Exclusive: The Love List has released its inaugural list highlighting the best 14 unproduced romance-centered screenplays and pilots of the year just in time for Valentine’s Day.
The list was read and curated by a group of anonymous readers, in addition to writer Lindsay Grossman and Olive Bridge TV exec Madison Jones, who launched the Love List last month.
“We were blown away by the response we got, especially in the Love List’s first year,” Jones told Deadline. “We were really encouraged by the quality of submissions sent our way. And we’re excited we’re able to highlight a lot of up-and-coming writers too.”
Grossman added, “Our hope is that these projects will be read by the industry at large and that they will ultimately be sold and produced. Coming out of a pandemic, and then a double-strike, we know there’s a need for stories that inspire and touch our hearts,...
The list was read and curated by a group of anonymous readers, in addition to writer Lindsay Grossman and Olive Bridge TV exec Madison Jones, who launched the Love List last month.
“We were blown away by the response we got, especially in the Love List’s first year,” Jones told Deadline. “We were really encouraged by the quality of submissions sent our way. And we’re excited we’re able to highlight a lot of up-and-coming writers too.”
Grossman added, “Our hope is that these projects will be read by the industry at large and that they will ultimately be sold and produced. Coming out of a pandemic, and then a double-strike, we know there’s a need for stories that inspire and touch our hearts,...
- 2/14/2024
- by Rosy Cordero
- Deadline Film + TV
Rounding up the best unproduced screenplays in Hollywood, as voted on by hundreds of film executives, The Black List has been a strong resource to clue one in on projects to potentially anticipate, but first, to kickstart Hollywood on bringing them to screen. Today we have this year’s edition, as voted on by more than 375 film executives.
Topping the 2023 edition is Travis Braun’s Bad Boy, which follows a rescue dog who suspects his loving new owner is a serial killer. Other scripts include The Great Pretender, a drama which imagines the kidnapping of Tom Hanks; the Super Bowl-set sniper drama The Nest; the Area 51 thriller 10/24/02; a Hans Christian Andersen meets Charles Dickens fantasy; plus films about Patsy Cline, Didier Drogba, Arthur Miller and Elia Kazan, Ftx’s downfall, and more.
See the list below via Deadline (and Pdf here), ranked from top to bottom by number of votes.
Topping the 2023 edition is Travis Braun’s Bad Boy, which follows a rescue dog who suspects his loving new owner is a serial killer. Other scripts include The Great Pretender, a drama which imagines the kidnapping of Tom Hanks; the Super Bowl-set sniper drama The Nest; the Area 51 thriller 10/24/02; a Hans Christian Andersen meets Charles Dickens fantasy; plus films about Patsy Cline, Didier Drogba, Arthur Miller and Elia Kazan, Ftx’s downfall, and more.
See the list below via Deadline (and Pdf here), ranked from top to bottom by number of votes.
- 12/11/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
At the close of a particularly fraught year for Hollywood screenwriters, Monday saw the release of the annual Black List – a ranking of the top unproduced scripts in show business.
Voted on by nearly 400 creative executives, this year’s favorite project that has yet to receive a greenlight is “Bad Boy” by Travis Braun, described simply as the tale of a rescue dog who suspects his loving new owner is a serial killer. C2 Motion Picture Group is financing the project and meeting with potential distribution partners imminently.
The list includes 76 titles and covers wide narrative ground. Kirill Baru and Eric Zimmerman’s “The Great Pretender” is the story of America’s sweetheart Tom Hanks getting kidnapped, and the doppelgänger who must step in to save him. Hunter Toro’s “Boy Falls From Sky” tells of an anxious playwright whose world is turned upside down by lies and bone-crushing accidents...
Voted on by nearly 400 creative executives, this year’s favorite project that has yet to receive a greenlight is “Bad Boy” by Travis Braun, described simply as the tale of a rescue dog who suspects his loving new owner is a serial killer. C2 Motion Picture Group is financing the project and meeting with potential distribution partners imminently.
The list includes 76 titles and covers wide narrative ground. Kirill Baru and Eric Zimmerman’s “The Great Pretender” is the story of America’s sweetheart Tom Hanks getting kidnapped, and the doppelgänger who must step in to save him. Hunter Toro’s “Boy Falls From Sky” tells of an anxious playwright whose world is turned upside down by lies and bone-crushing accidents...
- 12/11/2023
- by Matt Donnelly
- Variety Film + TV
The Black List has revealed its 2023 list of best unproduced screenplays, with scripts that include a biopic of country singer Patsy Cline, the rise and fall of Sam Bankman-Fried crypto empire Ftx, and an action-comedy about Tom Hanks and his doppelganger.
Topping this year’s list is a feature script from Travis Braun titled Bad Boy, with a logline that reads: “A rescue dog suspects his loving new owner is a serial killer.”
Elsewhere on the list is a screenplay about the Broadway playwright behind notorious disaster Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark from writer Hunter Toro, and a script focused on soccer star Didier Drogba from Jackson Kellard.
“This year, the industry was defined by a debate about the value of writers within it, and I think it’s inevitable that this year’s Black List means more than it has in the past,” said Black List founder and CEO Franklin Leonard.
Topping this year’s list is a feature script from Travis Braun titled Bad Boy, with a logline that reads: “A rescue dog suspects his loving new owner is a serial killer.”
Elsewhere on the list is a screenplay about the Broadway playwright behind notorious disaster Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark from writer Hunter Toro, and a script focused on soccer star Didier Drogba from Jackson Kellard.
“This year, the industry was defined by a debate about the value of writers within it, and I think it’s inevitable that this year’s Black List means more than it has in the past,” said Black List founder and CEO Franklin Leonard.
- 12/11/2023
- by Mia Galuppo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Travis Braun’s screenplay Bad Boy, which follows a rescue dog who suspects that his loving new owner is a serial killer, topped the 2023 Black List today. The 19th edition, which was selected by more than 375 film executives, counts 76 feature screenplays by 80 writers.
Second place went to Justin Piasecki’s Stakehorse which follows a racetrack veterinarian who runs an off-the-books ER for criminals, and finds his practice and life in jeopardy when he’s recruited for his patient’s heist.
“This year, the industry was defined by a debate about the value of writers within it, and I think it’s inevitable that this year’s Black List means more than it has in the past,” said its founder Franklin Leonard. “I’ve been saying that writing is the lifeblood of the industry for almost twenty years now, and I’ll continue saying it until the industry actually starts acting like it.
Second place went to Justin Piasecki’s Stakehorse which follows a racetrack veterinarian who runs an off-the-books ER for criminals, and finds his practice and life in jeopardy when he’s recruited for his patient’s heist.
“This year, the industry was defined by a debate about the value of writers within it, and I think it’s inevitable that this year’s Black List means more than it has in the past,” said its founder Franklin Leonard. “I’ve been saying that writing is the lifeblood of the industry for almost twenty years now, and I’ll continue saying it until the industry actually starts acting like it.
- 12/11/2023
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
In a notable executive move, Paradigm Talent Agency is elevating fourteen agents to partner, the firm’s leaders told staff on Monday. The promotions bring the total number of partners to 15 at the company, which has about 100 employees.
Those partners, who’ll receive equity in the Sam Gores-founded agency, are as follows: Jim Dempsey (Talent), Bill Douglass (Literary Content), Sarah Fargo (Talent), Jennifer Good (Literary Content), Brett Hansen (Unscripted and Literary Content), Jennifer Millar (Talent), Jonathan Mills (Theatre and Content), Stephanie Ramsey (Talent), Mark Ross (Literary Content), Chris Schmidt (Talent), Zac Simmons (Literary Content), Jack Tantleff (Theatre and Content), Hannah Tenenbaum (Brand Partnerships), and Steve Wohl (Unscripted and International Content).
Gores stated of the promotions, “We have assembled an extraordinary group of creative, smart, experienced and energetic colleagues who will help guide Paradigm into the future.”
Paradigm Talent Agency, with offices in Los Angeles and New York, is the...
Those partners, who’ll receive equity in the Sam Gores-founded agency, are as follows: Jim Dempsey (Talent), Bill Douglass (Literary Content), Sarah Fargo (Talent), Jennifer Good (Literary Content), Brett Hansen (Unscripted and Literary Content), Jennifer Millar (Talent), Jonathan Mills (Theatre and Content), Stephanie Ramsey (Talent), Mark Ross (Literary Content), Chris Schmidt (Talent), Zac Simmons (Literary Content), Jack Tantleff (Theatre and Content), Hannah Tenenbaum (Brand Partnerships), and Steve Wohl (Unscripted and International Content).
Gores stated of the promotions, “We have assembled an extraordinary group of creative, smart, experienced and energetic colleagues who will help guide Paradigm into the future.”
Paradigm Talent Agency, with offices in Los Angeles and New York, is the...
- 4/24/2023
- by Erik Hayden
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Paradigm Talent Agency has named 14 new partners as the firm seeks to rebuild its stature in Hollywood.
Paradigm went through transformative struggles during the pandemic period that led to the company selling off its lucrative music and touring division to Casey Wasserman’s enterprise. In addition to cleaving off its music arm, the firm lost numerous agents and clients to layoffs and defections.
Monday’s promotions make it clear that the new-model Paradigm will focus on film, TV, publishing and theater, representing actors, writers, directors and producers as well as packaging TV series and movie properties. Last September the company also launched Paradigm Media Entertainment, a division to represent local and national news anchors, meteorologists, sportscasters, producers and other news and host talent. Paradigm kickstarted its way into the TV news biz with the acquisition of three speciality agencies: Napoli Management Group, Two Twelve Management and 3 Kings Entertainment.
The...
Paradigm went through transformative struggles during the pandemic period that led to the company selling off its lucrative music and touring division to Casey Wasserman’s enterprise. In addition to cleaving off its music arm, the firm lost numerous agents and clients to layoffs and defections.
Monday’s promotions make it clear that the new-model Paradigm will focus on film, TV, publishing and theater, representing actors, writers, directors and producers as well as packaging TV series and movie properties. Last September the company also launched Paradigm Media Entertainment, a division to represent local and national news anchors, meteorologists, sportscasters, producers and other news and host talent. Paradigm kickstarted its way into the TV news biz with the acquisition of three speciality agencies: Napoli Management Group, Two Twelve Management and 3 Kings Entertainment.
The...
- 4/24/2023
- by William Earl
- Variety Film + TV
Paradigm has elevated 14 agents to partners, establishing the largest new leadership group in the talent agency’s more than 35-year history. The new partners, who represent all sectors of one of the entertainment industry’s most significant independent agencies, will join managing partner Andrew Ruf as equity partners of the company.
“We have assembled an extraordinary group of creative, smart, experienced and energetic colleagues who will help guide Paradigm into the future,” founder and executive chairman Sam Gores said Monday after the promotions were announced during a staff meeting. “It gives me great pleasure to share a stake in the company with these leaders.”
The newly promoted partners are Jim Dempsey (Talent), Bill Douglass (Literary Content), Sarah Fargo (Talent), Jennifer Good (Literary Content), Brett Hansen (Unscripted and Literary Content), Jennifer Millar (Talent), Jonathan Mills (Theatre and Content), Stephanie Ramsey (Talent), Mark Ross (Literary Content), Chris Schmidt (Talent), Zac Simmons (Literary...
“We have assembled an extraordinary group of creative, smart, experienced and energetic colleagues who will help guide Paradigm into the future,” founder and executive chairman Sam Gores said Monday after the promotions were announced during a staff meeting. “It gives me great pleasure to share a stake in the company with these leaders.”
The newly promoted partners are Jim Dempsey (Talent), Bill Douglass (Literary Content), Sarah Fargo (Talent), Jennifer Good (Literary Content), Brett Hansen (Unscripted and Literary Content), Jennifer Millar (Talent), Jonathan Mills (Theatre and Content), Stephanie Ramsey (Talent), Mark Ross (Literary Content), Chris Schmidt (Talent), Zac Simmons (Literary...
- 4/24/2023
- by Justin Kroll
- Deadline Film + TV
Boy bands are powerful. They've stood the test of time, staying endlessly relevant and fascinating, and have dominated pop culture discourse no matter the decade. Whether it be The Beatles or One Direction, we've at least once dreamed of following a boy band we've been obsessed with while they're on tour. And now, eOne is making a movie about it.
Titled "Rock The Boat," the female-driven boy band comedy stars queen of comedy Rebel Wilson, Leslie Mann, and James Van Der Beek. Here's everything we know about it.
Everything We Know About The Story Of Rock The Boat
As per Deadline, the film is being described as a "female-driven comedy" that borrows inspiration from the real-life phenomena generated by boy bands such as "Backstreet Boys" and "New Kids on the Block" during their reunion tours aboard luxury cruise ships. Because who doesn't want to be a part of that?
The...
Titled "Rock The Boat," the female-driven boy band comedy stars queen of comedy Rebel Wilson, Leslie Mann, and James Van Der Beek. Here's everything we know about it.
Everything We Know About The Story Of Rock The Boat
As per Deadline, the film is being described as a "female-driven comedy" that borrows inspiration from the real-life phenomena generated by boy bands such as "Backstreet Boys" and "New Kids on the Block" during their reunion tours aboard luxury cruise ships. Because who doesn't want to be a part of that?
The...
- 3/19/2023
- by Fatemeh Mirjalili
- Slash Film
James Van Der Beek is getting the band back together.
Van Der Beek is in negotiations to join Rebel Wilson and Leslie Mann in Rock the Boat, a comedy being made by eOne.
Veteran comedy director Luke Greenfield (Let’s Be Cops) is helming the project that has Netflix in talks to pick it up from eOne, which is on the market from Hasbro. A spring shoot is being eyed.
Jon Turteltaub, Jonathan Prince, Mark Ross and Wilson are producing. Josie Liang is executive producing.
The story tells of four female best friends who in high school in the 1990s were obsessed with a boy band a la The Backstreet Boys or 98 Degrees. Cut to 20 years later, when the band, named 4Play, announces a reunion tour aboard a cruise ship, the four women hop on board to rediscover their friendships and reignite their lives.
Van Der Beek will play one of the band members.
Van Der Beek is in negotiations to join Rebel Wilson and Leslie Mann in Rock the Boat, a comedy being made by eOne.
Veteran comedy director Luke Greenfield (Let’s Be Cops) is helming the project that has Netflix in talks to pick it up from eOne, which is on the market from Hasbro. A spring shoot is being eyed.
Jon Turteltaub, Jonathan Prince, Mark Ross and Wilson are producing. Josie Liang is executive producing.
The story tells of four female best friends who in high school in the 1990s were obsessed with a boy band a la The Backstreet Boys or 98 Degrees. Cut to 20 years later, when the band, named 4Play, announces a reunion tour aboard a cruise ship, the four women hop on board to rediscover their friendships and reignite their lives.
Van Der Beek will play one of the band members.
- 3/7/2023
- by Borys Kit
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The remarkable true story of Irish immigrant Jennie Hodgers — who posed as a man to fight for the Union Army during the American Civil War — will be adapted for screen.
Arny Granat, a veteran concert promoter turned Tony-winning musical producer, has hired Stephanie Sanditz to pen a feature film script from Lynda Durrant’s book “My Last Skirt: The Story of Jennie Hodgers, Union Soldier.” Granat — whose stage credits include “In The Heights,” “The Color Purple,” “Spamalot,” “Glengarry Glen Ross” and “History Boys” — has been chasing an adaptation of the story for nearly a decade.
Set in the 1800s, “My Last Skirt” tells the story of Hodgers, who went by the name Albert Cashier to enlist and serve her country. Following the war, Hodgers would live as Cashier for much of her life after observing the disparity in opportunity for women of the age. She is also believed to be...
Arny Granat, a veteran concert promoter turned Tony-winning musical producer, has hired Stephanie Sanditz to pen a feature film script from Lynda Durrant’s book “My Last Skirt: The Story of Jennie Hodgers, Union Soldier.” Granat — whose stage credits include “In The Heights,” “The Color Purple,” “Spamalot,” “Glengarry Glen Ross” and “History Boys” — has been chasing an adaptation of the story for nearly a decade.
Set in the 1800s, “My Last Skirt” tells the story of Hodgers, who went by the name Albert Cashier to enlist and serve her country. Following the war, Hodgers would live as Cashier for much of her life after observing the disparity in opportunity for women of the age. She is also believed to be...
- 10/12/2022
- by Matt Donnelly
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Rebel Wilson and Leslie Mann are set to star in the R-rated eOne comedy Rock the Boat with Luke Greenfield on board to direct sources tell Deadline. The project was originally written by Jacob Meszaros and Zach Taylor, with revisions by Sarah Rothschild, Greenfield & Jason Benoit.
The project is produced by Jon Turteltaub, Jonathan Prince, Mark Ross, and Rebel Wilson with Josie Liang executive producing. Zev Foreman, Jen Gorton, and Steven Holster are overseeing for eOne.
Principal photography is set for January 2023.
The pic is a female-driven comedy inspired by the hilarious real-life phenomenon of boy bands such as Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block throwing reunion tours aboard luxury cruise ships. The movie follows four best friends from high school who were obsessed with a famous boy band back in the 90’s. Twenty years later, when the band announces a reunion tour aboard a cruise ship,...
The project is produced by Jon Turteltaub, Jonathan Prince, Mark Ross, and Rebel Wilson with Josie Liang executive producing. Zev Foreman, Jen Gorton, and Steven Holster are overseeing for eOne.
Principal photography is set for January 2023.
The pic is a female-driven comedy inspired by the hilarious real-life phenomenon of boy bands such as Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block throwing reunion tours aboard luxury cruise ships. The movie follows four best friends from high school who were obsessed with a famous boy band back in the 90’s. Twenty years later, when the band announces a reunion tour aboard a cruise ship,...
- 10/6/2022
- by Justin Kroll
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
When Aesop Aquarian returned from acting class to discover an acquaintance dead of a gunshot wound in his spare room, he let it go.
Perhaps it had been a game of Russian roulette, or a suicide. At least these were the theories offered to him by his new Venice Beach housemates, members of what the public would in time call the Manson Family.
Later, when Aesop’s beloved custom Volkswagen camper van was mysteriously torched after he resettled with the group on their compound 30 miles north at the Spahn Movie Ranch, he accepted it. Maybe it was just an accident. Mercury could well have been in retrograde.
But Aesop finally bugged out, hitchhiking back to Los Angeles before dawn, after it was proposed he turn assassin in the run-up to Charlie Manson’s trial. “There was no humor in the suggestion,” explained Aesop,...
When Aesop Aquarian returned from acting class to discover an acquaintance dead of a gunshot wound in his spare room, he let it go.
Perhaps it had been a game of Russian roulette, or a suicide. At least these were the theories offered to him by his new Venice Beach housemates, members of what the public would in time call the Manson Family.
Later, when Aesop’s beloved custom Volkswagen camper van was mysteriously torched after he resettled with the group on their compound 30 miles north at the Spahn Movie Ranch, he accepted it. Maybe it was just an accident. Mercury could well have been in retrograde.
But Aesop finally bugged out, hitchhiking back to Los Angeles before dawn, after it was proposed he turn assassin in the run-up to Charlie Manson’s trial. “There was no humor in the suggestion,” explained Aesop,...
- 7/15/2022
- by Gary Baum
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Navid McIllhargey, the former FilmEngine president is back with a new company — Vandal Entertainment — and he just optioned his first project under the new banner: a revenge thriller called The Feud. Financed by German investors Film House Germany and Summerstorm Entertainment, McIllhargey just purchased the spec by Matthew Altman and David Matalon (no, not the Matalon who used to head New Regency). Described as The Raid meets Winter’s Bone, the story follows a mysterious man who returns to his home in Iowa for his brother’s funeral when he finds himself head to head with the local crime boss and traps him and his friends in an abandoned farm complex. They must battle for their lives against impossible odds.
McIllhargey, who formerly worked at Silver Pictures and New Regency, expects to announce several more projects in both film and television shortly; he and his financiers plan to do two...
McIllhargey, who formerly worked at Silver Pictures and New Regency, expects to announce several more projects in both film and television shortly; he and his financiers plan to do two...
- 10/17/2014
- by Anita Busch
- Deadline
Exclusive: Paradigm has bagged another solid client for its Motion Picture department. The agency just signed screenwriter Russell Gewirtz, best known for scripting the Spike Lee-directed Inside Man and the sequel Inside Man 2. He did the final rewrite on Universal’s upcoming FBI drama Black Mass, based on a previous script by Mark Mallouk and the book of the same name by Boston Globe reporters Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neill. He also scripted Righteous Kill. The agency has soaked up a lot of name clients signed by incoming agents Rand Holston, David Boxerbaum, Ken Stovitz and Bob Bookman, and here the signing was made by Boxerbaum, Trevor Astbury and Mark Ross. Gewirtz had been at CAA with Adam Kanter and Martin Spencer, and he has been in play since they moved to Resolution. Gewirtz is repped by Patti Felker.
- 4/9/2013
- by MIKE FLEMING JR
- Deadline
There is either a couple of football fans or Jerry Maguire/Moneyball with this year’s most liked unproduced screenplay. Close to 300 hundred film executives provided with the Black List creators a top ten of their favorite screenplays of the year and the consensus first overall pick (with 65 votes) comes from the recently featured in Variety (10 Screenwriters to Watch 2012) tandem of Rajiv Joseph & Scott Rothman and their drama which has nothing to do with enlisting in the armed forces. Draft Day – about the day in the life of a fictitious Buffalo Bills Gm appears to currently be in turnaround — which only means I expect to see this greenlight perhaps a little later than sooner – worth noting: top spot almost guarantees that the film will indeed go into production (2006, 2010 and 2011 are the exceptions.) Among the more alluring logline subjects we find on the list, I’d be keen on reading the...
- 12/18/2012
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
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