The Blacklist & Nicholl Fellowship Partnership: What It Means for Screenwriters
In this episode, the Kinolime team discusses the recent partnership between The Blacklist and the prestigious Nicholl Fellowship, and what this means for independent screenwriters trying to break into the industry.
Key Takeaways
Screenwriters who aren't in film labs or prestigious universities must now register with The Blacklist to enter the Nicholl Fellowship
Entry requires paying for coverage plus hosting fees
Only ONE reader will evaluate your screenplay (down from the previous two)
Only the top 25 scripts from The Blacklist will advance to the actual Nicholl competition
Total Nicholl entries have been dramatically reduced from 6,000 to approximately 2,500
Why This Matters:
The Nicholl Fellowship, run by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, is considered the most prestigious screenwriting competition
It's historically been open to entry-level screenwriters (those earning less than $25,000 from screenwriting)
This partnership seems to create additional barriers for writers outside the industry "inner circle"
Full Transcript: KL Podcast Episode 3
John: [00:00:00] So moving on from the untimely demise of Coverfly, we got some more news this morning regarding the Blacklist and the Nicholl Fellowship. As someone who was top 50 in the Nicholl Fellowship with "Peeking to Paris," which you're familiar with, I wanted to discuss this for everyone at home who's learning about this.
John: Now, the Blacklist and the Nicholl seem to have done a team up. They've done a LeBron James-style team up where they're building a super team. If you want to enter the Nicholl, and if you're not in a film lab or a prestigious university, if you're just like normal John who didn't go to film school and you want to enter the Nicholl, you must register with the Blacklist.
John: You must pay for coverage, which I think is around a hundred bucks, and host your screenplay on their site, which is $35 a month. So in order to do that, you will then be eligible to enter the Nicholl, but you're not actually in the competition yet. [00:01:00] The Blacklist readers—one reader as opposed to two when you entered previously.
John: Yeah, so you had two reads on "Peking." Now it's one reader who will read your screenplay after you pay the coverage analysis and the hosting fee. One reader will read your screenplay. If you make it into the top 25 of the Blacklist's picks, then you will enter the official Nicholl competition. Did I get that right?
Meara: Yeah, I think so. To be honest, looking at the website, it's a little bit difficult to actually tell. There's kind of a lot of information on here. It's not presented super succinctly, frankly, and it's always been a little bit nebulous, I think, in terms of how many entrants there are and how many reads and this kind of thing.
Meara: I wanted to touch briefly upon why the Nicholl is so important. So the Nicholl Fellowship is produced and hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, who do the Oscars, amongst many other wonderful and terrible things. But what's so [00:02:00] great about it is that it's open to all entry-level screenwriters.
Meara: So people who haven't made more than, I think, $25,000. It's quite prestigious. They've got a lot of very high-standard readers—a lot of producers, a lot of academy affiliates, actors, and so forth. So people who know story, people who know craft. They're not just people who saw a film and thought, "Oh, I can probably do that," because—
John: This was always the prestigious screenwriting competition. Right. Nicholl was always like the crème de la crème.
Meara: Exactly. So, you know, in lieu of all of the Coverfly stuff that we've seen happening, this feels like another nail in the coffin, unfortunately. Because basically what's happened here is, two years ago, I think they capped the entrants at about 6,000.
Meara: So it's to not put strain on all the academy members who are so busy all the time. I think not watching—
Danny: Those Oscar movies? Oh yeah, exactly.
Meara: You know, watching all the international entries and short [00:03:00] films, all those things they have to do. But I think then last year it was maybe even—I could be wrong on the number—maybe 5,500.
Meara: This year, they're apparently taking 2,500 entrants through the Blacklist. Then there are some entrants from various prestigious film schools. Danny knows a little bit more about that than I do.
John: 2,500, but out of that 2,500 from the Blacklist, only 25 go into the actual competition. Right. That's what I mean. If somebody at home wants to know, that's what we're seeing as of now.
Meara: Yeah. This is breaking this morning as well. Yeah, so we still have time to digest it and hear from people who understand the minutiae a little bit more, perhaps expand on it, but it does seem like, yeah, 25 people down from 6,000 entrants.
Meara: You need to basically roll an eight or higher on a score out of 10 on the Blacklist, which is usually pretty difficult. And I mean, my screenplay—sorry, I touched my mic—my screenplay, [00:04:00] I'd never scored, I don't think, higher than a seven on the Blacklist. But then I got into the top 50 on the Nicholl, so basically you're rolling the dice on your Blacklist score, hoping that your solitary reader really likes what you've done, and if they don't, then that's it. No other readers are ever gonna see it.
John: Yeah, that's what bothers me, I guess, the most from this news—one reader, man. If you just get the one that doesn't like, maybe genre-wise, doesn't vibe with what you're writing, I mean... Yeah, like we, with our coverage service here, we have a tier where you get two readers. Because again, we believe that, you know, you and I disagree all the time.
John: He and I not so much, but you know, you gotta have more eyes on it. And that was the beauty of the Nicholl—you had two readers. And I think that's awesome. So to go from two to one reader now and hoping that reader likes your genre, I'm not trying to apologize for screenplays that maybe aren't [00:05:00] as well written as others. I'm talking about like, if you write an action comedy that's maybe awesome and you get someone that's really not into that, especially comedy is so subjective. You're done. And the Nicholl is the most prestigious in terms of accolade and prestige in the business—that's probably number one. Yeah, exactly. It's like what everyone loves so much and touts around, which is rightfully so, 'cause it did produce excellence for the last, I don't know, 25, 50 years.
Danny: If you place well in Nicholl and you're an unproduced writer that is looking to break into the industry, yeah, you might get repped. Right? The thing that's so horrific about this that you guys both just touched on is it's a lottery. If you enter any screenplay competition, yeah, it will always be a lottery. I am less grossed out and disappointed by the Blacklist submissions than I am by the fact that it looks like, so the Blacklist is a partner that will get [00:06:00] 25 submissions and every other partner gets two.
Danny: These partners are primarily AFI MFA programs, very prestigious film labs from across the world. I don't wanna use the word elitist—
John: But it feels like unless you're—well, these are both that inner, inner, inner circle. Only 25 people from the Blacklist enter. I just don't feel it's fair.
Danny: So, of all the official partners, most of which are California or New York based or large metropolitan-based MFA programs that cost anywhere—good luck.
Meara: Ireland. Yeah, good luck Ireland. For a non-American, can you tell me what MFA and all these programs are?
Danny: It's essentially a Masters of Fine Arts. And then there are a few film labs. There are a few bachelor programs. Yeah, but the point is these are expensive schools and essentially the program directors will get to vet the scripts, which means if you are one of the 15 people [00:07:00] at, let's say, the CSUN MFA in screenwriting program, you know who your advisor is. You will ask them, what do I need to do? How can I change my script? Before the submission to have my best shot. No other person that's not at one of these programs will be able to do that with their reader.
John: This just seems like it destroys everything. This has Amazon-Whole Foods written all over it. I mean, this is gonna take my favorite organic shopping experience and just destroy it. I mean, not to be too dramatic, but yeah, it just feels, again, if you're a screenwriter, it just seems like the world just doesn't care or is just muscling out those that are not in the circle.
Meara: It feels like the stranglehold on the industry is getting a little tighter and it sounds a little doom and gloom. Look, we're screenwriters, we're aware that the industry changes constantly. That's sure. We understand that and we roll with the punches. [00:08:00] But at the same time, it does feel like this is less meritocracy-based than it has been in the past.
Danny: Yep.
Meara: And if that's the first thing to go, then everything else kind of crumbles, at least in terms of your reputation. For me, I think as soon as the meritocracy goes out the window, I really care a lot less now. If I told someone a couple years ago, "Oh, semi-finalist in the Nicholl," that might sound really cool, but now they might say, "Well, what school did you go to?"
John: Ah, I never thought of that. That's actually very interesting. You're right. It's now gonna be part of that conversation. That's interesting. But you know what? At the end of the day, you could win the Nicholl, you can have a huge score on the Blacklist. You know what you don't get? A produced and financed movie.
Danny: They pretty much never really get produced, and not to plug us, but—
John: That's what we do here at Kinolime. If in our competition, because it is a competition, if your screenplay gets voted at the very end, and it's a vote of [00:09:00] like we vote internally at Kinolime, you as the audience vote, we vote, you vote, but you guys get the final vote. If your screenplay gets voted on as a winner, we're gonna make and produce your film. Because we believe in giving everyone a chance. I mean, we don't have restrictions except that it must be in English, which I think is a pretty low bar considering it's the language of the world.
Meara: The Blacklist doesn't even accept translated scripts. It has to be originally written in English. Go back through your draft history and make sure. Yeah, exactly.
Danny: Again, there is—and to that point of why we do that, it's also just about development philosophy. What stories you're actually looking for. Again, I'm looking at this list. We get submissions, we have people pitch us all the time. There is a unique perspective and voice you get from a writer that is not part of the LA [00:10:00] establishment. That, again, has been pretty much—a lot of these people that are gonna be in the Blacklist that otherwise wouldn't because of their school.
Danny: These are people that have essentially been, in a lot of ways, groomed for this their entire life. And it got that much easier. Like again, our first competition, all the screenplays we optioned were—two of them were writers from out of the country, right? People's first screenplays. People that did not know where to take this story and believed in it. And when you read it, it is lightning in a bottle. It is a new perspective. You do not get that if you pigeonhole everyone into elite universities.
John: It kind of feels like golf. It's like you have to be groomed at a young age. Golf, you gotta be at a club when you're two. And then those are the pros. But now, I mean, like, you know, whatever, it is what it is. But yeah, it's like, I'd love to know—we went to go see Kevin Smith last night. He was having his 25th anniversary of Dogma and had a Q&A after. Did he go to film school?
Meara: I don't think [00:11:00] so. I think his film school was Clerks and Mallrats.
John: That's my point. Kevin Smith today, like if he wanted to enter one of his screenplays—
Meara: Mm-hmm.
John: If he was starting out, he couldn't even enter. Well, he could enter, but there's only 25 that are gonna get picked in that competition.
Meara: Mm-hmm. And he wouldn't be eligible because Clerks is 156 pages and the Blacklist has a 125-page cap.
John: Okay. So that's a short cap. 125.
Meara: 125 is very short. Yeah. What's ours? 130?
John: 135. I don't think ours is 130 and that seems reasonable. Yeah. 125 is short.
John: Yeah. But regardless, why we started Kinolime and what we're really trying to do is we love original voices. Now it doesn't mean that we're against those that went to film school. These two people went to film school. I didn't go to film school. So we're all friends. It's not about who did or who didn't go to film school. It's just that we are opening up to everyone.
Danny: Mm-hmm.
John: Film school, no film school, whatever. If it's in English, you can submit. If it makes the cut, you're in, you're in the [00:12:00] competition and then it's up to the audience to vote down the road. But I just love—I mean part of one of the great joys of my job is when you guys say, "Hey, look at this screenplay." And I read it 'cause we get two sets of eyes on it and I'm like, "Oh man, this just blew me away. This is so cool. This is a person that didn't go to film school." I would love to know, out of our top 25 right now, 27, how many did go to film school? I'd love to know that number. Probably very small, 'cause I think we look at all their backgrounds when they submit their work. There's like a little form, you know, we know what their backgrounds are.
John: But you know, the originality comes through and it doesn't matter. So, I mean, it's interesting news. We'll see where this goes. But if you wanna make an impact, now we're in the middle of our second competition, right? This is the voting stage. Read all 27 treatments, read, read, [00:13:00] read, vote, vote, vote.
John: We'll give you cool incentives. Screenplay coverage. If you read 12 treatments, we're gonna read your screenplay. Probably these two guys and me, or a combination. We're gonna read, we're gonna give you notes. We're gonna do a Zoom. It's gonna be awesome. But come to kinolime.com, read all 27 treatments, read, rate and vote.
John: And there are other incentives, like equity tokens and all this fun stuff. If you read—
Danny: All of them? Oh, Criterion. Yeah. If you read all of our treatments, which are just like five to 10 pages, we will gift you a year of Criterion.
John: Wait, now, so hold on. I saw some comments about the way we pronounce Criterion.
John: Yeah. You said, I say—
Danny: Criterion.
Meara: In the shadows, the Criterion.
John: So what is it? Criterion? Criterion, Criterion. Yeah. It's Criterion. I think last time I was saying Criterion, which is wrong.
Meara: Criteria sounds like a dinosaur.
John: It feels kind of potato, tomato.
Danny: Potato, tomato. I think we were both saying it wrong. You know what it could've been? I was staring at the camera and you're like, "What do I do? I heard you say that."
Meara: [00:14:00] Going back to the part where we said about golf. What do you guys mean "under par"? Oh—
John: He's a writer, folks, and it only took me 20 minutes. He was waiting for that.
John: But thank you so much. Go to kinolime.com, re-rate and vote the treatment phase. We're so excited. This is awesome. And if you don't make the top 25 on the Blacklist, come to us, we're happy to have you.
Danny: Yeah. Or if you do make the top 25 and your movie doesn't get made, oh, come to us. Come to us.
John: That'd be great. Thanks everybody. Bye.
