Analysis: 2014 Black List

Scott Myers

19 Dec 2014 • 4 min read

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

The 2014 Black List rolled out Monday — you can find titles, writers and loglines for all 70 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 70 screenplays on the 2014 Black List (There were 72 screenplays on the 2013 Black List)
* More than 250 working film executives at major Hollywood financiers and production companies contributed to the 2014 Black List
* 47.1% of the scripts on the 2014 Black List have a financier attached (33.3% on 2013 Black List)
* 73.2% of the scripts on 2014 Black List have a producer attached (68.0% on the 2013 Black List)
* 12.8% of 2014 Black List writers are females (9) compared to 18.1% (13) on the 2103 Black List
* 4 writers (or teams) on 2014 Black List do not have an agent (5 on 2013 Black List)
* 9 of writers (or teams) on 2014 Black List do not have a manager (10 on 2013 Black List)
* 10 biopics on the 2014 Black List compared to 8 last year
* 11 writers on the 2014 Black List who had scripts appear on previous Black Lists
* 3 writers on 2014 Black List hosted their scripts on the Black List website before signing with their current reps: Kristina Anderson, Kimberly Barrante, Gary Graham
* 1 writer has two scripts on 2014 Black List: Randall Green — Cartoon Girl, The Swimsuit Issue

Drilling down into the scripts:

Real life stories are prominent in the 2014 Black List including biopics (Catherine the Great, Forgive Me, The Founder, LBJ, My Friend Dahmer, On the Basis of Sex, The Road to Oz, Seducing Ingrid Bergman, The Man in the Rockerfeller Suit, Uncle Shelby) and stories inspired by true events (Bismarck, Boston Strangler, The Bringing, The Cascade, I Am Ryan Reynolds, Mena, The Munchkin, Rockingham, Wonka).

Most popular genres (in order of popularity): Drama, Thriller, Comedy, Action.

A significant number of 2014 Black List scripts have mystery elements including Aether, Celeritas, and Syndrome (E).

Several scripts on the 2014 Black List have an historical setting including Berliner, Catherine the Great, In This, My Darkest Hour and Mena.

The trend of adult-stuck-with-youth story concepts continues with such scripts as Coffee & Kareem, The Long Haul, Manchester-by-the-Sea, and Professor Pasghetti.

However a new phenomenon this year: Prison, prisoners, or prison guards appear in three scripts — Matriarch, North of Reno, and Shadow Run.

Characters trapped in a contained death-threatening thriller: In the Deep, Tau, and The Wall.

Regular people who suddenly go insane, get turned into aliens, or gain superpowers: Bird Box, Dodge, The Shower.

Stories where characters have physical disabilities: Blink (Full Paralysis), Erin’s Voice (Deaf).

What to make of all this?

If Hollywood has decided to ignore adult audiences, someone has forgotten to communicate that to the 250+ execs who responded to this year’s Black List because there are a ton of projects smack in the wheelhouse of the 35+ year-old crowd.

However many if not most of these scripts will never be produced as the studios keep shooting up superhero / comic book / remake / sequel projects to fuel their addiction to ‘safe’ franchise films.

It suggests to me there are a lot of frustrated execs at studios and financiers, passionate about precisely the type of material which Hollywood is currently shunning. Meanwhile there’s a ginormous audience (Adults, Baby Boomers, Seniors) patiently waiting for interesting, compelling stories.

What’s crazy is several of the projects currently without financing, such as Beef, Huntsville and The Secret Ingredients of Rockey Cola don’t appear to be that expensive, so risk downside minimal, reward upside strong.

What we need are some visionary, creative types with a proven track record of actually producing movies, not just suits carting around MBA degrees and the fealty to counting corporate beans.

The scripts are there. The talent is there. The audience is there. Now how about some folks who are passionate about filmmaking getting together with money people…

AND LET’S MAKE SOME GOOD GODDAMMED MOVIES WITH SOME TIDY PROFITS TO BOOT!

For the screenwriters among us, if you want to try to read the market and write to that, instead of using Alvin & the Chipmunks 12 as your touchstone, I encourage you to read as many of the Black List scripts you can get your hands on and keep those in mind as you search for your next project. Aspire to inspire in 2015!

More stats!

AGENCY AND MANAGEMENT COMPANY INFORMATION

Via Deadline

Via Deadine.

There you have it: Another annual Black List put to bed. For the writers who made the List this year, it’s up and at ’em time, a whole slew of meetings on Hollywood’s perpetual bottled water tour in the offing… only now these writers will be perceived as having a lot more heat than before.

Industry news coverage of the 2014 Black List:

Women and Hollywood (Indiewire)