION by Chris Kekaniokalani Bright
THE DEFENDER by Nicholas Mariani
THE KINGS OF COOL by Jon Dorsey
THE LIBERATORS by Madison Turner
ONE NIGHT IN MISSISSIPPI by Michele Atkins
QUEEN & SLIM by Lena Waithe
SPARK by Meredith Dawson
Relationships Under Duress
GRACE by Will Lowell
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY by Holly Brix
ISLEWORTH by Charlie Efron
LITTLE FISH by Mattson Tomlin
OUR CONDOLENCES by Greg Kalleres
THE 29TH ACCIDENT by Alanna Brown
WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD by Ross Lazar, Sebastian Shepard
Sportsball and Sportsball Adjacent
BAG MAN by Alex Convery
BOLSA NEGRA by Charlie Wachtel, Dave Rabinowitz
THE FASTEST GAME by Katie Werner, Zach Werner
ISLEWORTH by Charlie Efron
KING RICHARD by Zach Baylin
MAMBA by Mike Schneider
TILLMAN by Sean Thomas
Inclusive Coming of Age Stories
DEAD DADS CLUB by Amanda Idoko
JUST A GIRL by Bill Kennedy
POPULAR by Hannah Hafey, Kaitlin Smith
QUEEN by Harry Tarre
THE HALF OF IT by Alice Wu
YOUNG. WILD. FREE. by Tony Rettenmaier & Juel Taylor
YOUR BOY by Matt Whitaker
70S & 80S NOSTALGIA
73 SECONDS by Shawn Dwyer
AT RISK by Jenny Halper
HAPPY LITTLE TREES by Shawn Dwyer
RIDE by Krystin ver Linden
RUB & TUG by Gary Spinelli
THE FASTEST GAME by Katie Werner, Zach Werner
Memory and Memory Tampering
GRACE by Will Lowell
IN RETROSPECT by Brett Treacy, Dan Woodward
THE INTERVENTIONIST by Colin Bannon
LITTLE FISH by Mattson Tomlin
NAKED IS THE BEST DISGUISE by Graham Moore
THE SECOND LIFE OF BEN HASKINS by Matt Kic, Mike Sorce
LGBTQIA + Stories
THE HALF OF IT by Alice Wu
ME & TAMMY FAYE AT THE BETTY FORD CLINIC by Pamela Garcia Rooney
QUEEN by Harry Tarre
RUB & TUG by Gary Spinelli
YOUR BOY by Matt Whitaker
90S NOSTALGIA
BOLSA NEGRA by Charlie Wachtel, Dave Rabinowitz
DRUDGE by Cody Brotter
THE BISCUIT by Jack Waz
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA V. BILL GATES by Justin Kremer
TO THE EXTREME by Chris Goodwin and Phillip Van
Time & Space Travel
73 SECONDS by Shawn Dwyer
HARRY’S ALL NIGHT HAMBURGERS by Steve Desmond & Michael Anthony Sherman
MEET CUTE by Noga Pnueli
RIDE by Krystin ver Linden
THE WORST GUY OF ALL TIME (AND THE GIRL WHO CAME TO KILL HIM) by Michael Waldron
Music & Musicians
AMA (ASK ME ANYTHING) by John Wikstrom
COVERS by Flora Greeson
TO THE EXTREME by Chris Goodwin and Phillip Van
SHARON by Ryan Jaffe
Monsters
THE BEAST by Aaron Sala
DARK by Nelson Greaves
JUST A GIRL by Bill Kennedy
Digital Journalism
AMA (ASK ME ANYTHING) by John Wikstrom
DRUDGE by Cody Brotter
JUST THE FACTS by Kenny Kyle
L.A. Stories
COVERS by Flora Greeson
DRUDGE by Cody Brotter
TO THE EXTREME by Chris Goodwin and Phillip Van
Nominations by Agency
CAA — 17.5
Verve — 12
WME — 11
UTA — 10
Paradigm — 4
APA — 3.5
ICM Partners — 2
Abrams Artists Agency — 1
Gersh — 1
Nominations by Management Company
Bellevue Productions — 7
Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment — 7
Grandview — 6
Madhouse Entertainment — 6
Good Fear Film + Management — 4
Gotham Group — 3
LBI Entertainment — 3
Lee Stobby Entertainment — 3
Brillstein Entertainment Partners — 2
Heroes And Villains Entertainment — 2
Hollander Entertainment — 2
Anonymous Content — 1
The Arlook Group — 1
Artists First — 1
Circle of Confusion — 1
Echo Lake — 1
Hopscotch Pictures — 1
Industry Entertainment — 1
LINK Entertainment — 1
Magnolia Entertainment — 1
Management 360 — 1
MGMT Entertainment — 1
The Mission Entertainment — 1
The Radmin Company — 1
Untitled Entertainment — 1
Writ Large — 1
Not all screenwriters have and agent and/or manager. Shared representation counted as 1/2-point.
Industry news coverage of the 2018 Black List:
/film
Collider
Deadline
The Hollywood Reporter
Indiewire
Nerdist
Uproxx
Variety
Vulture
W
The Wrap
For GITS analyses of previous Black Lists:
As always, I encourage people to read as many of these Black List scripts as possible. These 73 scripts represent, as best as we can know at this moment in time, where development execs’ heads are at and most importantly what types of stories resonate with them in a positive way.