Schrodinger’s Strait of Hormuz

Watch an in-depth conversation about all things screenwriting with @franklinleonard.bsky.social and @leejessup.bsky.social here: buff.ly/Ksoakrj

Calling all Authors Guild members! Join @franklinleonard.bsky.social and Randy Winston for a FREE virtual event with @authorsguild.org on April 14 at 4PM PT/7PM ET. Learn more here: authorsguild.org/event/the-bl...

Eight years ago! Gah! I wrote a script about Bob Hope that was on @theblcklst.bsky.social, and we did a live read with an amazing cast assembled by said Black List. My many thanks to @franklinleonard.bsky.social and everyone invovled. www.threads.com/@theblcklst/...

2025-2026 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting Announced! Writer names, script titles, loglines - all detailed here. I've interviewed every Nicholl fellow since 2012. Look forward to this year's in-depth screenwriting conversations! www.patreon.com/posts/153779... #screenwriting

New data study available over on @theblcklst.bsky.social's Substack: The Anatomy of a Score - Part 1. open.substack.com/pub/blcklst/...

Congratulations to the fellows and finalists selected for the 2025-2026 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting! Read more about their projects in The Hollywood Reporter: www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...

The Black List referred 50% of the Top Ten - 5 scripts - despite only 25 overall referrals from the site Punching above their weight!

5 of the top 10 were recommended by the Black List. 5 of the 25 that the Black List recommended were finalists or fellows. www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...

Everyone say thank you @franklinleonard.bsky.social!

I cannot endorse Black List password sharing even when it has a very happy ending (and an SXSW premiere starring William H Macy, Natalie Morales, Randall Park, and Edi Patterson is definitely a very happy ending.) variety.com/2026/film/co...

Alysa Liu shares the political issues she cares about most: “Climate, election things, Black Lives Matter, Stop Asian Hate, ICE protests... More empathy needs to happen, for sure.” Interview: www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...

Oh yes! Let's talk about this! "A reasonable conclusion is that most screenplays submitted to the Black List website are competent but not exceptional, and those that are exceptional are quite rare (which roughly mirrors what most of us know instinctively if we’ve read a lot of screenplays)."

"A reasonable conclusion is that most screenplays submitted to the Black List website are competent but not exceptional, and those that are exceptional are quite rare (which roughly mirrors what most of us know instinctively if we’ve read a lot of screenplays)."

It’s time to MEET THE JUDGES of the 2026 #UnpublishedNovelAward! We’re kicking things off with Jordan Hill and Lauren Knowles, who will be judging our Speculative Fiction and Children’s & Young Adult categories for the Unpublished Novel Award.

Why We Write is BACK on Substack! Read the first piece from 2023 Black List Lab alum Christopher Hwisu Kim now: blcklst.substack.com/p/why-we-wri...

Curious about how Featured Projects get selected on blcklst.com? Open this: blcklst.substack.com/p/best-pract...

So yes, and 8 is rare and difficult to get. AS IT SHOULD BE. Because if The Black List started spotlighting a bunch of middling scripts that need Page One rewrites, it would cease to be a useful site pretty quickly. You not getting an 8 for a script your friends like isn't a grand injustice.

Pretty much a standard bell curve with maybe an exception. There is no magic to the outcomes.

How rare is an 8+ overall score from a Black List website reader? Quite rare. (As it should be.) New data study. open.substack.com/pub/blcklst/...

Had a conversation with this guy Ryan Coogler on behalf of @theankler.com youtu.be/4IZ8xJUEhlQ?...

Had a conversation with this guy Ryan Coogler on behalf of @theankler.com youtu.be/4IZ8xJUEhlQ?...

Great news, writers: We’re partnering with Tubi to discover a NEW HORROR SCRIPT to be produced and distributed by Tubi! Read more about the program, exclusively @deadline.com. deadline.com/2026/02/tubi...

Great news, authors: The 2026 Unpublished Novel Award is now OPEN for submissions! Four writers will receive a $10,000 grant to support their manuscript on its journey to publication. Learn more here: blcklst.com/programs/202...

I’ve seen the videos of kids throwing snowballs at NYPD officers in Washington Square Park. Officers, like all city workers, have been out in a historic blizzard, keeping New Yorkers safe and cars moving. Treat them with respect. If anyone’s catching a snowball, it’s me.

It’s publication day for Isabel Booth’s THEN HE WAS GONE, the first manuscript to be published after being discovered on blcklst.com! Grab your copy here: bookshop.org/p/books/then...

Unreal press conference strategy from new IOC president Kirsty Coventry where she repeatedly turns to her PR team off stage and personally blames them for not making her aware of various Olympics controversies, saying that “maybe someone needs to be dismissed”

Once a math team captain, always a math team captain.

Once a math team captain, always a math team captain.

It happened again. variety.com/2026/film/gl...

I am obsessed with this woman.

Oops we did it again.

🚨 DEADLINE REMINDER 🚨 Playwrights, we know three months seems like an AWFULLY long time from now, but as we know, deadlines have a way of sneaking up on us all! Submit your play for consideration in our ongoing collaboration with TRW here: blcklst.com/programs/the...

Is it getting a little...close in here? Or is that just a few of our Featured Projects for February creeping up on you? This month, our Featured Projects are all CONTAINED THRILLERS! Scroll down to learn more about this month's offerings, which you can read right now on blcklst.com.

If you’re in Los Angeles on February 17, come through. If you know someone who will be in Los Angeles and enjoy being around other writers, tell them to come through.

RIP Catherine O'Hara, a true comedic titan.

I was wrong, and I apologize. It more then tripled Melania’s windfall. My bad.

The real box office story of the weekend is the self distributed and self financed horror film that more than doubled Melania’s windfall despite a production budget less than one fifteenth its size.

📣 NEW SPEAKER ANNOUNCEMENT: The Black List Founder and CEO @franklinleonard.bsky.social! STATE OF THE STORY CONFERENCE WGA Theater March 22, 2026, 10am-5pm 🎟️Tickets & line-up: Storytelling360.com LIVE&VIRTUAL💻 LEARN, NETWORK, GET INSPIRED #screenwriting #screenwriter #scriptsky #writingcommunity

It appears that this legend owns a little bookstore — and you can order books from him instead of Bezos. Link in next post.

Alex Pretti was a 37 year old ICU nurse who put his body between ICE and a woman they were physically assaulting. They sprayed chemical irritants into his face, beat him, and then shot him to death.

Congratulations to everybody getting off their first “it could have been me” tweets today.

37 year old white male citizen with a lawful permit to carry a firearm, says the Minneapolis Police Department.

If you’re gonna run around on the internet talking about Oscar snubs, you have to say who you’d swap out. Those are the rules. We live in a society (barely.)

16 Oscar nominations later… open.substack.com/pub/franklin...

Anyway…

I share some thoughts on an article by Black List founder - and friend - @franklinleonard.bsky.social about the resurrected commercial spec script market, breaking into Hollywood today, and whatever "selling out" means. If you're an aspiring screenwriting, this one's for you.

Want to know more about what The Black List team is watching, reading and listening to this winter? Open this: blcklst.substack.com/p/open-tabs-...