If I posted the best parts of this I'd just be posting the whole thing. So go read it, then read it again. An absolute must for anyone working in film or publishing. Brilliant.

I could keep posting brilliant quotes from @franklinleonard.bsky.social's post today, or you can all just go and read it. franklinleonard.substack.com/p/the-moral-...

This man speaks TRUTH. I teach at USC and I encounter so many minds already poisoned by the false dichotomy this lays bare. It’s just as true for games, but in a different way. In games we’ve confused who we think our audience is for who our audience COULD BE, and that audience wants THIS.

"[Write] a script that when it lands on a desk at 11:48 pm makes the reader finish it... because they’re a human being and they absolutely have to find out what happens next, and how it ends, even though their kids are going to wake them up in a few hours... "That’s what commercial actually means."

Katey Rich asked all her past Prestige Junkie podcast guests one simple question: What's the best thing that happened to Hollywood this year? For @theblcklst.bsky.social @franklinleonard.bsky.social, the triumph of 'Sinners' was an obvious choice prestigejunkieafterparty.substack.com/p/what-was-t...

We haven't seen an Indiana squad turn back an Alabama offense this decisively since Antietam

Ten years ago, families gathered around their televisions to bid a fond farewell to the Crawley family as DOWNTON ABBEY wrapped its television run in a special finale episode.

Is the English media rigging the narrative against Black superstars? In this episode, we sit down with "The Black List" founder @franklinleonard.bsky.social to discuss the uncomfortable reality of English football culture. 🍎 : tinyurl.com/4pbpaupy 🟢 : tinyurl.com/hneyy7hn 📺 : youtu.be/59e0qAgU-Qs

One of my all-time favorite clips of Rob Reiner, from his Friars Club Roast in 2000, as he reads aloud Roger Ebert's infamous scathing review of his movie North. The man had an amazing sense of humor about himself. RIP.

Hiring a Black woman: “identity politics” Hiring a white guy for a job that has been held disproportionately by white guys, because he is a white guy: “subverting” identity politics! (The author of this sentence is Dylan Byers; you will not be surprised to learn that he is a white guy.)

So honored to actually get to speak to the man who started it all -the pod is something of a love letter to @theblcklst.bsky.social so this felt like completing the circle… #scriptchat #scriptsky

Put it this way... nine of the folks announcing #BlackList2025 scripts tomorrow were nominated for Golden Globes this morning (and another one directed a 3x nominated film even though he himself didn't get nominated individually). Don't miss it. blcklst.com/2025BlackList

For those who can’t quite wait until 9AM PT for #BlackList2025, check out our shiny new interview with @franklinleonard.bsky.social of @theblcklst.bsky.social which just dropped this morning! 👇 podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/b...

Put it this way... nine of the folks announcing #BlackList2025 scripts tomorrow were nominated for Golden Globes this morning (and another one directed a 3x nominated film even though he himself didn't get nominated individually). Don't miss it. blcklst.com/2025BlackList

Fernando Reza designed the hell out of the 2025 Black List cover if I do say so myself. List drops tomorrow at 9:00 am PT over at www.blcklst.com/2025blacklist

#BlackList2025 arrives tomorrow morning. Tuesday December 9, 9 am PT Announced by some very special folks blcklst.com/2025blacklist

#BlackList2025 arrives Tuesday morning, December 9 at 9 am PT.

The only appropriate Nuzzi/Lizza movie is a musical, in case you haven’t already realized it.

We must note that all the condemnation of Tucker Carlson platforming Nick Fuentes has been about anti-Semitism and there has been an alarming and revealing silence around his anti-Black racism and white supremacy. When the head of the Heritage Foundation apologized, he only cited anti-Semitism.

Universal swing in action: "What we saw last night was a directional shift toward Democrats in 99.8% of counties that held partisan elections." www.gelliottmorris.com/p/seven-data...

im in ur base quotin ur d4dz

“I wish Andrew Cuomo only the best in private life”

Congratulations, Andrew Cuomo! I know how hard you worked for this.

A trick Mamdani has mastered is seeming positive even when attacking Cuomo by having it come out of nowhere. You’ll watch him being asked his favorite Halloween candy and he’ll say “I love skittles haha, guilty as charged, of course not guilty of killing people in nursing homes, M&Ms are also great”

This was just posted by a CBS News producer on their Instagram stories.

The Black List is now on Substack: blcklst.substack.com. You know what to do.

“Every cultural community should be so lucky as to have advocates who go as hard for their people as Rafael Casal and the Bay List partners go up for the Bay.”

TODAY AT 11 AM P.T.: @theblcklst.bsky.social's @franklinleonard.bsky.social makes his long-awaited return to The Rushfield Lunch! Bring your rage, ire, confusion and disgust as Richard and Franklin dig into the Warner Bros. news and much more. Add to your calendar: open.substack.com/live-stream/...

"Mr. President sir the idea is you're constantly flying around in a big jet filled with your own shit in it. Like human shit. Anyways you're wearing a little crown in your little shitmobile and you're dumping the shit out. I think people will like it."

Curtis Silwa was asked if he felt okay with losing and contributing to Zohran Mamdani’s victory and he responded by laying into Bill Ackman and Andrew Cuomo.

No Kings Los Angeles 10.18.25

My boss: so how's our fourth quarter looking? Me, the sales manager at the company that makes inflatable frog suits: well, you're never going to believe this, but

MSNBC Grandmas in Skechers seamlessly reclaiming the frog from 4chan Nazis in about six weeks has gotta be the political upset of the century.

My strongest book-related belief is that the paperback should come first and then the hardback after for people who want a fancy edition.

Pope dunking on you from the Popemobile while he's blessing and waving to the rest of the crowd means you have to convert to Lutheranism it's in the Bible

adhd is dying of thirst and looking over to see the glass of water on the counter you poured an hour ago mocking you

First of many. deadline.com/2025/10/then...

I thought they said it was wrong for an administration to ask a social media platform to take stuff down.

First of many. deadline.com/2025/10/then...

First of many. Crooked Lane Books discovered Isabel Booth’s THEN HE WAS GONE on The Black List website and acquired it. Available Feb 24, 2026. Pre-order it now.

If anyone needs me I will be in the museum, lying down next to the bog bodies.

For all my fellow football sickos and the football curious… open.substack.com/pub/franklin...

Drake lost that rap battle so badly that I wrote about it in my book about SPACE-TIME A rap battle loss of literally cosmological proportions Find out how by preordering a copy!!

As I was saying... deadline.com/2025/10/crus...

Here’s some GOOD NEWS for your Thursday: Five manuscripts have been selected to receive a $10,000 grant as a part of the Spotify x Jed Foundation Impact Award initiative! Visit buff.ly/fJzAtn8 to read more about these projects exclusively in Publishers Weekly. *drumroll please*

Great news for your Tuesday, writers! Submissions are NOW OPEN for the thirteenth annual Cassian Elwes Independent Screenwriting Fellowship! buff.ly/asHpWwd

Two years ago today, @franklinleonard.bsky.social stopped by the Team Deakins podcast for a wide-ranging conversation about The Black List, screenwriting and all things movie-making.

I know a particularly good way to find great, original, available screenplays... www.blcklst.com