Hi Scott and Franklin - love the new site! Franklin, I'm attending AFF later this week and I see that you're judging the pitch contest. Can you tell me what you look for in a pitch? Obviously core story is the most important thing, but I've been having a hard time boiling my all the elements (character, setting, turning points, journeys, etc) down into less than 90 seconds. Would be grateful for any tips. Thanks!

Q for Franklin: What are the best examples of audience pleasers (big stars, big action, easily-understood plot) that tell human-scale stories (achievements within reach of average movie-goers)?

1. Have you thought about creating a Black List just for spec scripts (preferably from writers with little to no credits)? 2. How much under-the-table lobbying for votes actually goes on (e.g. agents and managers actively hustling their clients' scripts onto the list). 3. Have you thought about adding a commentary aspect to the Black List? Perhaps soliciting and publishing specific praise on the scripts by the people who voted for them (this could be anonymous)? Even something simple like: "The most original screenplay I read all year. Snappy dialogue. Love the twist ending."

Question for Franklin: After many years of the Black List, you must have a very strong sense of the kind of scripts that sell, and the kind that end up on the Black List. Is there a common factor to the scripts that make the Black List? Are they simply the best scripts out there, or is there a specific element or strength, over and above the strengths that any good script must have, that they all share? Thanks!

Two things I’m curious about, in case there’s an interesting answer: What stories aren’t getting told, or could bear a fresh telling? And, lots evolving in how we see and get movies, what do you see 10 years out? Thanks!

Okay... Not to be a "negative Ned" here but a large number of the Black List entries come from agencies with three little letters... But they are HUGE letters for "unknowns," that have pretty much no shot at breaking-in via those agencies. Yes... once in a blue moon someone will crack through the "wall" and get a read. Most will be ignored, or sent to legal. I've read, "if you write a great script... we will find you!" For an "unknown," I wonder if that's really true. I'm a GITS "veteran" that participates at times through posts like these -- sometimes I lurch and soak in the valuable information. But I'm not quite sure where to go from here. My goal is to write, sell a script... and write. If that doesn't happen -- making the Black List would be an honor. But to see these folks that made the list... with three MAJOR letters behind them? What's a guy to do?