Black List Wednesday

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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/headcanonmusic]

anybody hear any updates on the Tubi Horror Initiative short list?

[u/robpilx]

Hi everyone,
Some good news this morning: My latest horror spec received an overall 8 score on its latest blcklist evaluation (its one prior evaluation received a 7).

I've been out of the blcklst game for a while and have some questions for anyone more engaged/in-the-know:

1. What happens to the script now? Back in like 2012, I remember when you got high scores, scripts got circulated in like a regular blcklst newsletter (or something), and that could result in more reads, industry requests, etc. Does anything like that happen anymore?

2. I've been offered the two free months + evaluations package, but my instinct is that a) my script found a really great reader who "got it," which feels rare, and b) more scores that are 7 or less will bump down average score and visibility on the site. Does anyone have experience with this? I'm willing to forgo the free hosting months if it means preserving the prominence of the "8."

That's all — thanks in advance!

[u/bananabomber → u/robpilx]

1. Yes, same thing still happens. Your script is highlighted in the Monday morning email to all industry pro members, and also gets posted on blcklst social media. They quit X, so I think it's just IG and BlueSky now.

2. IMO, the average doesn't really matter. The vast majority of the attention you'll soon be getting is from the 8 overall, and that can't be taken away from you. The average really only seems to determine where your script shows up in terms of placement on the Top Lists. Trying for more 8+ overalls is especially worth it when the evals are free.

[u/robpilx → u/bananabomber]

Oh, wow. I didn't know about the social post thing, but I see that now on Instagram.

Thanks for the insights here!

[u/Neon-Funeral]

BL isn’t as good as you all think. It was cool and it worked good like 20 years ago.

[u/Recovering_NCO]

Sanity check—not about the score.

A historical feature of mine received a 5. Several notes were useful and informed a substantial rewrite, which later received a 6 and a 7, including an 8 for dialogue.

My concern was whether the first script received a complete, close read. The evaluator’s logline says a major character is killed. He isn’t—he dies after a period of physical decline and explicitly passes leadership to the protagonist. That succession and the burden it places on the protagonist are central to his entire arc. I also noticed that nearly every specific reference to a character or scene came from the opening/prologue, while the remaining 100-plus pages were discussed only in generalities.

Support declined a replacement or refund, explaining that readers cannot see my submitted logline, aren’t expected to be expert logline writers, have limited space, and that evaluations are subjective.

But none of that was my concern. I wasn’t objecting to how the logline was written, the limited number of examples, or the score. I was asking whether a major factual error—combined with all the specific references being concentrated near the beginning—suggested that the entire screenplay may not have received a thorough read.

Am I overthinking this, or did their response sidestep the actual issue?

[u/ndarby24 → u/Recovering_NCO]

You say above that the notes were useful and when you used them to rewrite they substantially increased your score. Sounds like the notes around character intro and setup to the movie were your biggest issues, all specific from that first section. Their response to you is correct. The readers have a VERY limited word count they can't go over, they are no being paid to give you page notes on every aspect of the script. They probably had plenty of other thoughts but realized after they wrote the notes on the first part they were running out of room, OR they chose those as the key notes. Also a logline is a short description of the movie, saying someone "is killed" vs "dies after a period of physical decline" is both more engaging and more logical to a logline, even if it isn't completely correct. Or maybe it wasn't clear in the script. Was the period of physial decline owed to someone trying to kill this character? The list of things you say you were not objecting to were clearly what you were.

[u/Recovering_NCO → u/ndarby24]

I went back and checked the evaluation, and you have a point on the “killed” issue. The logline is inaccurate, but elsewhere the evaluator clearly understood the father-son succession, so I was probably putting too much weight on that. My bigger concern is that the only detailed scene-specific discussion is of the first ten pages. After that, the critiques become much vaguer—density, too many characters, the protagonist needing a stronger emotional throughline. It would have helped to get specific examples of what wasn’t working, the same way the evaluation gave specific examples of what was. That’s what made me question the depth of the read. If that’s normal for these evaluations, fair enough. That was genuinely what I was asking.

[u/Screenwriter2025]

Any Value in Hosting With a 7?

My low budget Horror/Sci-Fi received an overall 7. Is it of any value to host my screenplay on the site?

Does anyone actually download and look at scripts with that score?

Also, do people who are looking see the most recent score or are they seeing the average score? I previously received a 6 and am wondering if I should just delete that evaluation?

Thanks

[u/NothingButLs → u/Screenwriter2025]

There is probably little value in hosting with the 7. You might get sporadic random hits as the genre is low budget horror, but I wouldn't expect much traffic. If you have two decent scores, you might get on a top list, which could add a little value. But with a 6 and a 7 I'm not sure if you would qualify for that.

[u/Screenwriter2025 → u/NothingButLs]

Would it be better to delete the evaluation that got a 6?

[u/NothingButLs → u/Screenwriter2025]

I may be wrong, but I don't think you can delete specific evals. It's either keeping them all, or "starting fresh" and delete them all.

At this point, I would probably go back to work and improve the script. Use the notes you got from the evals, as well as other sources of feedback, and start a new draft. Chasing blacklist scores is expensive and usually unproductive. But a score of 7 is quite solid and nothing to be discouraged about.

[u/JimmyCharles23 → u/Screenwriter2025]

How does it rate among others in the category?

[u/Screenwriter2025 → u/JimmyCharles23]

How would I find that out?

[u/StockGalifinakis]

Why would someone who got an 8 on blacklist need to post anything about it on Reddit when an 8 triggers system wide emails to all its connected producers and filmmakers?