From Argo to Arrival: How the Hollywood Black List shapes the Oscars

The King's Speech, Spotlight, Argo and Slumdog Millionaire. All four films were box office hits. Each went on to win Best Picture at the Oscars. And were it not for The Black List, all four films might never have been made.

The List, which was created by Franklin Leonard in 2005, is an annual survey of 600 film executives who are asked to rank their favourite unmade screenplays.

We're asking, 'What screenplays did you read that you love.' Period.- Franklin Leonard, creator of The Black List

The survey's results are compiled and published online each year — and they hold remarkable sway over which movies get made in Hollywood.

As Leonard tells Day 6 host Brent Bambury, the list was a way to elevate quality screenplays that didn't fit the mould of a conventional blockbuster.

How The Black List was born

"It was really just an exercise in pursuing my own self-interest," explains Leonard.

"My job was to find great screenplays, and I wanted to create a method that would allow me to do so, and do so efficiently."

Leonard struck a deal with his fellow film executives. He asked them to send him a list of their 10 favourite screenplays that hadn't been made. In exchange, Leonard sent them the entire compiled list.

That was 12 years ago. Since then, the list has grown six times in size and become a major influence in the film industry.

Why is it so hard to find good screenplays?

As Leonard has noted, it's his job to find great screenplays. He likens the task to walking into a bookstore with 50,000 titles, all with the same book jacket and no reviews, and finding the best book among them.

"So really, what The Black List represents is a formalization of all the conversations that are happening throughout the year in Hollywood about 'Have you read anything good lately and what should I be reading'," says Leonard.

The list comes out each December, and typically includes 70 to 90 scripts.

Leonard says it offers a different approach to assessing scripts. Generally, discussions about making films include talk about budget and how much it will cost to make, and how much money can be made.

But when it comes to The Black List, the conversation is much more basic.

"We're asking, 'What screenplays did you read that you love.' Period."

Leonard points out that films produced from The Black List tend to have a greater return on their investment, even if they don't fit the conventional bill for a commercially-successful film.

"If you take something like Slumdog Millionaire, or Argo, or Spotlight, or The Imitation Game — all scripts that were on The Black List — on their face, the biopic of the gay cryptographer who helped win World War II doesn't sound like box office gold."

But Leonard says that when the film is well-executed, as with The Imitation Game, film companies often end up making several hundred million dollars at the box office.

"A high quality screenplay means that the script is likely to outperform industry expectations of whatever strange subject it is," Leonard explains.

"I think it provides cover for people who want to make these movies, so that they can say, 'you know what? It feels a bit like a risk, but because I know that so many others that read the script loved it, I have some amount of cover if for some reason it doesn't work out'."

Leonard's favourite Black List films

Of all of the films that have been made from the list, Leonard points to two of which he is particularly proud.

"The first is The King's Speech. I really admire David Seidler, the screenwriter who wrote that script. He did not have an agent when he wrote it," says Leonard. "He was in his seventies and had already had a career, and then had fallen on harder times professionally, and then came back and ended up winning the Oscar."

Leonard's second pick is the film Jackie, "mainly because it was written by one of my closest friend's from college, Noah Oppenheim."

This year, three Black List films are up for Best Picture: Arrival, Hell or High Water and Manchester by the Sea. Does Leonard think one of three films will win?

No; based on other awards ceremonies so far this season, Leonard is guessing that La La Land will win Best Picture.

"What I will say is that we are much more likely to have a winner in the screen-writing category."

We've got a wedge in there, and we're hoping to pry it much more open.- Franklin Leonard, creator of The Black List

In addition to their annual survey, The Black List also offers an online service for aspiring screenwriters from around the world.

"Anybody on Earth who has written an English-language screenplay can upload their script and have it evaluated for a small fee, and if it's good, we then tell the industry, 'Hey — this is good; you should pay attention to it'."

"That was designed to break this assumption that the only way to be a working screenwriter in Hollywood was to pack up your stuff and move to Los Angeles, which is not feasible if you're a single mother who lives on the South Side of Chicago," he explains.

Leonard hopes The Black List is just the beginning of bringing more diverse writers and films to Hollywood.

"We've got a wedge in there, and we're hoping to pry it much more open."