One day a year, Franklin Leonard transforms from midlevel African American studio executive mired in development meetings, script readings and note-taking into Hollywood's most important soothsayer.
The 32-year-old native of Columbus, Ohio, is the mastermind and compiler of the Black List, a compendium of the year's best unproduced screenplays.
Today marks Leonard's sixth annual metamorphosis, and when he presses "send" on his e-mail — shooting the list around Hollywood and beyond — he may again change the fates of scores of screenwriters looking to crack the big leagues.
"The Black List opened doors and turned my life around," says writer Michael R. Perry, 47, whose trippy script "The Voices," about a man tormented by his talking pets, landed in third place on 2009's list. "My writing career has totally taken off."
Unlike in the early years, when most if not all of the scripts on the list were undiscovered gems, many of those on the 2010 Black List are spoken for: Of the 10 highest-ranked scripts, six have been purchased by studios. And with Hollywood bigwigs paying more attention, some people have tried to manipulate the system.
Nevertheless, Perry and others say their lives were changed by landing a spot on the list, which Leonard started in 2005 out of desperation. Then a development executive at Leonardo DiCaprio's production company Appian Way, Leonard had been drowning in a sea of bad screenplays. He turned to his counterparts in the industry for a life preserver, and his simple e-mail to 75 Hollywood execs asking for good script suggestions resulted in an avalanche of replies.
He compiled those answers into a dossier he dubbed the Black List — part self-referential title and part ironic nod to the 1940s and '50s Hollywood blacklist of suspected communists and communist sympathizers that on occasion derailed careers. A phenomenon was born.
Today, 300 people participate in compiling the list; those invited to participate contribute an unranked list of up to 10 of their favorite scripts of the year. While the number of participants has ballooned, Leonard says the purpose of the list remains the same: to recognize solid screenplays.
"I hope the additional attention has more to do with the list's increasing ability to predict quality writers," says Leonard, who recently left his development gig at Universal Pictures for a Vice President of Creative Affairs gig with Will Smith's Overbrook Entertainment. "When we did the first list, no one knew what it was. Three years later when Diablo [Cody] wins [the Academy Award for "Juno"] and Nancy [Oliver] is nominated [for "Lars and the Real Girl"] and writers deliver other great scripts, the list earned some credibility. I believe it's a pretty good source now for buying good material."
Fictionalized accounts of historical events occupy half of the top-10 spots this year. At No.1 is a buddy comedy, "College Republicans" by Wes Jones, which centers on a college-aged Karl Rove as he vies for the role of chief college conservative under the guidance of Lee Atwater. Shia LaBeouf and Paul Dano are said to be interested in the two lead roles. Spot No.2 went to "Jackie" by Noah Oppenheim, about the days immediately after President John F. Kennedy's assassination.
"Five scripts address the way in which the power was built and the way in which it has failed," Leonard says.
Also on the list is "Stoker," about a teenage girl who, in the wake of her father's death, must deal with her mysterious uncle; it is the screenwriting debut of biracial actor Wentworth Miller, best known for his role on the Fox TV drama "Prison Break."
Over the years, the Black List has recognized scripts and writers that went on to fame, acclaim and even fortune. In addition to "Lars" and "Juno," which won an Academy Award for original screenplay, high-profile writers such as David Benioff ("The Kite Runner"), Allan Loeb ("Things We Lost in the Fire") and Matthew Carnahan ("State of Play") have made the list. Sometimes writers already well known in Hollywood also land in Leonard's ranking: Aaron Sorkin, who made it for the second time last year with "The Social Network," which hit theaters this fall and is a favorite to nab an Oscar nomination for adapted screenplay.Leonard releases his annual list in mid-December for a reason: Hollywood execs are now conditioned to anticipate the compendium, grab hold of the screenplays and spend the last two weeks of the year when the town is shut down reading the work of many previously unknown writers.
Now that many in Hollywood know how the list works, some people are tempted to try to game the system. Some executives attempt to promote their studios' screenplays, whether they believe them to be the best or not, to win their bosses' approval.
Leonard knows his system isn't perfect.
"The math nerd in me would love for it to be more scientific," he says. "But it's impossible for me to standardize that. They are not all choosing from an equal pile. It's a snapshot from an irregular, amorphous conversation that's been taking place all year long."
But in the cutthroat world of Hollywood, the list offers a rare opportunity for unknowns to get a leg up. Some advice from a previous winner: "Some 300-odd executives have just said that your script is one of the best in town right now," Sorkin says. "If you don't have an agent, use the list to get one. If you have an agent, make sure he or she is trumpeting the distinction from the top of the Griffith Observatory."
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