| The Blacklist is a list of all of the hottest unproduced scripts passed around Hollywood each year. Past Blacklist scripts have included: Juno, Lars and the Real Girl and 500 Days of Summer. Each year when the list comes out, screenwriters erupt with jealousy and self-loathing. | 
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“Why aren’t I on the list? How can I be on the list next year? No one knows I exist.”
Reading about Blacklist success stories, writers feel a million miles away. They don’t think they’d ever make it onto a list like that, and they don’t know how they’d go about even trying.
For this article, we did a little research into the writers featured on this year’s Blacklist so you can see how you measure up...
Reading about Blacklist success stories, writers feel a million miles away. They don’t think they’d ever make it onto a list like that, and they don’t know how they’d go about even trying.
For this article, we did a little research into the writers featured on this year’s Blacklist so you can see how you measure up...
We picked ten scripts and did a bit of research on the writers of each project. First, we checked out the writers from the top five scripts. Then we randomly selected five additional writers from the body of the list.
Because we relied on the Internet for all of this information, I can’t promise that it will be anywhere near exact. But it should provide a good understanding of Blacklist writers.
Because we relied on the Internet for all of this information, I can’t promise that it will be anywhere near exact. But it should provide a good understanding of Blacklist writers.
The Top 5 Blacklist Screenwriters
1) Draft Day by Rajiv Joseph & Scott Rothman – 65 Votes
Rajiv Joseph
Thirty eight years old. Acclaimed playwright and 2010 Pulitzer Prize finalist. Graduated from Miami University in 1996 with a degree in Creative Writing. Earned a MFA from NYU in 2004.
His first produced play, Huck & Holden, was produced in 2005. He taught Writing at NYU. Wrote for seasons 3 and 4 of Nurse Jackie.
Scott Rothman
Writer of four screenplays in various stages of pre production on IMDB, including Fratboy and Big In China. Rothman is an active content creator on Funny or Die.
http://www.funnyordie.com/scottrothman
@scottmrothman
2) A Country of Strangers by Sean Armstrong – 43 Votes
Armstrong was a finalist in the 2011 TrackingB.com screenplay contest (with this script). That same here, this script also won first place at the Colorado Film Festival.
3) Seuss by Eyal Podell and Jonathan Stewart (43)
Jonathan Stewart
Accomplished filmmaker for About.com and others, including MTV and HBO Films. Very active with his digital content production company, Atticus Entertainment. Won Best Director at the 48 Hour Film Festival, honorable mention at Slamdance. Dartmouth graduate. Along with Poddell, he optioned another script, Usonia, in 2008.
Eyal Poddell
Thirty seven year old actor and writer. He’s been acting since 1998, with credits spanning from Ally McBeal to NCIS. He’s been writing with Stewart for quite a while, including securing the aforementioned option with Usonia.
https://twitter.com/eyalpodell
Rajiv Joseph
Thirty eight years old. Acclaimed playwright and 2010 Pulitzer Prize finalist. Graduated from Miami University in 1996 with a degree in Creative Writing. Earned a MFA from NYU in 2004.
His first produced play, Huck & Holden, was produced in 2005. He taught Writing at NYU. Wrote for seasons 3 and 4 of Nurse Jackie.
Scott Rothman
Writer of four screenplays in various stages of pre production on IMDB, including Fratboy and Big In China. Rothman is an active content creator on Funny or Die.
http://www.funnyordie.com/scottrothman
@scottmrothman
2) A Country of Strangers by Sean Armstrong – 43 Votes
Armstrong was a finalist in the 2011 TrackingB.com screenplay contest (with this script). That same here, this script also won first place at the Colorado Film Festival.
3) Seuss by Eyal Podell and Jonathan Stewart (43)
Jonathan Stewart
Accomplished filmmaker for About.com and others, including MTV and HBO Films. Very active with his digital content production company, Atticus Entertainment. Won Best Director at the 48 Hour Film Festival, honorable mention at Slamdance. Dartmouth graduate. Along with Poddell, he optioned another script, Usonia, in 2008.
Eyal Poddell
Thirty seven year old actor and writer. He’s been acting since 1998, with credits spanning from Ally McBeal to NCIS. He’s been writing with Stewart for quite a while, including securing the aforementioned option with Usonia.
https://twitter.com/eyalpodell
"[These writers] are already accomplished, in screenwriting or in other fields. Despite that, for some of them, the Blacklist is one of the biggest breaks so far in their screenwriting careers. That just goes to show you, it can take a long time to break in, no matter your accomplishments in other arenas."
4) Rodham by Young Il Kim (39)
Economics degree from Harvard. MFA in Screenwriting from USC. Former dot com venture capitalist. Kim has been pursuing screenwriting for over ten years and currently has no produced scripts to his credit, although his first script was a finalist in several contests in 2002.
@theyoungilkim
5) Story of Your Life by Eric Heisserer (39)
First script sale occurred in 2005. Since then he has been hired on several notable projects include the Nightmare on Elm Street re-boot, which was produced in 2010. He will make his directorial debut in 2013, with Hours, starring Paul Walker.
https://twitter.com/HIGHzurrer
Economics degree from Harvard. MFA in Screenwriting from USC. Former dot com venture capitalist. Kim has been pursuing screenwriting for over ten years and currently has no produced scripts to his credit, although his first script was a finalist in several contests in 2002.
@theyoungilkim
5) Story of Your Life by Eric Heisserer (39)
First script sale occurred in 2005. Since then he has been hired on several notable projects include the Nightmare on Elm Street re-boot, which was produced in 2010. He will make his directorial debut in 2013, with Hours, starring Paul Walker.
https://twitter.com/HIGHzurrer
Quick Overview
The writers we discussed above have some serious pedigree. They’re already accomplished, in screenwriting or in other fields. Despite that, for some of them, the Blacklist is one of the biggest breaks so far in the screenwriting careers. That just goes to show you, it can take a long time to break in, no matter your accomplishments in other arenas.
Let’s see if the writers of less highly rated scripts are any different…
Let’s see if the writers of less highly rated scripts are any different…
5 Randomly Selected Blacklist Writers
The Portland Condition by Dan Cohn & Jeremy Miller (10)
Dan Cohn’s first credit is as a writer on Boston Public in 2001. Since then he has produced 44 episodes of the same show and worked as a consulting producer on both The Mountain and Entourage.
The pair has written quite a bit together, selling feature films and TV shows as a team for a number of years.
With their track record, Cohn and Miller would fit right in with the top five writers discussed above.
El Tigre by Aaron Buchsbaum & Teddy Riley (15)
Buchsbaum graduated from USC in 2008. Before this script, his only listed credits on IMDB were as a production assistant, an art department intern and a production intern.
https://twitter.com/Buxbomb
Like Buchsbaum, Riley worked as an assistant before El Tigre. He has no previous credits on IMDB.
These two are proof that you don’t need to have a Pulitzer to get attention in Hollywood. They had a good script and it turned heads.
Ex-Boyfriend of the Bride by Matt Hausfater
Hausfater is a graduate of Boston University’s School of Communications, co-founder of WolfHausMedia, a production company geared towards reality material. The company sold a show to the Fox Reality Network in 2007 and work together on the G4 show “The Block.”
He’s worked on various sets in a variety of capacities dating back almost ten years, and spent three years doing production assistant work (2005-2008) before joining the production staff on the TV series, Revenge.
If IMDB is any indication, he worked very hard for all of his accomplishments, and is by no means an overnight success.
https://twitter.com/JewSqueeze
Dan Cohn’s first credit is as a writer on Boston Public in 2001. Since then he has produced 44 episodes of the same show and worked as a consulting producer on both The Mountain and Entourage.
The pair has written quite a bit together, selling feature films and TV shows as a team for a number of years.
With their track record, Cohn and Miller would fit right in with the top five writers discussed above.
El Tigre by Aaron Buchsbaum & Teddy Riley (15)
Buchsbaum graduated from USC in 2008. Before this script, his only listed credits on IMDB were as a production assistant, an art department intern and a production intern.
https://twitter.com/Buxbomb
Like Buchsbaum, Riley worked as an assistant before El Tigre. He has no previous credits on IMDB.
These two are proof that you don’t need to have a Pulitzer to get attention in Hollywood. They had a good script and it turned heads.
Ex-Boyfriend of the Bride by Matt Hausfater
Hausfater is a graduate of Boston University’s School of Communications, co-founder of WolfHausMedia, a production company geared towards reality material. The company sold a show to the Fox Reality Network in 2007 and work together on the G4 show “The Block.”
He’s worked on various sets in a variety of capacities dating back almost ten years, and spent three years doing production assistant work (2005-2008) before joining the production staff on the TV series, Revenge.
If IMDB is any indication, he worked very hard for all of his accomplishments, and is by no means an overnight success.
https://twitter.com/JewSqueeze
Where do you fit in?
As you can see, the screenwriters that made a splash on this year’s Blacklist range from Pulitzer finalists to first timers, and this is just a small percentage of the overall scripts on this year’s list.
So no matter where you are as a writer right now, it’s important to have confidence in yourself and your abilities. Everybody starts somewhere, and there’s no reason the script you’re working on right now won’t show up on the Blacklist in 2013.
What do you think about the writers listed here? Comment below.
So no matter where you are as a writer right now, it’s important to have confidence in yourself and your abilities. Everybody starts somewhere, and there’s no reason the script you’re working on right now won’t show up on the Blacklist in 2013.
What do you think about the writers listed here? Comment below.