The Black List 2018 is here — a survey of the best screenplays that have not yet gone into production.
This year, the 73 films included films about Serena and Venus Williams’ hard-driving father (Zach Baylin’s “King Richard”), the sexual assault case against former NBA star Kobe Bryant (Mike Schneider’s “Mamba”) and Cody Brotter’s “Drudge” about The Drudge Report founder Matt Drudge and how he broke the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
The list also includes Emmy winner Lena Waithe’s “Queen & Slim,” a disgruntled Snapchat employee’s account of founder Evan Spiegel (Elissa Karasik’s “Frat Boy Genius”) and Gary Spinelli’s “Rub & Tug” a project that has been in limbo since Scarlett Johansson’s exit from the project because of objections to her playing a trans man.
The Black List founder Franklin Leonard and his team compiled the list from suggestions by more than 300 film executives, and scripts had to receive at least seven mentions to be included on this year’s list.
Other noteworthy scripts include Ryan Jaffe’s “Sharon,” in which Sharon Osbourne tells the story of her relationship with her husband, Ozzy Osbourne.
Charlie Efron’s “Isleworth” follows Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren after the public sex scandal. Larry Cohen’s “Saddam & Me” looks into the true story of the FBI’s interrogation of Saddam Hussein, and Scott Conroy’s “Analytica” tells the story of Chris Wyle and Cambridge Analytica.
The 2018 Black List unveiling began with a short film released at 9 am. The short film follows an agent from 1988 who wakes up 20 years later to find that the industry has completely changed. Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey are gone, and Netflix is at the top of its game.
The short includes many cameos, including Constance Wu and Jay Ellis, and Marielle Heller. Spread throughout the six-minute short on various movie posters and post-its are all the 73 script titles that have been selected as part of the lineup this year.
Watch the video below, and check out the full lineup here.
#BlackList2018 pic.twitter.com/1guGQWXN0s
— The Black List (@theblcklst) December 17, 2018