Franklin Leonard‘s Black List is the go-to list for the hottest unproduced screenplays in Hollywood. Just last year we got Margin Call, which is now one of the most-praised films of the year. The list also includes Doug Liman‘s next film, the thriller All You Need is Kill. David Guggenheim‘s Safe House hits theaters next spring with Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington starring. Chan-wook Park‘s English-language debut Stoker was also in the top 10, along with Ben Affleck‘s recently wrapped CIA hostage film Argo, both arriving next fall.
Today, the top 10 has been unveiled and we get quite a mix of genres. There is a satirical behind-the-scenes film from Chewbacca aka Peter Mayhew‘s point-of-view, a zombie film, a homosexual WWII drama, a Melancholia-esque drama on separate people finding peace before the world ends, a space film about a botched Apollo 18 mission and much more (even a Thomas Edison invention film). It is great to see original scripts getting attention in Hollywood as we weigh through rehash after rehash, so I’m eager to see what talent gets attached to which films in the coming year and beyond. Check out the list below via LA Times.
133 votes: “The Imitation Game” by Graham Moore
The story of British World War II cryptographer Alan Turing who broke several German codes, but in later life was prosecuted for being homosexual, leading to his suicide.
Agent: Creative Artists Agency — J.P. Evans, Jacqueline Sacerio
Manager:The Safran Co. — Tom Drumm
Producers: Ido Ostrowsky, Nora Grossman producing for Warner Bros.
84 votes: “When the Street Lights Go” by Chris Hutton, Eddie O’Keefe
In the early 1980s, a town suffers through the aftermath of a murder of a high school girl and a teacher.
Agency: WME — Simon Faber, Sarah Self
Manager: Tariq Merhab Management — Tariq Merhab
Producers: Imagine Entertainment
59 votes: “Chewie” by Evan Susser, Van Robichaux
A satirical, behind-the-scenes look at the making of “Stars Wars” through the eyes of Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca.
Agency: WME — Mike Esola
Manager: Industry Entertainment — Jess Rosenthal
53 votes: “The Outsider” by Andrew Baldwin
In post-World War II Japan, an American former prisoner-of-war rises in the yakuza.
Agency: Creative Artists Agency — Jay Baker, John Garvey
Manager: Anonymous Content — Bard Dorros, David Kanter
Producers: Linson Entertainment for Warner Bros.
43 votes: “Father Daughter Time: A Tale of Armed Robbery and Eskimo Kisses” by Matthew Aldrich
A man goes on a three-state crime spree with an accomplice, his 11-year-old daughter.
Agency: Creative Artists Agency: John Garvey, Stuart Manashil
Manager: Silent R Management: Jewerl Ross
Producers: Pearl Street Productions production for Warner Bros.
33 votes: “In the Event of a Moon Disaster” by Mike Jones
An alternate telling of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon that examines what might have happened if the astronauts had crash-landed there.
Agency: Creative Artists Agency: David Kopple, JP Evans
Manager: The Gotham Group: Lindsay Williams
Producer: FilmNation
30 votes: “Maggie” by John Scott 3
As a “walking dead” virus spreads across the country, a farm family helps their eldest daughter come to terms with her infection as she slowly becomes a flesh-eating zombie.
Agency: Creative Artists Agency: Billy Hawkins, Dan Rabinow
Manager: Trevor Kaufman
Producer: Pierre-Ange Le Pogam
30 votes: “The Current War” by Michael Mitnick
Based on the true story of the race between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse to develop a practical system of electricity and sell their respective inventions to the country and the world.
Agency: William Morris Endeavor — Simon Faber
Manager: Fourth Floor Productions — Jeff Silver
28 votes: “The End” by Aron Eli Coleite
Four people — a veteran broadcaster in London, a 16-year old girl and her boyfriend in Ann Arbor, Mich., and a devoted family man in Shanghai — each try to make peace with their lives before an interstellar event ends the world in six hours.
Agency: Creative Artists Agency — Matt Rosen
Producer: Warner Bros.
27 votes: “Beyond the Pale” by Chad Feehan
Based on William Gay’s novel “Twilight,” teenage siblings suspect they’ve been ripped off by the town undertaker, but what they discover is much more sinister.
Agency: Creative Artists Agency — Matt Rosen, Jacqueline Sacerio
Manager: Management 360 — Guymon Casady, Mary Lee
Producers: Feehan’s The Fort producing for Vendome Pictures
27 votes: “Ezekiel Moss” by Keith Bunin
A mysterious stranger who possibly has the power to channel the souls of the dead changes the lives of everyone in a small Nebraska town, especially a young widow and her 11-year-old son.
Agency: Creative Artists Agency — Rowena Arguelles
Manager: Kaplan/Perrone — Alex Lerner, Sean Perrone
Producers: A Likely Story and Mandalay Pictures
What do you think about the Black List top 10 this year? Which film would you like to see and who should make it?