The Black List 2009

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The annual Black List has been released. The list is compiled with a poll of over 300 development executives and high-level assistants, and contains a ranking of the hot screenplays making the rounds in Hollywoodland, which were written in, or are somehow uniquely associated with, 2009. Basically, the black list contains the hottest projects in Hollywood that you haven’t heard of yet. Note: the headline is a slightly inaccurate, because a few of these projects are in production now.

Started in 2005 by Franklin Leonard, a young executive at Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company Appian Way, he initially polled 90+ peers to send him their 10 favorite new unproduced screenplays to read over the holidays. The underground list was e-mailed around and quickly became a Hollywood phenomenon. To give you an idea, the top three entries of the 2005 list where Things We Lost in the Fire, Juno, and Lars and the Real Girl. However it should be noted that a warning appears at the beginning of the list:

“THE BLACK LIST is not a “best of” list. It is, at best, a “most liked” list.”

Download the 2009 Black List here

The success of the Black List has inspired a number of copycat lists, including the Brit List.

The 2009 Brit List

Good Luck Anthony Belcher by George Kay
Corsica 72 by Neil Purvis & Rob Wade
Now Is Good by Ol Parker
Salmon Fishing In The Yemen by Simon Beaufoy
Balance Of Power by Deborah Davis
Best Exotic Marigold Hotel by Deborah Moggach & Ol Parker
The Rapture by Daniel Hardy & Rupert Wyatt
Conviction by Bill Gallagher
Frank Sidebottom Jon Ronson & Peter Straughan
I Wish I Wish by Peter Souter
Love Minus Zero by Emma Forrest
A Million Miles An Hour by Brendan Grant
The Shimmering Essence Is Approaching Its Target aka Ponte’s Tower by Michael Thomas
A Bear Called Paddington by Hamish McColl & Paul King
The Beautiful Fantastic by Simon Aboud
Cuckoo by Francesca Brill & Luke Watson
Embassy by Jon Baird
Eurovision by Dan Mazer
Flawless Skin Of Ugly People by Jack Thorne
Grabbers by Kevin Lehane
Great Expectations by David Nicholls
The Haven by Mike Lesslie
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote by Terry Gilliam & Tony Grisoni
Now, Love by Virginia Gilbert
Rafta Rafta by Ayub Khan Din
Red Circle by Steve Knight
Rookwood by Steve Sarossy
Snatched by Lee Patterson
Trap For Cinderella by Iain Softley
Treasure Island by Nail Johnson Under
The Skin by Jonathan Glazer
The Wettest County by Nick Cave
What Was Lost by Jeremy Brock
Wingman by Mat Kirkby