Screenwriting : The Black List by Beth Fox Heisinger

At $25 a month for non-guild members, I'm not interested in trying "The Black List." I was submitting to InkTip when it first came out. But the "preferred news letter always has leads that don't fit what I've written so why bother spending $65 for a three month subscription? I still look at it, but most of the leads are low or micro budget projects. Call me a cheapskate, but I've pitched 18 times with TheHappyWriters.com, (who are hosting the Pitch Fests here), and now I have two production companies considering one of my screenplays. The CEO Joey is a fantastic guy, and $45 buys an 8 minute SKYPE session with a creative exec' of your own choosing, (and not someone who you get stuck with at the usual Pitch Fests.) That's less than two months of the fees at that Black List site. I'm not into just throwing away money that I don't have. But take it from me, TheHappyWriters.com is the best "bang for your buck"!!! You could wallpaper a building in downtown LA with your script and it would still wouldn't work, because executives don't have any time to waste reading. They all read for a living, and they want to HEAR about it first before they put in any time reading anything! As the saying goes: "The plumber's house leaks, the cobbler's kids run around barefoot..." and creative exec's don't read your script.... unless they ASK to read it because they HEARD from someone who told them it was good.

hey Beth, I've been on Black List for a month and a half now and so far my feeling is. . .meh. I had a script optioned in May, and this is my follow-up -- it's gotten 8 views since late July, no one's read or downloaded the script, and I suspect I'll pull it at the end of this month rather than pay another $25. I've heard Black List described as something new and different, therefore worth trying, but like I said, it hasn't resulted in anything for me.

Thanks Michael and Adam! Great insights. I really appreciate you both sharing your opinions and experiences. The Happy Writers certainly are great. Yup, I'm just another writer on a budget! And, I'm very careful with where I invest my funds, as well as my time and effort. :)

http://www.greenlightmymovie.com/ I was thinking of trying it. Looks good to me. x

Hi, Robin. Haha! Wow, it's weird to see such an old thread... especially since the BL database website had just started around then, I believe? Four years ago... I had only been writing screenplays for a year or so, so rather a beginner myself, figuring all this stuff out. I did try the BL database site for one month and promptly left. Nope. Never again. As far as the Industry Survey... well, those scripts circling around and being voted on tend to be from repped writers with agents, etc. Me, I am not repped, so that would be a "no" so far. But... I have made great progress and many more connections since then, so who knows? Right? Best to you! :)

I had a decent experience initially. I paid for an evaluation which was totally worth it. The particular reviewer provided encouraging comments. However, it's been dead since the New Year. Not sure if it'll be worth keeping my script up there much longer.

Jury is still out for me, I sent in for a paid evaluation, still awaiting the results. I know online it has mixed reviews but so far I have not had any issues. I am not expecting a great review however as the version the reader downloaded had a formatting error and cut off the last page, by the time I seen it they already downloaded it.