We said the new screenplay service from The Black List would have a success story and we would hear about it. This week, only one month after its launch, The Black List announced that screenwriter Justin Kremer signed with CAA as a result of his screenplay McCarthy getting discovered via the new Black List paid service for screenwriters to post their screenplays online to be read and rated by industry professionals. Yes, the first writer discovered from The Black List's new service happened to write a screenplay that has a connection of sorts to the historical blacklist. The Black List founder Franklin Leonard even remarked, "My personal interest in this period of Hollywood history is no secret. It’s part of why the Black List is called what it is. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t read the script as soon as the review was completed to be sure someone wasn’t playing an elaborate practical joke." Well, Kremer's script is no joke. Check out what Kremer had to say about The Black List service from the company's press release:
I submitted MCCARTHY to the Black List site out of sheer curiosity, and entered the process with absolutely no expectations. The script had been completed for some time and was collecting dust in a drawer. The response I’ve received has been truly incredible. None of this would have been possible without the Black List site. The avenue it has provided has been invaluable, and one that I expect to breed many success stories.
The press release goes on to explain that Kremer submitted his script to The Black List four days after the service launched, paid for one professional read, and received a high rating from that read. As a result, The Black List highlighted his screenplay in its weekly email, several more industry professionals downloaded the script, read it, and rated it highly, making it the highest rated screenplay on the service. Last week, Kremer signed with CAA to represent him.
Those of you who read The Bitter Script Reader blog may recognize McCarthy as The Bitter Script Reader recommended it back on Oct. 29 after offering to read the first 25 Black List scripts that blog readers submitted. In that post, The Bitter Script Reader pointed out that McCarthy had already been highlighted in the weekly email from The Black List and the service's algorithm recommended that The Bitter Script Reader would most likely rate it an 8.3 based on past preferences, which The Bitter Script Reader subsequently confirmed.
The press release from The Black List also offers a little bit of data about the service. As of Nov. 18, the new Black List service has received over 1,100 screenplays from 21 countries and 41 states. With this amount of volume in the early weeks of the service and the success of Kremer due to the initial paid reading and subsequent email highlighting, the need for at least one paid, positive rating for a screenplay to get noticed on The Black List's service becomes clear.
Have you submitted a screenplay to the new Black List service, and if so, what has been your experience thus far? Does this announcement of the first writer signing as a result of the Black List service encourage you to submit your screenplay? Let us know in the Comments.
Link: Go Into the Story - "Update on new Black List service: Writer signs with CAA"
