The Black List, which has been releasing an annual survey of Hollywood’s best unproduced film screenplays, is moving into TV for the first time ever.
The organization — founded by Franklin Leonard — has sent out a survey to hundreds of TV executives, asking them to submit their top 10 favorite unproduced pilots, TheWrap has learned.
The results will only be released, however, if the Black List receives enough votes for the survey and if there is enough interest. There aren’t confirmed plans to produce an annual TV list, according to Leonard, who spoke with TheWrap by phone, but the organization will see what the response is before moving forward.
“The annual film survey is something we do out of service to the industry,” Leonard said, adding that if there is a need for such a list, the Black List will consider it.
The organization has been accepting TV and webseries scripts since 2013, but this is the first time that the results will be collected in some form. Leonard added that it was time for the Black List to consider TV in a similar fashion as film.
“The shift in the industry is moving towards episodic content,” Leonard said. “It’s a writer driven medium more so than film is.”
Even if they don’t release an official survey, the Black List says it’ll still release the votes in some form.
The deadline to submit is Friday, March 31 at 6 p.m.
The Black List has been surveying film industry executives since 2005 on their favorite unproduced scripts. Since then, the annual Black List has been a staple in Hollywood.
We saw 73 scripts make the Black List in 2016, with a Madonna biopic called “Blond Ambition” and a recounting of the relationship between Monica Lewinsky and Linda Tripp called “Linda and Monica” coming in towards the top.
Past Black List scripts that have been adapted into films include Oscar-winning films like “Juno,” “The Social Network,” “Whiplash,” “The Wrestler,” and “Spotlight.”
Other Black List films that made the survey, but didn’t translate on the big screen, include “Passengers,” “The Book of Eli,” and “Seven Pounds.”