Here's my Blacklist experience: The first feature I ever wrote and submitted got a 7/10 back in 2018. Nothing moved the needle. Submitted a different feature just a couple of weeks ago and got an 8 out of 10. So far, I've had over 25 industry downloads and I've engaged with 3 Managers, having sent them my screenplay. Now, the waiting game. I'm praying for all to win! God bless you all!

I just checked The Black List and the fee for a paid evaluation is $100 USD, not $75.

Submitted a screenplay to Blklst. One reader gave it a 7. Another gave it a 5. I made the suggested changes, that I agreed with and didn’t help the score at all. It all comes down to someone’s opinion and having it land in the right hands at the right time . And it’s expensive.

Another site making shitloads out of people's hope. There is no justification for fees of that value.

“You neeeeeeed to get negative feedback at some point!” Someone is not going to like what you write somewhere. What you need to know is WHY?”

The Black List is so expensive that it's effectively a class-gate to being discovered.

I submitted my script to blacklist and was given a 7. The reader noted the scene with the moving train would be expensive to shoot, problem is, my script has no trains. There were several errors made by the reader that I pointed out, so they gave me another reader, but the new reader gave my script a 4. I'm convinced the blacklist process is just another scam... My advice is don't waste your money, find another avenue to get your script read.

Guys. Make writer Friends. Share Scripts. Learn by reading film Scripts that got made and are good. By reading other Scripts you get better! Make friends, read each others work.

I submitted 3 scripts to Blacklist, none of which were ever reviewed. I couldn’t afford to pay the monthly fee of $90.00 and had to delete my account. I wanted to enter into the upcoming Cassian Elwes screenplay fellowship but can’t afford to pay the ongoing monthly fee. I really wish there was genuine opportunities for screenplay writers to get a chance. I stepped away from my nursing career to pursue something I feel so strongly about but As time goes on, I feel disappointed and discouraged. I will continue regardless.

Wish I could afford to be on it, but sadly that pricing is not realistic for people from/within a poorer background.

My experience: unrepresented writer: gotten about four or five reviews ranging from 5-7; never heard from any industry professionals, but understandably my scores weren’t 8-10. Think your Better off getting coverage from a script service if your scripts not going to be getting at least an 8. Most feedback from black list reviewers is brief and not terribly helpful. I’ve been more of a Proponent of covefly where placing in competitions has a quantifiable effect on your scripts exposure. Same script that was 5-7 on black list is in top14% on coverfly because of placing in Page international. Hope this is helpful to someone out there; keep battling and writing

I bought 3 evaluations up front and the first two scored high enough to get on the "top lists" section. Magically the third scored just the right amount to bump me off that top list and they offered me a lesser fee to pay for a 4th evaluation because it was way lower than the first two. It could be a coincidence, but I don't think I'll be going back to the website. It seems like they are carrot danglers.

On the Blacklist, I got a '6' on my script and it never got read... Onto the next script!

Mixed but I've noticed a steep decline in quality over the years. Leonard seems overly sensitive about criticism and the readers aren't consistent; a 8/10 from one reader can get a 4/10 from another. If I'm paying $100 a pop I want to know it's helping my script and not just dicking me about.

It all boils down to this: don’t give a penny to these scammers. Screenplay competitions are scams. Plain and simple. No one should PAY anyone to read your script. Actors don’t pay to audition (JRP was a huge scam and still is). If a producer finds your logline interesting he/she will read it free of charge because he/she would possibly profit off a movie based on it. But paying ISA, AFF, Script Pipeline and all these competitions is messed up. Making money off people’s dreams. Shame on them.

I briefly joined it but concluded it was another money-making scheme, and not for the screenwriters. No one reads the stuff on there.

Don't submit your script to the BL until you've received a "CONSIDER" from an industry reader. It'll save you time and money.

Seems like a money grab. What's stopping them from just giving sevens to everyone? Amazon used to do this for free, before bezos went full dr evil. Wouldn't it be great if there was a production company that just took TV concepts, and funded pilot episodes. Film them, all professional, and put it up to stream as a proof of concept? Let the viewers pick which ones they want to see more episodes of

This was a really helpful interview!

I've wasted thousands of dollars on the Blacklist. I would recommend only if you want feedback on your first draft. It's too opinionated. I literally got four 7's the first three submissions for the same screenplay, one was nearly an 8. The last submission I got a 5. How do you go from 7's and nearly a 8 to a 5.

For a group who believes in diversity they don't think about those who can't pay the fees to post. Typical bourgeois gangstas

How do you keep your work from being stolen off of Blacklist?

Notice how Christian babbles and squirms when asked how he ranks as a writer.

Black List Evaluation: Premise 3 Plot 3 Character 3 Dialogue 3 Setting 5 Overall 4 Logline: After an instrument gets stolen that holds extreme sentimental value, a famous musician struggles to get it back as he battles a police force that is out to get him, con artists in their 80’s and a ticking clock counting down to his next concert. Era: Present day Locations: Albuquerque, New Mexico Budget: High Genre: Action & Adventure, Mystery & Suspense Pages: 144 Title: My Cello Is Missing The strengths and weaknesses were helpful. I paid just for the evaluation and did not leave the script on the sight. Scores to low. This is a “rough draft” and not a “first draft.”

After submitting to competitions and nevery hearing back or sharing it with reps and having a company say that say "Love it, just already have something similar in the development"...it's so nice to get feedback. Sometimes you can feel that they person didn't read it that deeply but that's okay because that's coverage (I used to do coverage earlier in my career and it is such a difficult job to distill it down). But to get honest feedback and then get back in the kitchen to keep cooking is amazing.

Not everyone goes to see a single movie even the most popular ones. If you get negative feedback and are able to incorporate it into the script you might be able to widen your audience and make the script more sellable.

He moves like Ray Charles playing his keys 🎹 lol

I tried it too. It’s okay but I received much more in depth feedback from readers at contests. Maybe use contest readers first then rewrite it and post it on the blacklist.

Am I to understand that the scripts will be read without paying for evaluation? Or do you have to pay for the hosting ($30) and evaulation ($100)?

Don't move the camera when the speaker moves (unless it causes an egregious cropping). When he moves it's for dramatic effect. When you move the camera to keep him centered you take away from his affect by reminding us we're watching an interview. If he moves out of frame slightly that's ok, it's more raw and therefore visceral. When you move the camera I'm only reminded of the format by which his message is being transmitted to myself. I was really absorbed in what he was saying until the camera jerk which was NOT fluid at all... If you're going to pan at least do it slowly Also the nature of his gesture is one of tension. He's moving in that manner to convey urgency to his point. You undermine that tension by moving the camera. Just hold it still next time, let him express the gesture then return to his normal positioning. If he returns to a slightly off position then do a minor correction. All you did was break my focus, remind me this isn't a real conversation I'm having and undermine his gesture and it's meaning. Also by the time you got the camera back into focus, he was already back in his original position. Dont move the camera. Stay focused and wait it out. Great interview otherwise, honest massage with good advice. Thanks!

Need this for novel manuscripts.

Some of these comments are just pure comedy.

It's hard to evaluate the feedback when the reader is unknown. The feedback I got was not useful in helping me improve my script. I felt that I could have gotten similar feedback for free on a writing website. I remain curious as to whether readers are assigned based on favored genres. This was several years ago - I have not returned to the website as it feels like a shot in the dark.

Very informative. More info on the blacklist and fellowships please.

Submitting anything online is never a good idea.

My problem with all this is that we have all seen movies where the script was obviously garbage. Most movies have garbage scripts, hell there are some GREAT movies that if you know what you are looking for ..were obviously garbage on paper. How good your script is really only determines how close you will get to an oscar. Quality doesnt determine wether you will make it to production or not. In every corner of the entertainment industry music, tv, film etc there is a second industry designed to get money from those trying to get in. And blacklist is the film equivalent of the many "get your music heard" services that musicians are spammed with daily. The only realistic way to look at it in my opinion is that there are only so many people with access to 15 mill to throw at a movie at any given time, and its all bout getting that idea to that person the minute they have decided to throw 15 mill at an idea similar to yours. Your idea could be GREAT but if its a drama and they want to blow 50 mill at a horror that week. It goes in the box never to be seen again. Either you meet that person the minute they are ready to meet you, or you dont. We are all writing 120 page lottery tickets. Thats all there really is to it.

Austin has significantly gone down in quality

I thought he was going to talk about either a list to banish writers (the usual meaning of "blacklist"), or a list of black writers to be pulled up to high society with sold scripts and big earnings The anticlimax was so underwhelming, I'm going to change the channel 😆😆😆

To start with, there is no mention of getting your script Copy Written before submission, even if good or bad. No producer or production company wants to be sued for plagiarism. Next, Readers are writers, and they are always looking for ideas to incorporate in their scripts, so keep that in mind, so maybe it's better to circulate your script among just people who are willing to read it, sort of like a general audience. Last, you wouldn't send a "slasher script" to Disney as a possible kid's cartoon show, so up your odds by getting to those who do. All criticism is subjective, but if you keep hearing the same thing from most, you might want to take a good look at it.

These Rock!

backlist (paid service) has some of the worst, if not the worst, 'readers/evaluators.' people on average get a 7-8 and then a 2-4 on their scripts. and usually repeated on next the submissions. so many (including industry players who have no ties to such competitions/paid services) have complained this built-in inconsistency is a scam and hustle to get people to keep paying, etc., which in turn just degrades the whole landscape for creators/honest talent and the industry itself. their service cannot be said to be any more valuable or resourceful or meaningful than the other so-called top or even low-tier scriptwriting competitions. nicholl's evaluation process is also quite ridiculous, with their 'expert readers' giving wildly opposing or conflicting (and wholly confusing) notes on any given script (current competition's or subsequent submission's feedback notes), not to mention the notes frequently clue you in on how amateurish or calculating the evaluators are and their unnatural tendency to reward/opt for dramas with inconsequential themes/content (even with sloppy writing) over those with more important ones or with taboo or really rarely-seen subject matter (despite the better writing). but blacklist could be even worse. (which makes me think their annual blacklist list is also suspect - and having read some of those listed scripts, i am not wrong. they range from plain awful to seriously gimmicky. same with many of the nicholl's winners and semi-finalists. nicholl could have maybe one really really good quality script but only out of fifty thousand entries for say, ten years. blacklist, not even that lucky. and the scripts they cull to get made, they are not even worth 1.99 bucks at the dvd sale bin. it's that bad, folks, let's not be coy about the reality of it all. if the scripts are all garbage, man, the readers are not that better.) naturally, there is a degree of subjectivity with readers/evaluators.... but come on. (it's interesting to note that while so many do experience the above, their same work gets more consistent evalatuations from overseas industry experts/resources.)

You need to go socialize at industry events. Make friends. The online road is a dead end.

I've never tried Blacklist (and I don't think I'm going to). I'm too afraid of plagiarism.

One thing that the blacklist could do to improve, in my opinion, is allow you to remove any negative reviews and only keep your good ones. Now this might initially seem silly, but from my experience, any negative reviews I’ve received have been from people who just clearly didn’t vibe with the theme or the topics I was writing about. It wasn’t because I hadn’t written it properly, or effectively conveyed the themes, or told the story in an entertaining way with interesting characters, it was purely because they wouldn’t normally like that type of movie, so obviously didn’t enjoy reading it either. By keeping only the good reviews, you’re really just proving that for people who like these types of films, this one is a good one. I feel like this would fix a lot of the issues people have with the site, but I doubt it’ll ever happen

Should I get my Scripts copyrighted first? It seems like if it’s out there for everyone to read it could be stolen easily!

I should get my script copyrighted before I upload it right

If you guys are going submit your scripts to the blacklist or script contests, make sure your scripts are very good or great before sending them out. So you guys don’t waste any money. The reason way they charge because they are so many bad scripts. They are taking advantage of them. Don’t be the 90 percent of scripts out that are bad.

when should a writer pull the trigger on copyrighting their script?

The black list is for bourgeois writers, well off writers, not working-class writers.

I just had a very negative experience with the Blklst. I paid for an evaluation and got very negative evaluation scores. To a certain extent this is fair enough. But the written comments were extremely flattering and the scores were so low as to be outside of the realm of possibility. Also this script has gotten other paid evaluations and all of those have been within a normal range. Again, the scores my script received were so ridiculously low that they made zero sense and were not reconcilable with the evaluators own comments. The saving grace is that I can take the script off the site. Which I would have done even if the scores were doubled. But the, random, weird nature of the scores leaves me a little skeptical. K

This is an awesome and informative interview. It has 841 views. 800 were from me alone. 😀

What is coverage?

Yes at first thought the fees are high, but what that does is it makes people put more thought into their work.

i need someone to tell me my story is good about as much as hank williams needed someone to tell him he had a good song

The key to being a successful screen writer is get out your wallet. Seriously though you could argue that if your writing is at a certain stage this would be a worthwhile investment. People would easily spend £100 on garbage. Certainly sorts out the serious from the tire kickers

Has your experience with 'The Black List' been mostly positive?

My screenplay would be their only highest rating beyond 100. I’m Walter White in this Writing Game. But of course, the price... the program preys on the rich to make them rich.

Post a video about how to break into Hollywood