Reader Question: What about the Black List and the Nicholl Competition?

Question via email from Arnaud:

Would putting a script on the Blacklist for reviews be a wise move or a kill move for the Nicholl’s fellowship competition?

Would you say, participating in one could be to the detriment of the other?

If not, which one would consider trying first ? Or are they so totally independent that it just won’t matter anyway?

And then what is the best time of the year to put our work out there in the open? Is there any known script harvest time?

I went straight to the source on this one, asking Franklin Leonard, founder of the Black List his opinion:

I honestly can’t imagine a scenario where entering the Nicholl would be a detriment to one’s Black List experience and vice versa. I suppose the only potential issue with simultaneously submitting would be that we could more quickly get a script recognized and sold, which could render a writer no longer eligible for the Nicholl because they’ve exceeded the earning requirement.

As for script harvest time, for the purposes of an unrepresented writer, there’s no such thing.

I would tend to agree with Franklin. While the Black List and the Nicholl are both about surfacing great screenplays and talented screenwriters, they are two different types of things. The Nicholl is a screenplay competition with deadlines and due dates. The Black List website is a real time thing, whereby you upload the script and it immediately becomes available to pro members. In either case, it all boils down to the quality of the writing and the script.

To the last question, while there isn’t a best time to send out a script, I think you would be advised to avoid December 10-January 10 as Hollywood basically shuts down.