The recipients of the 2023 Black List have been announced and they include all manner of different stories. The Black List, first published in 2005, celebrates the best screenplays that have yet to be produced.
This year’s top script is “Bad Boy,” a script that tells the story of a rescue dog who suspects his new owner is a serial killer. Other scripts being celebrated include Kirill Baru and Eric Zimmerman’s “The Great Pretender,” a film that sounds like “Being John Malkovich” in the sense it tells what happens when Tom Hanks is kidnapped and his doppleganger is forced to step in for him.
Filipe Coutinho’s “Patsy” is a biopic on the famous country music star that tells the “untold and unfiltered true story of legendary country singer Patsy Cline, from her humble beginnings in Virginia to her untimely death at the height of her fame.” There’s also Hunter Toro’s “Boy Falls From the Sky,” inspired by the true events surrounding the Broadway musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.”
The full list of the 2023 Black List winners are below.
“Bad Boy” by Travis Braun:
Agency: United Talent Agency
Agent: Charles Ferraro, Zoe Prince
Management Company: Echo Lake Entertainment
Managers: Matt Horwitz, Amotz Zakai
A rescue dog suspects his loving new owner is a serial killer
“Stakehorse” by Justin Piasecki:
Agency: Paradigm
Agent: Ethan Neale, Mark Ross, Matt Snow
Management Company: Range Media Partners
Managers: Rich Cook, Michael Cooper, Michael Kagan
Financier: Amazon/MGM
Production Company: Hidden Pictures
A racetrack veterinarian who runs an off-the-books ER for criminals finds his practice and life in jeopardy when he’s recruited for his patient’s heist.
“Spoiler” by Jordan Rosenbloom:
Management Company: Grandview
Managers: Zac Frognowski, Adam Klein
After passing on a hot new screenplay, a studio executive finds himself trapped as the protagonist inside the film and must regain control before the credits roll.
“Head Games” by Colin Liddle:
Agency: Creative Artists Agency
Agent: Anna Jinks
Management Company: Grandview
Managers: Erick Mendoza
Production Company: Brillstein Entertainment Partners, Everlast Pictures, Range Media Partners
A corporate spy poses as a personal chef to the disgraced founder of a neuroprosthetics firm in order to steal his seismic-shifting new invention from his secluded villa in Greece.
“Didier” by Jackson Kellard:
Management Company: Rain
Managers: Lucius Cary, Matt Rosen
The inspiring true story of international soccer icon Didier Drogba and his efforts to end a bloody civil war in his home country of Ivory Coast; not just with the skill of his feet, but also with the power of his voice.
“High Concept” by Alex Kavutskiy, Ryan Perez:
Management Company: Artists First
Managers: Haley Jones, Peter Principato, Itay Reiss
Production Company: Vertigo
In the early 2000s, two totally opposite best friends, Mike (an uptight lawyer) and BJ (a stoner slacker), awake one morning to find that they have swapped bodies, are stuck in a time loop, and are afflicted with many other high-concept comedy premises of that era. Drawing upon their knowledge of those type of movies, Mike & BJ must learn their lesson(s) and get their lives back to normal.
“Patsy” by Filipe Coutinho:
Management Company: Rain
Managers: Matt Rosen
The untold and unfiltered true story of legendary country singer Patsy Cline, from her humble beginnings in Virginia to her untimely death at the height of her fame
“Forbidden Fruits” by Meredith Alloway, Lily Houghton:
Agency: United Talent Agency / William Morris Entertainment
Agent: Anna Flickinger, Ava Myint, Rachel Viola (Houghton), Annabel Gualazzi, McCall Koenig, Brett Rosen, Sarah Self (Alloway)
Management Company: Echo Lake Entertainment
Managers: Trent Hubbard
Production Company: MXN
Free People employee Apple secretly runs a witchy femme cult in the basement of the mall store after hours with fellow fruits Cherry and Fig. But when new hire Pumpkin challenges their ‘girl boss’ ways, the women are forced to face their own poisons or succumb to a bloody fate.
“Return to Sender” by Russell Goldman:
Agency: Verve Talent And Literary Agency
Agent: Noah Liebmiller, Olivia Mascheroni, Nicky Mohebbi
Production Company: Comet Pictures, Molly Hallam
When a woman experiences delivery scams that grow increasingly personal and strange, she becomes hellbent on discovering her anonymous sender.
“First You Hear Them” by Sean Harrigan:
Management Company: Empirical Evidence
Managers: Derrick Eppich
Production Company: Platinum Dunes, Cameron Alexander, Gille Klabin
A group of twenty-somethings try the “perfect drug” for the first time. It’s only when they come down from the euphoric high that the hauntings begin: First you hear them. Then you see them. Then they come for you.
“Foragers” by Sam Boyer:
Management Company: Range Media Partners
Managers: Alain Carles, Tanya Cohen, Andrew Nallathambi
Production Company: Hidden Pictures
When the illegitimate daughter of a Portland billionaire goes missing, her loved ones turn to Juno and Andi, local homesteaders and members of The Foragers – a grassroots network of experts dedicated to finding the lost and bringing them home.
“Carousel” by Rachel Lambert:
Agency: Creative Artists Agency
Agent: Darian Lanzetta
Management Company: Range Media Partners
Managers: Sam Sekoff
Production Company: Saks Picture Company
A family doctor in East Cleveland juggles his personal life, as he reconnects with an old flame, deals with his teenage daughter’s problems, and selling his family’s medical practice.
“Hot Mess” by Shanrah Wakefield:
Agency: Creative Artists Agency
Agent: Bryant Barile
Management Company: Grandview
Managers: Tracy Kopulsky
Production Company: Super Special
Sandy was once a formidable investigative reporter until a bungled story destroyed her credibility and forced her into the soul-sucking world of tabloid gossip – now her days are spent covering hot mess celebrity Margot Ford. When a disillusioned Sandy is called to Fiji to follow Margot’s latest hijinks, she discovers a surprise about Margot’s real identity, which sends her on an adventure she never imagined, as the two must team up to take down a massive, sinister corporate plot with global implications, all taking place at a luxury island resort.
“Hit Me, Baby” by Kurt McLeod:
Agency: United Talent Agency
Agent: Jordan Lonner
Management Company: Grandview
Managers: Erick Mendoza, Sam Warren
After Liv, a world-class hitwoman, breaks up with her boyfriend, Martin, he puts out a massive contract on his own life to get her attention. What Martin doesn’t realize is that it’s an open contract with a 48-hour expiration, so now every assassin in the western hemisphere is coming after him. Liv makes a deal to keep him safe until the contract expires, if he pays her out the full bounty. With the clock ticking, the two must elude some of the world’s most prolific killers.
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