WarnerMedia and The Black List, the film and television industry’s premiere screenwriting marketplace for aspiring and working screenwriters, will launch a pipeline initiative to provide visibility and feedback for aspiring professional screenwriters to identify exceptional writers for episodic content, with access to decision-makers and creatives within WarnerMedia.
Through partner organizations, WarnerMedia will identify up to 600 writers from historically underrepresented communities and provide a voucher to use The Black List’s platform for a free month of hosting and a script evaluation from professional readers.
“It’s important that our showrunners have access to diverse storytellers and get to know them, even if they’re not staffing, to identify exceptional talent and create pipelines so they may launch their careers and flourish.”
Karen Horne, Senior VP, Warnermedia
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The six-month program, which will begin April 1, is a philanthropic endeavor that expands upon WarnerMedia’s commitment to advance representation in the industry by supporting diverse creatives and authentic storytelling that resonates with its global audiences.
“We know that changing and growing the pipeline will take a collective effort, and this is part of our larger commitment as members of the creative community to increase opportunities for those who don’t have access through traditional means,” said Horne adds.
The Black List set as its general mission to identify and celebrate exceptional screenwriting and the people who do it, wherever they are. Every December, its annual list of most-liked unproduced screenplays aggregated by the votes of hundreds of film executives working in the industry has helped provide visibility of scripts and writers who have gone on to great industry success, including Academy Award wins, as well as being part of major blockbusters. Its web-based platform has connected hundreds of writers to representation producers, financiers, and talent in the industry.
“In addition to helping WarnerMedia find extraordinary new writing talent, this initiative will simultaneously provide all 600 writers with high-quality feedback and potentially help them find agents, managers, producers, financiers, talent, and even other studios interested in working with them,” said Black List founder Franklin Leonard. “It’s not a cure-all, but this is the kind of forward-thinking pipeline work that has been all too rare at the corporate level and can have a transformative effect both at WarnerMedia and throughout the industry.”
Script hosting and evaluations will be disbursed by WarnerMedia, The Black List and partner organizations.
The program begins April 1.
