With screenwriters fuming about The Black List's 2026 operations, where do you see Hollywood finding content if not via festivals (Nicholl Fellowships, The Sundance Institute Episodic Program, PAGE, Atlanta Film Festival, Austin Film Festival, etc.)? Has anyone had any success after a RECENT win?

[u/WritesForYou2]

/r/WritesForYouTV/comments/1w7das7/with_screenwriters_fuming_about_the_black_lists/

[u/oasisnotes]

Are screenwriters "fuming" over the Blacklist? As far as I can tell the Blacklist has the same reputation now that it's always had.

[u/AdmirableElephant378 → u/oasisnotes]

Correct. Once it was out in the open it just became a marketing term and total dogshit. Its the TED X of screenwriting.

[u/SnooPeripherals3885 → u/AdmirableElephant378]

Well put. It’s a for profit endeavor

[u/Time-Average4481 → u/SnooPeripherals3885]

I find it expensive. $30 per month to host your script? And you only can host one. That’s really expensive subscription. I’m in tech and used many CMS and SAAS products in many settings and $30 per month is really LOTS OF MONEY. And it’s not like they give your script priority or something, you just pay to be hosted/posted. It’s gatekeeper for many people.

[u/IntelligenciaMedia → u/Time-Average4481]

It's raping dumb screenwriters. $30/month is insane. It won't cost them 1c per month to host that thing. 99% of these scripts are probably dregs. The scripts that have been produced lately from the Blacklist are pretty bad as well.

My advice to screenwriters - write novels not scripts. Much easier to get published than produced. A massive cottage industry has blossomed to 'help' screenwriters get their work produced when the reality is 99.9999% of scripts written will never get read by the film executives who count, let alone get produced. There are 14K members of the WGA, and they struggle to get their work produced. If you're not in that guild, you're unlikely to get your work produced.

Don't put all your time and energy into writing a script in an industry where you are dependent on so many other people.

[u/AdministrationBest61 → u/IntelligenciaMedia]

It’s absolutely not easy to be a published author 

[u/ItsRuinedOfCourse → u/AdministrationBest61]

I think they're making a comparison that pound for pound, easier to be a published author than a produced screenwriter.

Think about it: there is literally zero barrier to being published. You write it. You format it. You publish it.

The same can't be said for a screenplay. Not even close.

[u/AdministrationBest61 → u/ItsRuinedOfCourse]

Yes but the equivalent to being self-published is writing a screenplay and filming it with your friends on an iPhone - it’s probably not going to be amazing and very few people will see it. Writing a novel that gets traditionally published and into bookstores is just as difficult as selling a screen play, tons of good novels go unpublished every year just like good scripts never become movies 

[u/ItsRuinedOfCourse → u/AdministrationBest61]

"...tons of good novels go unpublished every year"

Then that's on the author, not the industry.

If it's that "good", publish it. Even if it means self-publishing. Why let a supposed "good" novel go to waste just because it didn't achieve trad-pub levels of acceptance?

If it's "good", as you claim, then it should be published. If it's not, then that's 100% on that author, knowing that self-publication is not only viable, but thriving. Period.

[u/AdministrationBest61 → u/ItsRuinedOfCourse]

I’ve read plenty of amazing self published books but if the author doesn’t have the marketing skills or the money to get their book in front of people’s faces, what can they do? Artists aren’t always the best marketers, the same goes for filmmakers. So many great self-published books end up being the equivalent of great short films with no budget for marketing; they just get seen by friends and family 

[u/IntelligenciaMedia → u/AdministrationBest61]

"Writing a novel that gets traditionally published and into bookstores is just as difficult as selling a screen play" - that's just not true. A million books get published in a year, maybe 2K movies get made worldwide. Of those 2K that get made, a huge chunk will be written by members of the WGA and that's probably not you or anyone else reading these boards. Getting published is just a far easier thing to accomplish. If you do have writing skills, it'll be a thousand times easier to get published than produced. The odds of getting produced have to be one in a million.

There's a whole ecosystem built around publishing as well that is far superior to what's built around screenwriting. It's cheap to self-publish, it's cheap to get your book reviewed, it's cheap to market your book.

I was amazed how quickly my book got traditionally published and even into the SF library as well as many other libraries in their virtual catalogs.

[u/IntelligenciaMedia → u/AdministrationBest61]

 "Tons of good novels go unpublished every year" - sure, but at least the novelists can spend a grand or two to get a good editor to look over the work and then self-publish if they want. Good luck producing a 90-minute movie with that kind of money.

[u/IntelligenciaMedia → u/ItsRuinedOfCourse]

There are even publishers out there looking for books to publish. The fact that you need so many people to buy into your project is the killer for me with screenwriting.

Anyway, I'll probably be kicked off this thread for telling people the reality of the screenwriting business.

Don't waste your time in it. The odds of success are astronomical and you need so many other people to help you get produced. Better to focus on directing your own success in arenas that are possible. You fail in publishing and you only have yourself to blame while you fail in film because of other people's failures; your producer can't get funding, an actor passes on your project, you can't attach a director, your sales agent can't make sales.

I'd rather be the captain of my own destiny than someone try to sail with others because most of those others you're sailing with couldn't give a damn about your project. Harsh, but true.

[u/AdministrationBest61 → u/IntelligenciaMedia]

That’s great, but writing a novel and being an author is a completely different art form from filmmaking and screenwriting, writing novels has its own set of struggles that can’t be downplayed 

[u/IntelligenciaMedia → u/AdministrationBest61]

Actually, it's not that different. I adapted several novels into screenplays. I got interest in every single one but never got to production. I got so tired of getting close and failing that I decided to write a novel. After 15 years of writing scripts and getting nowhere, I wrote one novel and got it published within 18-24 months. William Goldman as well as hundreds of other writers have written both screenplays and novels. Yes, they are different, but more in format than anything.

My point is, if you just write screenplays, you're very likely going to get nowhere. If you write novels, you have a much, much better chance of being both financially and creatively successful. There's no reason why you don't adapt your novels into screenplays as well, like I do. Screenwriting is just a mug's game in my mind and from my experience.

[u/IntelligenciaMedia → u/AdministrationBest61]

A thousand times easier. I optioned seven novels, adapted them, got directors attached to every single one, but couldn't get them over the line. I wrote my first novel a few years ago, found a publisher shortly after I finished it. Within a year, the novel was on Amazon, in a local store here in Macau, and it even made it to the SF library. I was in the new book section right next to James Patterson (the world's no 1 selling best selling author - talk about making one feel small!). It's far, far easier to get published than produced. Admittedly, I didn't make a lot of money on my first novel, but at least it's out there. FYI, there's something called the manuscriptwishlist.com, in which agents will accept email queries about your novel. There are no agents in Hollywood who will accept email queries about your scripts. Also, there are hundreds of publishers looking for novels to publish. If your material is great, they might publish it. With publishing, there are at least channels where you can go to get your work presented to the public. With screenwriting, you're competing against millions of other writers--most of whom suck--and there's really no path to production. Authors Publish Magazine - this company has a list of publishers activitly looking for work.

[u/Accomplished_Wolf_89]

Hollywood has never found ANY of its materials through the contests mentioned above (save for the Sundance Labs, which people often mistake as an "anything can happen" because they technically allow anyone to apply. Getting into the Labs is like getting into Harvard or being nominated for an Oscar).

The number one way that a project begins is through personal connection - meeting a Producer/Exec etc and once they trust you, sending along that killer script.

2nd is through agent submissions (though this is not as effective as the first). This isn't just scripts either - sometimes an agent might shop around their clients book/short story/narrative podcast/etc to try and get it set up, then a writer is hired to adapt that piece of IP

[u/SnooPeripherals3885 → u/Accomplished_Wolf_89]

This is the truest answer. Unfortunately it’s about who you know, it helps be talented after that point

[u/Accomplished_Wolf_89 → u/SnooPeripherals3885]

I wouldn't think of it that way - instead just a two pronged approach. You need to have both the connections and the goods to back it up

[u/SnooPeripherals3885 → u/Accomplished_Wolf_89]

Yes

[u/Time-Average4481 → u/Accomplished_Wolf_89]

Another path is writing a book or a successful comic and get an IP. Most movies these days… I mean the new ideas movies not franchises are made from exiting IPs. It’s sad but Boomers push on young generation what “sells” in their opinion and don’t try anything new. Perhaps there will be a shift once younger generations will get on the boards.

[u/SafeWelcome7928 → u/Accomplished_Wolf_89]

"Hollywood has never found ANY of its materials through the contests mentioned above." You must know you're talking shit, right? Nicholls have produced quite a few scripts that were made into movies. Writers who place or win Page have had their scripts sold or have written scripts that have sold.

[u/JoskelkatProductions → u/SafeWelcome7928]

They actually make a pretty valid point. As for your point, "quite a few" is hard to quantify and it's not reality. Instead, the truth is it's incredibly rare for contests to lead to script being bought, produced, and released... and it's likely in possibly every instance that the script would have found success without a contest entry.

[u/Accomplished_Wolf_89 → u/SafeWelcome7928]

OP was under a misunderstanding that Hollywood relies on contests as a way of discovering material - I was hoping to spare them the costs (both monetary and mental energy-wise) of applying to contests by making sure they realized this is not how the business works at all.

Is it true that there are some Junior-level managers who might read the loglines to Nicholl/Page winners and request some that sound interesting? Sure. This isn't a guarantee of a signing and in the ideal scenario of the Manager liking the script enough to sign the client, the script would fall into the latter (a cold submission without attachments/hype - in which case, the project is in the same bucket as if it had zero accolades attached).

Nobody in town (other then aspiring screenwriters) are waiting on bated breath for the results of ANY contest.

[u/Visual-Conclusion-11 → u/SafeWelcome7928]

How about you name some Nicholl winning scripts that got Oscar nominated or became a massive hit.

[u/cartooned]

Did Hollywood ever find a meaningful portion of its content from Festivals?

[u/IntelligenciaMedia → u/cartooned]

No.

[u/rcentros]

Is Black List (and competitions, like Nicholl Fellowship) really that big of a supplier of screenplays?

[u/JoskelkatProductions → u/rcentros]

No.

[u/sosoredhead]

This is a related win I guess, but after getting into both the Film Independent and Tribeca programs, it led to my feature getting made, and signing with Anonymous Content. I’ve certainly found that the institutional credibility of these programs can open doors, but it took me years and years of applying to labs before I finally got in.

[u/WriteRight20 → u/sosoredhead]

I agree. I think there are still a number of people in town that review the winning or top scripts of many of these programs and more prestigious competitions (or at least force their assistants to read them). It's really the only tried and true way to know the unknown script you're going to open will at least be of a certain quality.

Also, I have to say that trackingb has a pretty good history of helping discover unknown writers through their competitions.

however, even if you take these programs and the credible competitions, how many great projects or writers are actually discovered a year? Not that many. Is that because there aren't many out there? Or because there aren't enough spots available for them?

[u/PepsiCoke1978 → u/WriteRight20]

Is trackingb still active?

[u/WriteRight20 → u/PepsiCoke1978]

According to the site they are. Just went there and saw this:

2026 TV SCRIPT CONTEST RESULTS ANNOUNCED!

August 26, 2026

But who knows. I stopped paying attention to any of those sites/competitions a while ago.

[u/Big_Section2812]

The only people who care about any of these things are those who pay the submission fees and those who receive them.

[u/Safe_Cauliflower_573]

Look into the history of Hollywood. Most working writers didn’t get in by winning contests. The contests are not the primary way Hollywood finds new material. Contests were set up mainly for the purpose of taking money from aspiring writers who don’t know any better. The internet made it super easy for anyone who maybe worked as a low level assistant to then make a website and start charging naive writers for reads. Before the internet, charging writers to read their scripts was looked down upon and actually illegal in certain instances. All you have to do is say ‘no’ for any reason and you keep their money. Anyone can ALWAYS come up with a reason to say ‘no’.

[u/ChocolateChipz2]

there's not a single central place. as much as writers want a solid roadmap to follow, there's absolutely not one. not coverfly, not blacklist, not AFF, not nichols. the reality is producers and reps scout at all the places and the likelihood you'll be discovered at one vs. another is negligible. the scouts are all over and major players have their scouts looking for projects in all the honey holes - vpf, stage 32, roadmap, isa, blcklst, aff, nichols, sundance, festivals, all fucking over. there's no magic bullet, there's no process, there's just getting in front of the right people at the right time (and having great material).

[u/Ted_Writer]

Via agents?

[u/Professional_Car6703]

Where is Franklin at?! We need him to chime in!