The Black List (Scripts)

Started by cinemanarchist, December 19, 2010, 11:52:25 AM

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cinemanarchist

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2010/12/the-2010-black-list.html

I know as the list has gotten more widely publicized the effectiveness of what it was created to do has been diminished greatly. I still like seeing what's out there and wonder if any of you are aware of where to find these online? We could also use this topic to discuss these scripts and future lists.
My assholeness knows no bounds.

Reel

just reading through the synopses I can see why they haven't been produced.

ono

Black List 2014

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B98ZdIxoETG5UWNwOWZhV1N6Uk0&usp=drive_web#list

Read Swimsuit Issue.  Was okay.  Clean.  I can see why it got some attention, though IMO, it was slight.  Gonna be reading a lot more.  A great resource, I think, for understanding what makes a good script -- more than any screenwriting book, anyway.

max from fearless

Thanks so much for sharing. The new Kenneth Lonergan script is in there!!!

jenkins

Quote from: ono on December 19, 2014, 12:14:50 PM
A great resource, I think, for understanding what makes a good script -- more than any screenwriting book, anyway.

oh yeah, agreed. i mean simply by virtue of it being a list of full scripts written by different types of people. i like the range. i like reading some only for the dialogue, like actors now and then do. i can register the character personalities they're building, the tones they're aiming for, and things like that. it's interesting that some of the prose is meant to convey a cinematic perspective, 'cause that's tricky, sharing cinema in prose is a bit like sharing emotion in prose, in that it doesn't always mean to the reader what it meant to the writer. i'm happy to see typos. god bless us all

impressed by how dodge's title page has some art action. it's the only one i've seen like that, mention if there's another, because for trying at all it's been my favorite title page

and idk man, there's some real fire to situation comedy. like there's a bit of fire in my soul too, when i read it, because i can imagine i wrote it. what is that written by "cat vasko" business, is that real? meohmy, every day i dream of being named cat. i like it so much i'm going to quote it, and thanks bunches for providing the link, great find

Quote
INT. TV SCREEN - EXTREME CLOSE UP

A pinpoint of light expands into abstract, pixelated colors. Scenes from old sitcoms move across the screen, SHIFTING and SNAPPING as if controlled by a remote, while CLEMENCE JANIKOWSKI, 29, speaks. Slurring a bit but on a roll.

CLEMENCE (V.O.)
The thing is that the problems I have aren't cute. They're not, like, you know, I have a degrading job but my boss is hilarious,
or I meet the perfect guy online but he turns out to be sixteen or married or a libertarian or whatever.

We hear the THWOP of a cork emerging from a bottle, then wine POURING AND SPLASHING -- a lot of it. This girl is drunk.

CLEMENCE (V.O.)
But you know what I always loved most about sitcoms?

We're slowly closing in on the screen. Colors stretch and warp, become meaningless pointillism.

CLEMENCE (V.O.)
When you knew one of the actors had, like, a drug addiction or an eating disorder or whatever.
Like she'd start to get really skeletal and look like she was about two minutes from death. I loved that.

We pull away again to reveal

INT. RESTAURANT - EVENING - CONTINUOUS

Clemence, a plain-looking dishwater blonde, sits across a table from her date, an appalled and baffled CUTE NERD. She empties the last of a bottle of wine into her glass.

CUTE NERD
Why would you love something like that? That's horrible.

CLEMENCE
Hello? Have you even been listening to me?

CUTE NERD
Yes.

CLEMENCE
I loved it because the minute she walked on the set it didn't matter. All her problems were cute again.
What happened to all the wine?

CUTE NERD
You drank it.

CLEMENCE
You did.

CUTE NERD
No, you did.

She glances around, embarrassed, as if he's causing a scene.

CLEMENCE
You're making this really awkward.

and if you like that, it only keeps going btw --

CLEMENCE
Why do you look like Waldo?

[unrelated:]

NATHAN (CONT'D) It's tribal. The tribe being
Florida trailer trash.

[unrelated:]

Nathan and Annie re-emerge. Nathan, shamefaced, is holding a huge orange cat in his arms.

ANNIE
How long has this thing been here?

NATHAN
Relax. It's not a gremlin.

[unrelated:]

ANNIE
It's. On. My. Pillow.

[me again:]
it's my favorite so far, after i've clicked and sampled like four of them. just go ahead and call me Mr. Expert

ono

To guide your reading, this list of all scripts with 20 or more mentions might help you:

NAMES TITLE MENTIONS
Kristina Lauren Anderson CATHERINE THE GREAT 51
Adam Morrison ROCKINGHAM 38
Randall Green THE SWIMSUIT ISSUE 35
Brian Duffield THE BABYSITTER 34
John Patton Ford ROTHCHILD 32
Dwain Worrell THE WALL 30
Kieran Fitzgerald THE CASCADE 25
Cat Vasko SITUATION COMEDY 24
Krysty Wilson-Cairns AETHER 24
Noga Landau TAU 23


Garam

'Bubbles'

QuoteA baby chimp is adopted by the pop star Michael Jackson. Narrating his own story, Bubbles the Chimp details his life within The King of Pop's inner circle through the scandals that later rocked Jackson's life and eventually led to Bubbles' release.

Please God let this happen

This is crazy too, i'd never heard of this case;

QuoteTRUE FAN
John Whittington

After interfering with a foul ball during a Chicago Cubs playoff game, Steve Bartman was tortured and
stalked by die hard Cub fans for potentially costing them their first National League pennant since 1945.
Years later, in a new town with a new identity—but depressed, overweight and working a dead end job—
Steve meets a woman who gives him a new lease on life and reason to live.

Goddamn hardcore sports fans are psychotic arseholes.

Poor title though. Should be called 'Do the Bartman'

(yes i am making that joke 12 years after it happened, come on - it's a great gag!)

WorldForgot

Quote from: Garam on December 15, 2015, 04:07:53 AM
'Bubbles'

QuoteA baby chimp is adopted by the pop star Michael Jackson. Narrating his own story, Bubbles the Chimp details his life within The King of Pop's inner circle through the scandals that later rocked Jackson's life and eventually led to Bubbles' release.

Please God let this happen


Netflix wants it to, I think.

Sleepless

Quote from: WorldForgot on July 20, 2017, 05:23:22 PM
Quote from: Garam on December 15, 2015, 04:07:53 AM
'Bubbles'

QuoteA baby chimp is adopted by the pop star Michael Jackson. Narrating his own story, Bubbles the Chimp details his life within The King of Pop's inner circle through the scandals that later rocked Jackson's life and eventually led to Bubbles' release.

Please God let this happen


Netflix wants it to, I think.

Netflix Landing 'Bubbles', Film About Michael Jackson's Chimpanzee Companion – Cannes

Oscar nominated director Taika Waititi (Two Cars, One Night and Thor: Ragnarok) is set to co-direct the stop-motion animated film with Mark Gustafson (Fantastic Mr. Fox).
He held on. The dolphin and all the rest of its pod turned and swam out to sea, and still he held on. This is it, he thought. Then he remembered that they were air-breathers too. It was going to be all right.

ono

2017 Black List

And my thoughts:

Pass on Ruin, Let Her Speak, Keeper of the Diary, Where I End, When Lightning Strikes.  Breaking News in Yuba County sounds like a ripoff of Morvern Callar.  Meh to Sleep Well Tonight and The Great Nothing.  When In Doubt, Seduce -- what?  Yawn to The Expansion Project.  Meh to Newsflash and V.I.N.  Ugh to Come As You Are.  Yawn to Hughes.  Meh to The Mother and Ruthless.  Really?  One Thousand Paper Cranes might be something in the hands of the right director.  Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know sounds dumb, as does Valedictorian.  Been ages since I've seen Election, but this seems like a more extreme version of that.  I was with the logline until I read the words, "even murder."  Just dumb.

Meh to Power.  When I read the words drug dealer or assassin in these things my brain immediately shuts off.  Meh to Arc of Justice.  Meh to Kate.  Key of Genius wants to be Whiplash which I refuse to see because I won't support abuse as a viable teaching technique.  La La Land was great, Chazelle, but that don't mean your earlier shit don't stink.  It do.  But I digress.  The Man from Tomorrow -- meh.  A pox on biopics.  It's rare that they transcend.  Ballerina sounds dumb.  I shut off my mind when I read Navy SEAL too.  The Kingbreaker -- really?  And I shut off my brain when I read Nazis, too.  No thanks, Liberation.

Things I'd like to read: Yes please to stuff like Daddio, Jellyfish Summer, Brosio, and Don't Be Evil.  Escape From the North Pole could be fun, as could Fubar.  If only Robin Williams were alive.  I like the sound of Infinite.  Kill Shelter could be good, too.  Moxie sounds fun.  Escape could be fun, but it's been done so many times.  Gadabout is interesting.  Innocent Monsters -- yay reflexive stuff, but after Adaptation, who knows if anything can compare.  The Other Lamb could be interesting.

Granted, of course, I have no way of knowing if any of these things are actually good.  Obviously just shooting from the hip based on what interests me in a log line.  I stopped on page 18 of 32.  Maybe once some scripts start to leak or there's some data of how many mentions each of these really got, I'll go back and see which ones are really worth checking out.


jenkins

thanks for always being on this ono

ono

It's a weird feeling reading a script from a list like this that got made.  Well, that happened.  A couple years ago, I read The Babysitter.  It's on Netflix now.

max from fearless