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The Black List announced the 2014 list of Hollywood’s best unproduced screenplays Monday through Twitter.
This year’s list, the 10th installment, was announced by 70 writers, directors, producers, and actors — including Reese Witherspoon, Elizabeth Banks, Daniel Radcliffe, David Oyelowo, Rian Johnson, Ava Duvernay and Damien Chazelle. YouTube videos featuring the stars began rolling out at 10 a.m. PT Monday, presenting the 70 scripts on the list in a random order.
Three of the last six Academy Awards for best picture were based on scripts featured on previous Black Lists, and seven of the last 14 screenwriting Oscars were featured on previous Black Lists as well. Established in 2005 as an annual survey of several dozen executives’ favorite unproduced screenplays, the Black List has grown to survey more than 500 executives each year.
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Catherine the Great, by Kristina Lauren Anderson, took the No. 1 spot on this year’s list, it was revealed at a 10th anniversary party for the Black List Sunday. (The event raised $50,000 for the Young Storytellers Foundation.) The script, which made the rounds this past summer, centers on the upbringing and tumultuous marriage of the woman who went on to become the long-reigning empress of Russia.
Of the scripts on the 2014 list, 47.1 percent have a financier attached, and 73.2 percent have a producer attached.
The first project (announced in random order) was presented by Nathan Fillion: Professor Pasghetti by Jeff Feuerstein, which follows a famous children’s author, with an affinity for drugs and hookers, who finds himself on a journey of self-discovery.
The scripts on the 2014 Black List, ranked by number of votes (in parentheses) are:
Catherine the Great by Kristina Lauren Anderson (51)
Rockingham by Adam Morrison (38)
The Swimsuit Issue by Randall Green (35)
The Babysitter by Brian Duffield (34)
Rothchild by John Patton Ford (32)
The Wall by Dwain A Worrell (30)
Cascade by Kieran Fitzgerald (25)
Aether by Krysty Wilson-Cairns (24)
Situation Comedy by Cat Vasko (24)
Tau by Noga Landau (23)
Echo by Chris MacBride (18)
Mena by Gary Spinelli (18)
Dodge by Scott Wascha (17)
North of Reno by Banipal Ablakhad, Benhur Ablakhad (17)
On the Basis of Sex by Daniel Stiepleman (17)
Moonfall by David Weil (16)
The Munchkin by Will Widger (16)
Matriarch by Eric Koenig (15)
The Defection by Ken Nolan (15)
The Long Haul by Dan Stoller (15)
Berliner by F Scott Frazier (14)
One Fell Swoop by Greg Scharpf (14)
Bird Box by Eric Heisserer (13)
Huntsville by Anthony Ragnone (13)
In the Deep by Anthony Jaswinski (13)
The Search by Spencer Mondshein (13)
Yellowstone Falls by Daniel Kunka (13)
Syndrome (E) by Mark Heyman (12)
Beef by Jeff Lock (11)
Black Winter by Jonathan Stewart and Jake Crane (11)
Cartoon Girl by Randall Green (11)
Road to Oz by Josh Golden (11)
Big Time Adolescence by Jason Orley (10)
LBJ by Joey Hartstone (10)
Possession: A Love Story by Jack Stanley (10)
The Secret Ingredients of Rockey Cola by Mike Vukadinovich (10)
The Shower by Jac Schaeffer (10)
Celeritas by Kimberly Barrante (9)
I am Ryan Reynolds by Billy Goulston (9)
Jackpot by Dave Callaham (9)
Plus One by April Prosser (9)
Wonka by Jason Micallef (9)
Beauty Pageant by Shea Mirzai and Evan Mirzai (8)
Bismarck by Jared Cowie (8)
Morgan by Seth W. Owen (8)
Shadow Run by Joe Gazzam (8)
The Bringing by Brandon Murphey and Philip Murphey (8)
The Takeway by Julia Cox (8)
Blink by Hernany Perla (7)
Boston Strangler by Chuck Maclean (7)
Everyone Wants Everything by Abraham Higginbotham (7)
Gifted by Tom Flynn (7)
Manchester by the Sea by Kenneth Lonergan (7)
Merc by Andrew Bozalis and Derek Mether (7)
Professor Pasghetti by Jeff Feuerstein (7)
Erin’s Voice by Greg Sullivan (7)
The Eden Project by Christina Hodson (7)
A Garden at the End of the World by Gary Graham (7)
Uncle Shelby by Brian Brown and Elliott DiGuiseppi (7)
Coffee & Kareem by Shane McCarthy (6)
Forgive Me by Max Hurwitz (6)
In Real Time by Chai Hecht (6)
In This, My Darkest Hour by Bryan McMullin (6)
Money Monster by Alan DiFiore, Alan Rauf and Jamie Linden (6)
My Friend Dahmer by Marc Meyers (6)
Seducing Ingrid Bergman by Arash Amel (6)
The Beautiful Game by Zander Lehmann (6)
The Founder by Rob Siegel (6)
The Man in the Rockefeller Suit by David Bar Katz (6)
The Wilde Ones by Tyler Shields (6)
