The 16th edition of the "Black List" features 80 unproduced screenplays. Here are another 11, indexed from M to O.
You can read and download the "Black List: 2020" screenplays and scripts right here, right now.
They're cataloged and indexed alphabetically for quick access. For Your Consideration, the next batch of 11 scripts. Including Elijah Bynum's "Magazine Dreams," Tara Cavanagh's "Occupied," 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 industry executives.
What is the "Black List" you ask? It may not be exactly what you'd expect. Discover more, below.
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" (or a vote), favored scripts with the most mentions are featured on, in this regard, the "Black List: 2020." And, you may have already noticed that a great number of screenplays featured on The List have since been produced.
Past picks include "Charlie Bartlett," and "Altered Carbon."
Magazine Dreams
Written by: Elijah Bynum
Mentions: 9
A Black amateur bodybuilder struggles to find human connection in this exploration of celebrity and violence.
The Man in the Yard
Written by: Sam Stefanak
Mentions: 14
When a dangerous stranger shows up at her front door, a depressed widow must confront her own past in order to protect her two children.
Margot
Written by: Emily Adams
Mentions: 7
Annie Mills has always known Margot Ellison to be two things: her best friend and a devout Mormon. But as high school graduation nears and Margot starts to crave change, the girls must grapple with the fear that growing up might require growing alone.
May December
Written by: Samy Burch
Mentions: 10
Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, a married couple buckles under the pressure when an actress arrives to do research for a film about their past.
Mouse
Written by: Kelly O'Sullivan
Mentions: 9
When seventeen-year old Minnie’s best friend Callie is killed in an accident, she struggles to find an identity of her own and forms a complicated friendship with Callie’s grieving mother.
Murder in the White House
Written by: Jonathan Stokes
Mentions: 9
The President is murdered during a private dinner, and Secret Service agent Mia Pine has until morning to discover which guest is the killer before a peace agreement fails and leads to war.
My Dear You
Written by: Meghan Kennedy
Mentions: 11
Based on a short story by Rachel Khong. A love story set in the afterlife about our struggle to let go of the past, even when our present is heaven... literally. Tess keeps searching for the love of her life without realizing he’s right there next to her the whole time, helping her look.
Nanny (2022)
Written by: Nikyata Jusu
Mentions: 9
Aisha is an undocumented nanny caring for a privileged child. As she prepares for the arrival of her only son, who she left behind in her native country, a violent supernatural presence invades her reality, jeopardizing the American Dream she’s carefully pieced together. IMDb
Neither Confirm Nor Deny
Written by: Dave Collard
Mentions: 26 (3rd overall in 2020)
An adaptation of David Sharp’s book The CIA’s Greatest Covert Operation that chronicles the clandestine CIA operation that risked igniting WWIII by recovering a nuclear-armed Soviet Sub, the K-129, that sunk to the bottom of the ocean in 1968.
The Neutral Corner
Written by: Justin Piasecki
Mentions: 13
A Nevada court judge who moonlights reffing high-profile boxing matches must face his demons when he’s assigned to the Olympic fight of an ex-con he’d previously sentenced for murder.
Occupied
Written by: Tara Cavanagh
Mentions: 11
When a tactless Nordstrom’s store manager denies two trans women access to the bathroom, Fran and Althea seek restitution and occupy the ladies room in protest.
