For the uninitiated—The Black List is an online platform that supports writers and the creative industries and famously features an annual survey of the most-liked unproduced screenplays. But back in the Hollywood of my day, the Black List was reserved for “commies who would never eat lunch in this town again.”
Most notable among the original Black List was “The Hollywood Ten,” all of whom were screenwriters investigated by the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) and refused to answer the committee's questions about alleged communist influence in the film industry.
They were subpoenaed en masse and appeared before the committee on October 27, 1947. Perhaps the most famous among them was Dalton Trumbo (who wrote Johnny Got His Gun, later Spartacus).
In some footage of the hearings, one can spy Tricky Dick himself, Richard Nixon, then a freshman congressman and committee member jockeying to make a name for himself, lurking in the shadows. It makes one wonder—what future demagogues are lurking in congressional committees now? And will Anthony Hopkins be too old to play them?
It was Trombo's birthday on Monday, Dec. 9, which makes it all the more fitting that the “new” Hollywood Blacklist would be posted at blcklst.com.
As a screenwriter, having your work listed can make your career, if not your film—a far cry from its Cancel Culture-anticipating predecessor, which killed careers outright. Some found work in Europe, and others quit the biz. Some, like Trumbo, worked pseudonymously (the Writers Guild of America finally recognized his credit for Roman Holiday in 2011). Also, they were all found in contempt of Congress and did time.
Meanwhile, since 2005, at least 450 Black List scripts have been produced, grossing over $30 billion at the box office worldwide. Black List movies have won 54 Academy Awards from 273 nominations, including four Best Picture Oscars and eleven Best Screenplay Oscars since 2007. This year also marks the list’s 20th anniversary.
Topping the list for a second consecutive year (a first for the list) is Travis Braun (someone give this kid a green light already). Braun’s screenplay, One Night Only, finds a couple of strangers desperate to find someone to sleep with on the one night of the year when premarital sex is legal, according to Deadline. I can imagine the pitch room conversation:
Exec: So, it’s a dystopian rom-com set in a hyper-conservative future. But there’s sex, right?
Braun: There can be sex but the point is—
Exec: —Love it!
When One Night Only hits the screen, I doubt I’ll be inspired to stand up in the theater and declare, “I’m Spartacus!” but one never knows. Besides, that’s not Braun’s problem. It’s mine, which I share with other creatives trying to balance art and conscience in an era when it seems we should be doing something.
This conundrum reminds me of a scene in Woody Allen’s Stardust Memories. Perhaps he has a point:
Woody: Shouldn’t I stop making movies and do something that counts like helping blind people or becoming a missionary or something?
Super-Intelligent Alien: Let me tell you, you’re not the missionary type. You’d never last. And incidentally, you’re also not Superman; you’re a comedian. You wanna do mankind a real service? Tell funnier jokes.”
Congrats to Braun and the panoply of diverse and talented voices who made this year's Black List. And a hat tip to the Hollywood Ten, who first made it a thing.
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