Kristina Lauren Anderson’s Catherine the Great topped the 2014 Black List.
Anderson’s scripted biopic of the Russian royal was the most popular among the 250 film executives who were polled by Black List organizers. Also in the Black List’s top ten were Aether by Krysty Wilson-Cairns, Situation Comedy by Cat Vasko, and Tau by Noga Landau. According to this year’s list, women are writing nearly half of the creme de la creme of the screenplays out there (or at least the most liked ones), and yet the numbers remain frustratingly paltry for women screenwriters.
In total, 9 of the 70 Black List scripts, or 13%, were written by women.
Organizers emphasize that “The Black List is not a ‘best of’ list. It is, at best, a ‘most liked’ list.”
Here are the women-penned scripts on the Black List. The numbers in parentheses next to the screenwriter are how many votes they got. Descriptions are courtesy of the Black List.
Catherine the Great by Kristina Lauren Anderson (51) — Sophia Augusta takes control of her life, her marriage and her kingdom becoming Russia’s most celebrated and beloved monarch: Catherine the Great.
Aether by Krysty Wilson-Cairns (24) — In near future London, a revolutionary technology has been invented that can record sounds hours after they were made. Detective Harry Orwell, inventor of this technology, is part of a pilot program where investigators record and analyze past sound waves and finds himself the prime suspect while investigating a string of brutal murders.
Situation Comedy by Cat Vasko (24) — A young woman, feeling directionless, stumbles upon a mysterious courtyard where she is transported into a sitcom-like universe, becoming a major character on this “TV show.”
Tau by Noga Landau (23) — A woman held captive in the futuristic smart house of a serial kidnapper realizes that her only hope of escape lies in turning the house’s sentient computer against its creator.
The Shower by Jac Schaeffer (10) — At a baby shower for their longtime friend, the attendees suddenly find themselves in the middle of a different type of shower: meteors that release a vapor turning men into blood-hungry aliens.
Celeritas by Kimberly Barrante (9) — When a missing astronaut crash lands 40 years after he launched having not aged a day, his elderly twin brother helps him escape the NASA scientists hunting him. As the government closes in, neither brother is who he claims to be.
Plus One by April Prosser (9) — Just out of a long-term relationship and realizing that all her friends have married, Rachel discovers that her only remaining wingwoman is Summer, a loud and oversharing wildcard.
The Takeway by Julia Cox (8) — A young, play-it-safe art restorer is swept up in a whirlwind romance with her charming boss, who turns out to be a world-class thief.
The Eden Project by Christina Hodson (7) — When a race of genetically modified humans living secretly among us declare war on Man, the fate of the world is in the hands of a rogue “Synthetic” named Eve and a young girl who is about to discover she’s not all human.
See the full Black List here.
