Thank you for this opportunity Franklin. You've answered all of my questions. When you consider all the paid services out there (for polished specs) this is hands down the best bang for your buck.

This answers most of my questions, but one big one remains: how many industry pros will use this service to look for scripts? Good luck with it, Franklin. Thanks for posting this update.

With the 25$ membership, are we allowed to categorize our script according to genre or anything for that matter? If not, isn't the service likely to be overloaded and our script will disappear beneath the constant uploads?

While this business certainly sounds leaps and bounds better than the scams to which it's been compared, the central problem still seems to be the "readers". One thing that stuck out in the well-written explanation above: "expected to read the whole script" (that this would be in question speaks more about Hollywood than the Black List's new venture). Nabokov says that we don't read, we only reread. That is to say the process of a first read is only to put together the pieces of the story. In a second or third read, we see see beneath the surface. The problem won't be scoring the poor scripts (those in, say, the 1-5 range). If the readers have Hemingway's BS detector, those will be easily identified and subsequently ignored, the only question left whether the process proves helpful to a writer trying to improve or looking for an excuse to do something more reasonable with their life. The problem will be those on the verge, those writers who can put together a story, write well, and engage their readers at most levels. My concern would be that the scoring in the upper half will be more subject to taste, the reader's mood, and the manner in which screenwriting commandments can snafu us into awkward judgments - especially in a first read where an evaluation of strong material (even by the strongest of readers) can be a right brain/left brain broil in making emotional and logical connections. Sounds like high-rated scripts might generate 2nd opinions, but I'd throw out that 2nd reads by strong readers are at least as valuable. What any good material needs is an advocate. I would say an advocate is not born by having an opinion but a critical stance, something born of sustained engagement with the material. Overall, seems like a good proposition, even if it doesn't create a utopia of starving artists rising up.

Scott, through The Quest initiative you've stressed your readers to really think about whether their idea can be a movie or not, before deciding to spend several months writing it. When I hear about writers selling pitches to studios or production companies, I think, "Shit, if only I could pitch some of my ideas to see if people are willing to bite, before spending all that time writing a script." It's hard to get a screenplay sold if you're outside of Hollywood, and I imagine it's impossible to sell a pitch. But wouldn't it be great if new writers, outside of Hollywood had the opportunity to pitch their ideas? That way they could make some money, so that they could afford to spend months working on a script. This new initiative by Franklin is fantastic. It allows outsiders to get their scripts in front of industry professionals. I wonder if there is anyway for this to morph into being able to get a pitch in front of these industry professionals. I would love to see that happen.

Franklin/Scott, Is there a section for TV Pilots or is it currently limited to screenplays? Thanks.

@Jake Mosberg "My concern would be that the scoring in the upper half will be more subject to taste, the reader’s mood, and the manner in which screenwriting commandments can snafu us into awkward judgments – especially in a first read where an evaluation of strong material (even by the strongest of readers) can be a right brain/left brain broil in making emotional and logical connections." I suppose one could argue that the same thing could happen if a writer sends a script to a production company and has to get past a gatekeeper reader. The decision will rest with that person alone and will also be dependent on their mood, taste etc. But I'm not entirely sure about the concept yet. It's quite costly, especially if you get no bites after the first month and you want to keep your script listed in the off-chance that it simply hasn't been seen among the crowd yet. And a two tier system has already been established in terms of paying only $25 to list your script versus $75 to list and have an evaluation that contributes to the algorithm that determines the listings. I'm not saying the idea is a bad one, far from it. But it's certainly not an arena for writers just starting out and who are finding their feet in terms of craft, style and voice. IMHO, this is really for writers who have worked hard to develop their work and are now at the point where the quality of their writing will generate serious interest. If one thinks one is at that point, then I think it could be a valuable resource and may open otherwise locked doors.

[...] The What, How, and Why of the Black List: The Long Answer by Franklin Leonard [...]

Yeah, I'm in the same boat. I hope television pilots will be considered. The same price would still seem fair to me.

Just sent a note to Franklin who has just arrived in Austin for the film festival. He promises to get back with answers to these questions soon.

[...] an exciting initiative, it also demands a high level of scrutiny. To that end, Leonard has penned a lengthy piece explaining his vision and its mechanics, and he spoke with me recently about the potential problems and paradigm shifts that might come [...]

[...] an exciting initiative, it also demands a high level of scrutiny. To that end, Leonard has penned a lengthy piece explaining his vision and its mechanics, and he spoke with me recently about the potential problems and paradigm shifts that might come [...]