EXCLUSIVE: As they should, the Black List will be celebrating its 20th anniversary with some of Hollywood’s most acclaimed artists and a cinema institution next year.
Leaning into to two decades of shining a spotlight on Tinseltown’s most liked unproduced screenplays, the Franklin Leonard-founded Black List has teamed up with American Cinematheque for a screening series to kick off next month. Going into the Black List crates, a heavy hitting double bill of Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn and Promising Young Woman and Ava DuVernay’s January 19 released Origin and her 2014 picture Selma are the first films in the series.
Fennell and DuVernay’s films will be screening on January 12 and January 15 respectively, Deadline has learned.
With all the screenings in the 20th anniversary series drawing from past Black List participants and projects, the first films are set to be shown at Santa Monica’s Aero Theater with Leonard moderating the chat with filmmakers. With more screenings at the now Netflix-owned Egyptian in Hollywood and the Los Feliz 3 in (yep, you guessed it) Loz Feliz to be unveiled soon, all tickets to all the screenings are free. They will be available on the American Cinematheque website starting today. So, snap ‘em up!
“It’s honestly a little hard to believe that the 2024 Black List will be the twentieth,” Leonard told Deadline today.
“A lot has changed about the film industry since 2005, but a few things remain the same and will remain true for the foreseeable future: 1. The best business plan for a movie is a great screenplay. 2. The best way to enjoy a great movie is in a theater with an audience,” he added. “It’s one of the many reasons I’m proud to be a board member of the American Cinematheque, and it’s why it’s only natural that we’d celebrate the extraordinary movies birthed from annual Black List scripts by sharing them again with audiences, in theaters, along with the American Cinematheque. My only real regret is that my former boss and American Cinematheque founder Sydney Pollack isn’t here to see it.”
Since the list’s founding in 2005, more than 440 of its selected screenplays have been produced, grossing over $30 billion in box office worldwide. Black List pics have won 54 Academy Awards from 267 nominations, including four of the last 12 Best Picture Oscars and 11 of the last 28 Best Screenplay Oscars. Notable titles previously named in the industry survey include Slumdog Millionaire, Argo, The King’s Speech, Spotlight, Free Guy, Queen & Slim, I, Tonya, All the Money in the World, Bird Box, The Post and Roman J. Israel, Esq.
BTW – Fennell’s 2021 Oscar Beat Original Screenplay winner Promising Young Woman was among the 2018 Black List’s highlights. Oscar nominee and Emmy winner DuVernay’s Selma script was in the Black List’s class of 2007.
Last week, the Black List revealed the 76 feature screenplays by 80 writers that made up its 2023 offerings. On December 7, the ever expanding Black List announced the 10 scripts from the Peach State that make up the inaugural Georgia List. Oh, and Fennell’s Saltburn is up for the Critics Choice Best Picture award.
A birthday bonanza by any estimation.