Read the "Black List: 2020" Screenplays
The 16th edition of the "Black List" features 80 unproduced screenplays. Here are the first 38, indexed alphabetically, from A to L.
Looking for some weekend reads? I think we can help you with that.
Read and download all of the "Black List: 2020" screenplays and scripts. Maybe not all in one day, though.
Four Your Consideration, we have the first 40 scripts listed and indexed alphabetically for quick access. From Scott Conroy's' "1MDB", to Alex Russell's thriller, "Lurker", and everything in between.
If you're a young writer looking for study guides, you've found the right place. These "Black List: 2020" scripts were chosen by 375 film-industry executives.
What is "Black List" you ask? To find out how it all works, scroll down a little bit.
Unsure about exactly what is the "Black List"? Read on.
Consider the name ironic. This isn't a list of scripts written by those who are unwelcome in the industry. Rather, the "Black List" is a compilation of "most liked" unproduced screenplays from a particular year. Screenwriters, young and old, repped or voiceless, submit their works for consideration.
Annually, since 2005, film industry executives read hundreds of screenplays and choose which ones are their favorite. Referred to as a "mention", favored scripts with the most mentions are featured on, in this regard, the "Black List: 2020".
Some screenplays get optioned by studios and become movies. Past picks include "The King's Speech", "Free Guy" and "Promising Young Woman."
Written by: Scott Conroy
Mentions: 10
The incredible true story of the multi-billion dollar Malaysian government corruption scandal which led to the conviction of Prime Minister Najib Razak and almost $5 billion in settlements paid out by Goldman Sachs.
Written by: Seth Reiss
Mentions: 14
After both attending the same wedding solo, David and Sarah embark on a big, bold, beautiful journey with a little help from their 1996 Passat GPS and a little bit of magic for the road trip of their lives.
Written by: Terry Huang
Mentions: 9
Journalists race to expose how Boeing knowingly misled regulators, pilots, and airlines to cover up a problematic flight software system on the 737 MAX, leading to two major airplane crashes and the deaths of 346 people. Based on real events.
Written by: SJ Inwards
Mentions: 10
Annalise is a girl who quite literally "sees the world differently" than everyone else and finds herself a lonely, misunderstood outcast who keeps her "cursed sight" a secret as a consequence. But everything changes when Annalise meets her new neighbor, Peter Song -- a fellow teenager whom everyone else sees as a disfigured boy, but whom Annalise sees entirely differently.
Written by: Jason Markarian
Mentions: 7
Set against the backdrop of an unprecedented crime wave that gripped New York City in the 80s, a hyper-stylized action thriller about a cop’s daughter who, after her father clings to life following an assassination attempt, goes on a rampage to unearth her father’s assassin and weed out deep-rooted corruption in the NYPD.
Written by: Silpa Kovvali
Mentions: 11
Based on an unbelievable story, BIKRAM chronicles the rise and fall of celebrity yoga guru Bikram Choudhury through the eyes of his young wife Rajashree, who engineers his ascent to fame and fortune, then fights to salvage their empire when his crimes bring it crumbling to the ground.
Written by: Colin Bannon
Mentions: 16
When Tabitha, a struggling foster kid, wins a contest to become part of the BIRDIES, a popular daily YouTube channel featuring the radiant and enigmatic Mama Bird and her diverse brood of adopted children, she soon learns that things get dark when the cameras turn off.
Written by: Aaron Katz
Mentions: 10
Based on the New Yorker article by Nathan Heller. A true-crime thriller based on the story of two brilliant college lovers convicted of a brutal slaying. An obsessed detective investigates the true motives that led to a double homicide, and the decades of repercussions that follow.
Written by: Crosby Selander
Mentions: 22 (6th overall in 2020)
When a woman on an interstellar voyage falls in love with someone during a cryosleep simulation, she attempts to discern whether the man is a real passenger on the ship or just a figment of her imagination.
Written by: Evan Twohy
Mentions: 21 (7th overall in 2020)
Two newlyweds traverse a fictional country on their honeymoon but slowly realize they’re yearning to take separate journeys.
Written by: MacMillan Hedges
Mentions: 9
A small percentage of the population is stuck in a time loop and have had to create a society that functions within the same day, repeated day in and day out. One man struggles to find himself for the first time in ages amidst a society clinging to a sense of normalcy.
Written by: Shea Mayo
Mentions: 10
Summer on a secluded campus takes a dark turn for three college girls when a supernaturally sexy mystery man begins haunting their dreams.
Written by: Austin Everett
Mentions: 9
A former music therapist is recruited to use a mysterious machine to dive into the memories of a serial killer on death row.
Written by: Cat Vasko
Mentions: 14
In the 1950’s, Joseph McCarthy and his right hand man Roy Cohn sit at the height of their influence, casting aside democratic norms unchecked - until the Army’s lowest-level lawyer, John G. Adams, stumbles upon the shocking truth behind their power grab, and makes it his mission to reveal this to the public.
Written by: Alex Convery
Mentions: 9
The true story of the meteoric rise (and subsequent fall) of Marvel Comics and the star-crossed creators behind the panel: Stan Lee & Jack Kirby.
Written by: Brooks McLaren, DJ Cotrona
Mentions: 8
A mercenary takes on the job of tracking down a target on a plane but must protect her when they’re surrounded by people trying to kill both of them.
Written by: Jeff Stockwell
Mentions: 13
Based on the eponymous novel by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. A young girl in an intimidating new school finally faces seemingly insurmountable obstacles in her learning and in her social life when she crosses paths with an energetic-but-inexperienced substitute teacher.
Written by: Jared Rosenberg
Mentions: 9
An Air Marshal transporting a fugitive across the Alaskan wilderness via a small plane finds herself trapped when she suspects their pilot is not who he says he is.
Written by: Emma Dudley
Mentions: 19 (9th overall in 2020)
Twenty-four-year-old, quiet, self-conscious Hazel has struggled with her sexuality ever since her conservative dad walked in on her kissing a girl at a middle school sleepover and flipped his absolute shit. On the way back to her hometown for her dad’s wedding, Hazel gets drunk and makes out with an older, attractive female flight attendant. She’s thrilled to have moved past her hang-ups and had some fun until she arrives home and realizes that the flight attendant is her dad’s fiance.
Written by: Ariel Sayegh
Mentions: 7
A chronicle of the infamous Lindsay Lohan/Paris Hilton feud of 2004-2006 over who would be Britney Spears’ best friend.
Written by: Victoria Bata
Mentions: 7
After spending several years recovering from a devastating car crash that pulled her out of the spotlight, Gabi, a famous pop star, gets ready to perform again for the first time. But with the pressure mounting and her memory failing her, the young woman begins to doubt who she really is -- and if Gabi really survived the crash at all.
Written by: John Sonntag, Thomas Sonntag
Mentions: 7
After a global pandemic causes NASA to send a crew of astronauts into deep space to find another habitable planet, the crew is unexpectedly awoken from hypersleep and must survive a mysterious new threat that comes from the future generations they sought to save, and the one place they never expected - Earth.
Written by: Eric Gross
Mentions: 7
Saunders, a headstrong Bronx teenager, is caught between his love of Litefeet subway dancing and his strict father’s insistence on becoming an engineer. After he finagles his way onto a ragtag Litefeet crew, he’s exposed to an electrifying new world as well as a new crush. Now he has to decide who and what he’s willing to sacrifice in order to compete in the biggest dance competition of the year: Kingdome.
Written by: Tricia Lee
Mentions: 7
A feisty transgender teen helps a church-going, undocumented Asian woman escape deportation, and they form an unlikely friendship that helps them heal the rifts in their own families.
Written by: Abigail Briley Bean
Mentions: 12
Based on the story of Anna Nicole Smith, a shrewd young mother rises out of a small Texas town to become a famous Playboy centerfold, but when she falls in love with an eighty-nine-year-old billionaire, his son and the entire world believe she’s nothing but a gold digger.
Written by: Greg Navarro
Mentions: 7
Based on the incredible true story of serial killer Paul John Knowles and the week he spent with British journalist Sandy Fawkes in the midst of a murderous killing spree.
Written by: Sophie Dawson
Mentions: 29 (1st overall in 2020)
A high-functioning cannibal selects his victims based on their Instagram popularity, but finds his habits shaken by a man who wants to be eaten.
Written by: Ethan Dawes
Mentions: 8
Mickey Bradley, a wildly talented minor league baseball player in his early twenties who returns home to Los Angeles after an injury and coaches a little league team full of misfits who remind him why he fell in love with baseball in the first place. And there's a sweet romance in there too.
Written by: Noga Pnueli
Mentions: 9
A depressed, progressive woman stuck in a conservative small Texas town starts micro-dosing the entire town with marijuana to make them all get along.
Written by: Lauren Meyering
Mentions: 9
Living under the full time care of her cancer-stricken mother, a twenty-six-year-old, socially awkward, horse-obsessed woman attempts to prove her independence by winning a hobbyhorse competition.
Written by: Nick Shafir
Mentions: 7
At any given moment in time there are roughly six astronauts living on the International Space Station (ISS). The station itself is divided into two segments one half Russian, one half American. When a world war event occurs on Earth, America and Russia find themselves on opposing sides. As such, both nations secretly contact their astronauts aboard the ISS and give them instructions to take control of the station by any means necessary. The six astronauts must each secretly choose between their friendships with each other and their allegiance to their country.
Written by: Alex Russell
Mentions: 11
An obsessed fan maneuvers his way into the inner circle of his hip hop idol and will stop at nothing to stay in.
