Analysis: 2021 Black List

A deep dive into the scripts named to this year’s annual Black List.

The 2021 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 2021 Black List (There were 80 screenplays on the 2020 Black List).
• Over 375 film executives at major financiers and production companies voted on the 2021 Black List.
• 16% of the scripts on the 2021 Black List have a financier attached (26% on 2020 Black List)
• 78% of the scripts on 2021 Black List have a producer attached (74% on the 2020 Black List)
• 39% of this year’s Black List scripts were written or co-written by women. Note the trendline from 2007 to present for women written scripts on the Black List (last year was 37.5%).

Drilling down into the scripts, here are some interesting notes:

• Once again, lots of biopics: The Villain, Mr. Benihana, Air Jordan, The College Dropout, Symphony of Survival, Believe Me, Yasuke, Shania!, Idol
• Based on stories: Chicago for One, Hello Universe, St. Mary’s Catholic School Presents The Vagina Monologues, Killers and Diplomats, Thicker Than Ice, Ways to Hide in Winter, Dennis Rodman’s 48 Hours in Vegas, Lady Krylon
• Fan fiction: The Masked Singer, Michael Bay: The Explosive Biopic, A Hufflepuff Love Story
• Assassins: The Devil Herself, Four Assassins (and a Funeral), The Family Plan
• Sports: Cauliflower, Ultra
• Queer stories: Wheels Come Off, A Nice Indian Boy, St. Mary’s Catholic School Presents The Vagina Monologues, Max and Tony’s Epic One Night Stand
• Spec scripts: Lady Krylon, Ultra, Lift, Dennis Rodman’s 48 Hours in Vegas

Finally, perusing the loglines, it feels like there are a lot more comedies to make the Black List this year than in the recent past. Perhaps that is a reflection of a desire — or a perceived desire — in audiences to laugh in the face of these rather grim times.

Scripts By Agency

CAA — 9
UTA — 8
Verve — 8
APA — 6
WME — 5
Paradigm — 4
Gersch — 2
Kaplan Stahler — 2
Rothman Brecher Ehrich Livingston — 1

Scripts By Management Company

Bellevue — 9
Grandview — 5
Sugar 23–5
Fourth Wall — 4
Heroes & Villains — 4
Kaplan/Perrone — 3
Lit Entertainment Group — 3
Management 360–3
Writ Large — 3
3 Arts — 2
Calvary Media — 2
Mazo Partners — 2
42–1
Anonymous Content — 1
The Arlook Group — 1
Artists First — 1
Authentic Talent — 1
Circle of Confusion — 1
Empirical Evidence — 1
Gotham Group — 1
Housefire Management — 1
Industry Entertainment — 1
Literary Management — 1
Manage-ment — 1
MGMT Entertainment — 1
New Wave Entertainment — 1
Rain Management Group — 1
Redefine Entertainment — 1
Schemers Entertainment — 1
Tact Media — 1
Untitled Entertainment — 1
Zero Gravity — 1

Additional notes: 17 scripts on the 2021 Black List did not have a financier or producer attached.

2 scripts (Idol, The Unbound) were not repped by either an agency or management company.

For Go Into The Story analyses of previous Black Lists:

2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020

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.