[The Black List 2012]: Tomorrow's Hit Movies, Today

Astaereth

Has it been a whole damn year? The 2012 Black List is out, courtesy of Deadline.

For the uninitiated, the Black List is an annual informal industry list of, subjectively, the best unproduced scripts currently floating around Hollywood. Maybe a third of these will get made (or get their writers' work noticed) in the next couple of years, with past filmed entrants including "Juno", "The King's Speech", "Slumdog Millionaire", Tarantino's "Django Unchained", and a lot more. On the other hand, some scripts languish for decades and become famous missed opportunities.

This year's top ten under the spoiler. You can find the full list here.

Note1: The numbers translate to votes for that script.
Note2: If it has a production company (and especially if it has a financier) it is likely to be produced.

65
DRAFT DAY
Rajiv Joseph, Scott Rothman
On the day of the NFL Draft, Bills General Manager Sonny Weaver has the opportunity to save football in Buffalo when he trades for the number one pick. He must quickly decide what he’s willing to sacrifice in pursuit of perfection as the lines between his personal and professional life become blurred.
Agency: Gersh, CAA
Agents: Lee Keele (Joseph), Chris Till, Bill Zotti (Rothman)
Management: Kaplan/Perrone (Joseph & Rothman)
Managers: Josh Goldenberg, Aaron Kaplan
Production: Montecito Pictures

43
A COUNTRY OF STRANGERS
Sean Armstrong
Based on true events. Inspector Geoff Harper conducts a forty year search for the Beaumont Children, three siblings taken from an Australian beach in January of 1966.
Agency: Verve
Agents: Aaron Hart, Adam Levine, Rob Herting, Bill Weinstein
Management: Principato-Young Management
Managers: Peter Dealbert, Susan Solomon

43
SEUSS
Eyal Podell, Jonathan Stewart
As a young man, Ted Geisel meets his future wife Helen, who encourages his fanciful drawings, and in the 1950s when Ted is struggling professionally, Helen helps inspire the children’s book that will become his first big hit, “The Cat in the Hat.”
Agency: Verve
Agents: Bryan Besser, Zach Carlisle, Rob Herting
Management: Industry Entertainment
Manager: Michael Botti, Jess Rosenthal

39
RODHAM
Young Il Kim
During the height of the Watergate scandal, rising star Hillary Rodham is the youngest lawyer chosen for the House Judiciary Committee to Impeach Nixon, but she soon finds herself forced to choose between a destined path to the White House and her unresolved feelings for Bill Clinton, her former boyfriend who now teaches law in Arkansas.
Agency: UTA
Agents: Barbara Dreyfus, Jenny Maryasis
Management: The Arlook Group
Managers: Richard Arlook, Jason Hong
Production: The Arlook Group, Temple Hill Entertainment

35
STORY OF YOUR LIFE
Eric Heisserer
Based on the short story by Ted Chiang. When alien crafts land around the world, a linguistics expert is recruited by the military to determine whether they come in peace or are a threat. As she learns to communicate with the aliens, she begins experiencing vivid flashbacks that become the key to unlocking the greater mystery about the true purpose of their visit.
Agency: UTA
Agents: Barbara Dreyfus, Jon Huddle
Management: Art/Work
Manager: Julie Bloom
Financier: Film Nation
Production: Film Nation, Lava Bear, 21 Laps Entertainment

33
WUNDERKIND
Patrick Aison
A Mossad employed father and his CIA agent son team up to hunt an escaped Nazi.
Agency: ICM
Agents: Harley Copen, Bryan Diperstein, Emil Gladstone
Management: DMG Entertainment
Managers: Chris Cowles, Chris Fenton
Financier: Paramount
Production: Bad Robot, DMG Entertainment

31
EXTREMELY WICKED, SHOCKINGLY EVIL, AND VILE
Michael Werwie
Based on a true (and ultimately surprising) story, a promising young law student fights an oppressive legal system and growing public scrutiny when his routine traffic stop snowballs into shocking criminal charges, imprisonment, daring escapes, and ultimately acting as his own attorney in a nationally televised murder trial.
Agency: UTA
Agents: Peter Dodd, David Flynn, Jon Huddle, David Kramer
Management: Evolution Entetainment
Manager: Stephen Gates, Brad Kaplan
Production: Michael Costigan

29
GLIMMER
Carter Blanchard
When three friends go missing on a camping trip in a forest rumored to be haunted, the two left behind discover clues that lead them to a safe deposit box containing video tapes… showing exactly what happened to their friends.
Agency: Paradigm
Agents: David Boxerbaum
Management: Madhouse Entertainment
Managers: Ryan Cunningham, Adam Kolbrenner
Financier: Dreamworks
Production: Madhouse Entertainment

29
ME & EARL & THE DYING GIRL
Jesse Andrews
Based on Andrews’s eponymous novel, a quirky high school student who enjoys making films sparks a friendship with a classmate dying of leukemia.
Agency: WME
Agents: Anna Deroy, Sarah Self
Management: MXN
Managers: Michelle Knudsen, Mason Novick
Production: Indian Paintbrush

28
DEVILS AT PLAY
James Dilapo
In the Soviet Union in 1937, a worker of the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs finds a list of traitors, which he thinks is going to be his way out.
Agency: Verve
Agents : Aaron Hart, Rob Herting, Adam Levine
Management: Kaplan/Perrone
Manager: Alex Lerner

AngelHedgie

Is it me, or is this year's crop really lackluster?

For comparison, 2011, 2008.

Edit: And how the fuck did the 2012 list get full of Nazis?

Astaereth

I dunno, this year has some delightful insane stuff, like Man of Tomorrow, Whalemen, The Final Broadcast... plus a lot of stuff that feels very throw-backish, in a good way.

Also it feels better than 2011, which had a lot more entries like this year's Cherries that made you go "ugh" inside.

Also amusing: the one that will never ever get made because it's about Marlon Brando and no actor is brave/foolish enough to take that on.

ElJeffe

Umm. There is one story that has Nazis and one story that I guess could have Nazis. I don't think that's "full of Nazis". Unless, I don't know, it's just one really big Nazi.

But yeah, I'm unimpressed by the top ten list. Half of them don't even read like pitches so much as tropes. A quirky girl befriends an outcast! A father and son spy team hunt a Nazi! Generic NFL draft movie! Hillary Clinton biopic!

Wait, I have an idea for a movie - a guy on a computer reads about some movie scripts and is really bored. Somebody call up Seth Rogen.

Hedgethorn

"Bleeding Kansas":
A runaway slave and a sheriff must journey to rescue the kidnapped daughter of a
Gubernatorial candidate against the backdrop of Kansas’ induction into statehood and
whether or not it would be a slave or free state.

Cast Kurt Russell and call it Escape from Wichita and I'll be there on opening night.

Atomika

I'm not sure if any of those grabbed me.

They all kind of sound done before. Draft Day probably has the most promise, followed by the lawyer movie with the terrible title.


I mean, while I'm no fan of Ebert I strong ascribe to his theory that "reading a script to discern whether or not a movie will be good is like dissecting a woman's womb to find out if she's good in bed."

Mike Danger

Rodham would be great if they had a trailer that just made it seem like a normal movie until the very end when they reveal it's about Hillary (and Bill).

Americatown and Sand Castle both make me feel really uncomfortable, plot/name wise.

I have a bunch of friends who really liked The Fault In Our Stars, so maybe that will become a Real Movie someday?

I can't figure out if El Tigre is supposed to be a gritty thriller or a comedy.

The Final Broadcast and Black Box both sound like they could be awesome if done right.

Finally, the Portland Condition sounds like the hipsteriest science fiction movie ever.

Astaereth

The Portland Condition sounds like it could be somebody's answer to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

I guarantee you El Tigre is a comedy. Nobody makes gritty thrillers that start with a family vacation and progress through mistaken identity this side of DTV. And "El Tigre" is a funny name.

Edit: The Broken sounds excellent:

THE BROKEN
John Glosser
In 1967 Oklahoma, a war vet/farmer investigates the suspicious death of his estranged son in the next county. When he discovers his son’s brutal murder was a covered-up gay bashing, he goes on a one-man mission to take down the corrupt sheriff responsible.

As does Our Name is Adam:

OUR NAME IS ADAM
T.S. Nowlin
An astronaut travels back in time to enlist the help of his younger self.

I'd be interested in seeing the McCarthy biopic, too. And this one wins for best title, I think:

PENNY DREADFUL
Shane Atkinson
Desperate to hang on to his pregnant girlfriend, bumbling Dennis gets caught up in a kidnapping scheme gone awry, leaving him saddled with a sociopathic little girl who seemingly calls the shots.

Also note that The Equalizer, low on the list, is set to be produced with Denzel as the lead and Nicolas Winding Refn (of "Drive") as director.

A Dabble Of Thelonius

I kinda like the sound of Hibernation.

Rhesus Positive

Astaereth wrote: »

The Portland Condition sounds like it could be somebody's answer to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

I guarantee you El Tigre is a comedy. Nobody makes gritty thrillers that start with a family vacation and progress through mistaken identity this side of DTV. And "El Tigre" is a funny name.

PantsB

The Top 10 is kinda boring IMO.

Only ones that are interesting to me:

MAN OF TOMORROW
Jeremy Slater
In an alternate 1940s reality, the US Government makes a deal with an indestructible gangster to kill Hilter in exchange for the city of Chicago, which he will build into his own utopia. Unfortunately his model city never comes to fruition and both he and his Bureau liaison get much of the slack for destroying one of America’s greatest cities and now the government wants him dead.

THE BROKEN
John Glosser
In 1967 Oklahoma, a war vet/farmer investigates the suspicious death of his estranged son in the next county. When he discovers his son’s brutal murder was a covered-up gay bashing, he goes on a one-man mission to take down the corrupt sheriff responsible.

and potentially

HIBERNATION
Will Frank, Geneva Robertson-Dworet
A wrongly convicted inmate volunteers for a hibernation experiment in exchange for one day of parole every five years, which he uses to prove his innocence and search for his missing daughter across an increasingly futuristic landscape.

PESTE
Barbara Marshall
Following the outbreak of a virus that wipes out the majority of the human population, a teen documents her family’s new life in quarantine and tries to protect her infected sister.

The one that stands out as I really hope they don't make is the Lost Cause bullshit

THE KEEPING ROOM
Julia Hart
Three southern women defend their home from the Union army while their husbands are off fighting in the Civil War.

TehSloth

I could maybe see

WHO FRAMED TOMMY CALLAHAN?
Harry Kellerman
An elementary school student searches for the truth behind the candy bar ring conspiracy that got his brother expelled.
Agency: CAA
Agents: John Garvey, Stuart Manashil

If they moved the age up and did it as yet another high school neo noir movie like Brick or Assassination of a High School President

Gandalf_the_Crazed

I would watch Seuss.

AngelHedgie

The Pulitzer/Hearst pic is one that sounds pretty interesting to me.

AngelHedgie

PantsB wrote: »

The one that stands out as I really hope they don't make is the Lost Cause bullshit

THE KEEPING ROOM
Julia Hart
Three southern women defend their home from the Union army while their husbands are off fighting in the Civil War.

I'm completely in agreement with you on this. Django Unchained has shown that we can have Civil War period films that don't push that odious bullshit. Let's not take a step back.

ElJeffe

Atomic Ross wrote: »

I'm not sure if any of those grabbed me.

They all kind of sound done before. Draft Day probably has the most promise, followed by the lawyer movie with the terrible title.

I mean, while I'm no fan of Ebert I strong ascribe to his theory that "reading a script to discern whether or not a movie will be good is like dissecting a woman's womb to find out if she's good in bed."

I'll broaden that and say that there is no one factor you can look at to determine if a film will be good, barring maybe a few directors. (The Coens, PT Anderson, Tarantino, maybe one or two others). A great script can be turned to shit. A great actor can wind up in a terrible movie. But you can look at a script and determine if the possibility for a great movie is there, just as you can look at a script and determine it's probably going to suck.

Also, Hibernation sounds potentially awesome.

Xenogears of Bore

There have been plenty of movies that had an amazing script and ended up being terrible but I can't think of the opposite ever happening.

The script for a movie is like the keel of a ship

tbloxham

Americatown sounds good, other than the terrible name. If it was done right it could be interesting, almost like a robocop storyline but without robots.

Other than that, only Man of Tomorrow sounds like anything different from what we see in every movie ever.