The 9th edition of "The Black List" features 72 screenplays. Here are the first 37, indexed alphabetically, from A to N.
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Read and download all of the "Black List: 2013" screenplays. We have 72 of the 72 selected scripts from the 9th edition.
Four Your Consideration, we have the first 37 scripts listed and indexed alphabetically, from A through N, for quick access. From Stephany Folsom's "1969: A Space Odyssey of How Kubrick Learned to Stop Worrying and Land on the Moon", to Leo Sardarian's "Nicholas", and everything in between.
If you're a young writer looking for study guides, you've found the right place. These "Black List: 2013" scripts were chosen by more than 250 film-industry executives.
What is "The 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 certain year. Screenwriters, young and old, repped or voiceless, submit their works for evaluation and possible 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: 2013".
Some screenplays get optioned by studios and become movies. Past picks include: "Superbad", and "Dirty Grandpa."
Written by: Stephany Folsom
Mentions: 13
With NASA's Apollo program in trouble and the Soviets threatening nuclear war, a female PR operative conspires with NASA’s Public Affairs Office to stage a fake moon landing in case Armstrong and Aldren fail, the goal being to generate public excitement that will aid the U.S. in winning the Cold War. But the op is faced with the biggest challenge of all: Filming the fake lunar landing with temperamental Stanley Kubrick.
Written by: Alexis C. Jolly
Mentions: 12
Set in 1950s Manhattan, Fred Rogers journeys from a naïve young man working for NBC to the host of the beloved children’s PBS show, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.
Written by: Zach Dean
Mentions: 19
With the hope of starting over, a reformed criminal with an ultra-violent past returns home, but when he finds his own family leading his teenaged son down the same path of destruction, he will stop at nothing to save his child.
Written by: Annie Neal
Mentions: 6
An unhappily married woman and her best friend go on a road trip to Las Vegas to compete in the Miss Married America competition.
Written by: Declan O'Dwyer
Mentions: 14
After his brother is found brutally murdered, a man hellbent on revenge returns to his decrepit Irish fishing village home armed only with a mysterious list of names his brother left behind.
Written by: Doug Simon
Mentions: 15
After a young teenage girl is murdered, her stepfather falls back on his dark and violent past to find her killer.
Written by: Justin Kremer
Mentions: 6
A desperate, attention hungry journalist concocts a story that ironically proves to be true and finds himself engulfed in a dangerous underworld of murder and mayhem.
Written by: Ian Shorr
Mentions: 8
A young man’s life is turned upside down when he mysteriously begins to receive metallic capsules containing messages from his future self.
Written by: Ryan Belenzon | Jeffrey Gelber
Mentions: 8
What if the world woke up tomorrow to scientific proof of the afterlife?
Written by: Max Hurwitz
Mentions: 9
In exchange for a lighter prison sentence, a young hacker goes undercover for the FBI in a sting operation to find and steal a super computer virus with the help of a team of unsuspecting hackers.
Written by: Shea Mirzai | Evan Mirzai
Mentions: 9
While on a road trip to Mexico, two best friends are forced to enter a thousand mile death race with no rules.
Written by: Adam Barker
Mentions: 7
After his villainous father-in-law kidnaps his daughters, SOL, a tough-as-nails mountain man, travels across the frigid Appalachian mountains seeking vengeance.
Written by: Nicole Riegel
Mentions: 16
A 15-year-old boy discovers that his kidnapped older brother has been living in a hidden, meth-producing compound, and infiltrates the camp in hopes of helping his brother escape.
Written by: Mikki Daughtry | Tobias Iaconis
Mentions: 8
After his girlfriend dies in a car accident, a man finds his true soulmate, only to wake from a coma and learn his perfect life was just a dream -- one he is determined to make real.
Written by: Jon Boyer
Mentions: 6
After being diagnosed with dementia, a retired 50-something stunt motorcyclist sets out to perform one last jump.
Written by: Simon Stephenson
Mentions: 39 (3rd overall in 2013)
A forty-something pediatric allergist, who specializes in the hazelnut and is facing a divorce, learns lessons in living from a wise-beyond-her-years terminally ill 15 year old patient when she crashes his weekend trip to a conference in San Francisco.
Written by: Rory Haines | Sohrab Noshirvani
Mentions: 6
A tragic accident in a coastal English town sets off a chain of violence when a malevolent assassin attempts to punish all involved, including a dirty cop who is intent on covering up the truth.
Written by: Jake Morse | Scott Wolman
Mentions: 8
An R-rated talking car from the 80s is brought back into service and teamed up with the son of his former partner, a befuddled cop looking to earn his stripes.
Written by: Bo Burnham
Mentions: 14
Two high school misfits become costumed vigilantes and take out their frustrations on the students who have bullied them throughout high school.
Written by: David Weil
Mentions: 8
A young man, who is inadvertently rescued after living ten years in the basement of the child predator who abducted him, struggles to reunite with his family, while the detective in charge of his case investigates the link between his discovery and the recent disappearance of another local boy.
Written by: Andrew Sodrosk
Mentions: 46 (1st overall in 2013)
When a traditional Midwestern woman suspects her husband of infidelity, an amateur investigation unravels.
Written by: Noah Harpster | Micah Fitzerman-Blue
Mentions: 10
Based on Tim Madigan’s autobiographical novel of the same name. A journalist looking for a story about television’s role in the Columbine tragedy interviews TV’s Mr. Rogers and, as a friendship develops between the two, he finds himself confronting his own issues at home.
Written by: Zak Olkewicz
Mentions: 12
When a female book editor visits the home of a horror writer so he can complete his novel, she finds that all of his creations are holding him hostage.
Written by: Josh Simon (as Sam Cohen)
Mentions: 8
After the death of Princess Diana, a reluctant investigator is hired to ascertain whether her death was premeditated. And in the process, he begins to uncover a conspiracy that compromises his own safety.
Written by: Leo Nichols
Mentions: 6
Two lovable losers run into trouble after they start a service cleaning up the stuff you don’t want your loved ones to find once you die.
Written by: Cory M. Miller
Mentions: 8
MACBETH meets THE DEPARTED in this modern retelling of Shakespeare's play, focusing on the tragic rise and fall of NYPD Officer Sean Stewart, a heroic narcotics detective pushed to the dark side of police corruption by his scheming wife and a well-timed prophecy.
Written by: Zach Frankel
Mentions: 7
A 14-year-old boy with terminal cancer has one last wish - to lose his virginity - and convinces his reluctant football star Make-A-Wish partner to help him score.
Written by: Neville Kiser
Mentions: 7
Based on true events, the story centers on Oscar Wilde who goes from renowned playwright to losing everything personally & professionally.
Written by: Elijah Bynum
Mentions: 6
In the middle of major financial problems, a down on his luck southerner’s life begins to unravel when he accidentally runs over and kills a runaway girl.
Written by: Leo Sardarian
Mentions: 7
With the Roman empire on the brink of collapse, a 4th century bishop takes up arms to lead the armies of Constantine the Great into battle against the ruthless emperor, changing the face of Rome and begetting one of the greatest legends in history.
