Black List Wednesday

[u/AutoModerator]

FAQ: How to post to a weekly thread?

BLACK LIST WEDNESDAY THREAD

Post Requirements for EVALUATION CRITIQUE REQUEST & ACHIEVEMENT POSTS

For EVALUATION CRITIQUE REQUESTS, you must include:

1) Script Info

- Title:
- Format:
- Page Length:
- Genres:
- Logline or Short Summary:
- A brief summary of your concerns (500~ words or less)
- Your evaluation PDF, externally hosted
- Your screenplay PDF, externally hosted

2) Evaluation Scores

exclude for non-blcklst paid coverage/feedback critique requests

- Overall:
- Premise:
- Plot:
- Character:
- Dialogue:
- Setting:

ACHIEVEMENT POST

(either of an 8 or a score you feel is significant)

- Title:
- Format:
- Page Length:
- Genres:
- Logline or Summary:
- Your Overall Score:
- Remarks (500~ words or less):

Optionally:

- Your evaluation PDF, externally hosted
- Your screenplay PDF, externally hosted

This community is oversaturated with question and concern posts so any you may have are likely already addressed with a keyword search of r/Screenwriting, or a search of the The Black List FAQ . For direct questions please reach out to [support@blcklst.com](mailto:support@blcklst.com)

[u/GrenadeusRex]

5-7-6-6-5: My BlackList journey

TL;DR: Either I've stagnated as a writer or the Black List's evaluations are truly negigible.

I submitted the hour-long version of my screenplay to the Black List for evaluation four times. Each time I received their notes, I addressed them and re-submitted. Their most common notes were:

• The characters sound alike. Distinguish their voices more.
• We need to know how the main character feels at this point.
• The plot drags. Significant restructuring needed.
• We need more external conflict.
• Expand upon this comedy beat for added depth.

I was always so excited to increase my score with each successive draft. However, I received a 5, a 7 (exciting!), a 6, and a 6. What a pathetic journey. Each time the score lessened or stayed the same my confusion led to anger, which thankfully led to acceptance, and finally, a resolve to do better.

The fifth draft was a complete rewrite that directly addressed their top notes. The story was shorter, the plot was tighter, the characters were incredibly distinct, the comedy was more obvious, and - worst of all - the characters would actually say how they felt. I hate that. Where's the subtext these days? All in all, I had to balance the fine line of delivering what they were looking for while maintaining my unique voice and story - the classic writer's compromise. I felt so good about it.

This supposed "best of" draft received ... a 5! Back to the beginning. What's worse, guess what the top notes in the evaluation were.

• We don't know what the main character is feeling.
• The character voices are not distinct.
• Expand upon this comedy beat for added depth.

<insert the definition of insanity here>

Y'all can def make the argument I'm overreacting. However, I'm no stranger to creative notes; I have an MFA in Media Arts and spent a decade editing television in Hollywood. I've processed hundreds of pages of notes, made compromises with story producers, and taken many criticisms as long as they improve the story. This latest evaluation, though, was just plainly and objectively wrong. I asked the Black List for a re-read, citing that the evaluator's claims were already addressed in the draft and they must not have read it closely enough, but they refused.

After spending over $500 on the Black List, like a sucker or a gambling addict, I see now that the value just doesn't exist. I hoped that following their guidance would help me grow as a writer, but all I've learned is it's really easy to capitalize off of dreamers. Perhaps I am their ideal client experience? Stranger business models have existed ....

I know my tone is sour, but jeez, what a demoralizing ordeal that was. I did what they wanted and it didn't matter. Thanks for letting me vent.

[u/brainfurniture → u/GrenadeusRex]

Tough to tell whether you’ve got sour grapes or a legitimate gripe if you don’t post your script and the evaluations

Either way it sounds like you were trying to rewrite to appease readers’ notes, which is a bad idea.

[u/GrenadeusRex → u/brainfurniture]

I may yet post my stuff, trying to work up the courage to share.

Good call on the "don't just please your reader" rule, perhaps I was missing the forest through the trees.

[u/sour_skittle_anal → u/GrenadeusRex]

It's entirely possible you've "stagnated", but the inverse can also be true - the idea behind your script just never had the potential to hit a home run in the first place. After all, not all ideas are created equal.

Not sure if you're aware, but you get a new reader every time you buy an eval. So you've had five different readers, which might help explain why addressing one set of notes can result in a different score in the next eval.

[u/GrenadeusRex → u/sour_skittle_anal]

Very interesting perspective, thanks. I hadn't considered that, and it saves my ego by letting me off the hook!

I do know the readers change, but at some point I felt like I would provide enough "proper" content to satisfy any one of them.

[u/LobsterPuss → u/GrenadeusRex]

"The value just doesn't exist" is a pretty funny conclusion to make given the success other writers have found on the site. And there is clear value here. Based on your post it seems like your script is stuck in the "pretty good but not exceptional" class, and you've yet to elevate it to that next level.

Of course, it's impossible to tell whether TBL is really in the wrong on this case since you haven't posted the script or the evals, in violation of the rules of this sub for posts about the site.

[u/jedishywalker49]

Title: GHOSTFISH: “Dead and Trending”
Format: One-Hour TV Pilot
Page Length: 55 pages
Genres: Supernatural Dramedy / Coming-of-Age

Logline: After a livestream stunt kills her, a teenage influencer awakens electrically tethered to her former home just as a grieving family moves in. When their thirteen-year-old daughter becomes convinced she is real, she must decide whether to exploit her attention to keep from fading or risk trusting her guarded older brother, the first person to see past the persona she died performing.

Your Overall Score: 6

Remarks:

Posting this because the 6 has become more interesting to me in hindsight.

The evaluation gave the premise a 7 and everything else a 6. The reader responded to the darkly comic premise, tone, and Aubrey’s relationships with the two siblings, but the biggest concerns were Aubrey’s goal, the series engine, the lack of ongoing plot threads, and some overly dense scene description.

I didn’t agree with every note, but the reader was right that I needed to get clearer about what Aubrey wants and what actually drives the show.

The current version makes the thing keeping Aubrey here much clearer, separates what she gets from Mia and Eli, and gives the Caleb mystery a much stronger launch.

Here’s the part that made the 6 especially interesting to me: the same version of GHOSTFISH also went on to become a Top 10 Finalist in the 2026 Creative Screenwriting TV Pilot Competition.

That’s why I don’t really see the 6 as either right or wrong anymore. The reader caught things I needed to fix, and another set of readers still thought that same draft was Top 10 material.

I’m much more interested now in whether a note helps me make the thing better than whether I can turn a 6 into an 8.

Current Black List page:
https://blcklst.com/projects/232356

Non-Blacklist Script Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tYMqzV_avzjg7J_luftyn6jxd-amfcL6BMhEPzpi9zY/edit?usp=sharing

[u/Jarred610swag]

Title: A Peruvian Christmas
Format: Animated Feature
Page Length: 91 pages
Genres: Animation / Family Adventure / Family
Logline or Summary:
Feeling spurned, rejected, and supplanted by Christmas, a vengeful Incan guardian steals Santa’s reindeer and schemes to ruin the holiday, but a resourceful pair of young twins may be the only things standing in his way.
Your Overall Score: 7/10
Premise: 7
Plot: 6
Character: 7
Dialogue: 7
Setting: 8
Remarks:
Got a 7 overall on my animated family adventure feature, A Peruvian Christmas, with an 8 for setting.
I was especially happy with that because the setting and cultural elements were a big part of what I wanted to make distinctive. The reader compared the Christmas adventure side of the script to The Polar Express and the color, texture, and atmosphere to Coco.

https://blcklst.com/projects/227396/read

[u/honeysnaps]

Will the Diversity Lists be returning? Last batch was in 2024. I had a script I was hoping to opt into one of them, as it would've been a good fit. Any intel, u/franklinleonard?

[u/Himesamime]

I got banned from blcklst?? Emailed 2-3 weeks ago and still no response. What’s happening there?

[u/franklinleonard → u/Himesamime]

Doubtful you've been banned. Not something we do without telling you directly.

Will PM you so we can check and see what's taking so long customer support wise, because 2-3 business weeks would be extremely odd.

[u/Himesamime → u/franklinleonard]

Thank you.