This morning the Golden Globe nominations were revealed, providing your guide to the movies you need to catch up with if you want to stay in the awards season conversation. But if you want to get an idea of the movies or writers will be making an awards season wave in the years ahead, then you might want to peruse the 2016 Black List.
The annual ranking of the best unproduced screenplays by those in the know in Hollywood is always fun to look at. The films might not ever get made — particularly the more daring screenplays — but if anything they put writers on the map, kicking open doors where they might’ve previously been closed. And it seems this year, there are some screenwriters either kicking back at the studio system or going full blown meta.
For example: “A Deconstruction of Reality” by Mattson Tomlin finds the lead character Tom Milton “tasked with finding a game changing take of the sixth Jason Bourne movie” and going “down the rabbit hole of cracking the story, with help of a professor and Bourne.” Meanwhile, Seth Spector‘s cheekily titled “Untitled Lax Mandis Project” follows “a freshmen film exec at odds with the state of his industry is forced to work with the one person who is making him question everything.” (Someone please send us that script, it sounds amazing).
Ever wanted a movie about Stephen King? How about two: “Maximum King” and “The Kings Of Maine” both feature on the list. And that’s not to mention “James Cameron’s Titanic.”
There’s serious fare in here too including “Adrift” starring Shailene Woodley, “Nightcrawler” scribe Dan Gilroy‘s “Inner City” which has Denzel Washington circling, and the Tonya Harding biopic “I Tonya,” starring Margot Robbie, which has just been snapped up by Miramax. Topping the list with the most votes is the Madonna biopic “Blond Ambition.”
Check out the full rankings right here, and the full list of titles and loglines below.
“Linda and Monica”
Screenwriter: Flint Wainess
True story of Monica Lewinsky and Linda Tripp and their relationship
“The Time Traveler’s La Ronde”
Screenwriter: Tom Dean
A story of a man who experiences love at all ages as he travels through time.
“Carnada”
Screenwriter: Katharine Werner
Based on true events in the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis, a young CIA agent is assigned to the Miami field office to become a case officer for a charismatic Cuban ambassador offering to help eliminate Fidel Castro.
“I Think We’re Alone Now”
Screenwriter: Mike Makowsky
The apocalypse is a blessing in disguise for one recluse until one other companion arrives.
“Fairy Godmother”
Screenwriter: Chiara Atik
Fay is an in-demand fairy godmother hired by a “mind-boggling gorgeous” teenage client to bag a handsome prince. She hits a snag when the prince falls in love with the godmother, not his intended teen match.
“Kings Canyon”
Screenwriters: Paul Hilborn, Evan Parter
At the height of the Cold War, an Air Force pilot vanishes over Sierra Nevada mountains. Then he crawls out of the wild with a tale of survival. However, discrepancies in his story soon prompt many to doubt his story and call it a “hoax.”
“Rugged”
Screenwriter: April Prosser
Four female coworkers get lost in the wilderness when they are on a team building activity and they have to work together to survive.
“A Deconstruction of Reality”
Screenwriter: Mattson Tomlin
Tasked with finding a game changing take of the sixth Jason Bourne movie, Tom Milton goes down the rabbit hole of cracking the story, with help of a professor and Bourne.
“Escape From Sarajevo”
Screenwriter: Vanya Asher
Based on the author’s own father’s escape from Sarajevo in 1992, actor Armie Hammer described the project as a “heartbreaking tale of a man and his family.”
“Hummingbird”
Screenwriter: John Tyler Mclain
A story of a Black Ops assassin who has to question her own identity
“Untitled Lax Mandis Project”
Screenwriter: Seth Spector
A freshmen film exec at odds with the state of his industry is forced to work with the one person who is making him question everything.
“The Last Days of Night”
Screenwriter: Graham Moore (Oscar winner for Best Adapted Screenplay, “The Imitation Game”)
An attorney who takes on Thomas Edison in the legal battle over who would come to light America.
“The Gun Show”
Screenwriter: Lucas Carter
A cop wakes up 20 years after his shootout and is reinstated to solve his partner’s murder… but he is paired with his partner’s son.
“The Post”
Screenwriter: Liz Hannah
“The Post” is the true story about how about a Washington Post reporter and her editor overcame their differences to publish the story about the Pentagon Papers… which would change their lives.
“In the Blink of an Eye”
Screenwriter: Colby Day
The script explores the history of the universe and our species that questions the nature of life, love and mortality.
“Contingency Protocol”
Screenwriter: Mark Townend
When futuristic technology renders the Federal Witness Protection Program obsolete, the U.S. Government begins using Time Travel to hide high-profile witnesses in the Past. When a security breach occurs, a U.S. Marshal and her witness struggle to find their way back to the Present Day while evading assassins.
“The Fall”
Screenwriter: Pete Bridges
Finding themselves in the middle of an alien invasion, a newly divorced couple must survive a dangerous real-time journey on foot from downtown Atlanta to the suburbs, where their young children are home alone.
“The Housewife”
Screenwriter: Alyssa Hill
Based on a true story set in 1960s New York, a journalist finds and investigates a woman whom he believes is married to a Nazi in hiding. Their relationship results in the first ever extradition of an American citizen for war crimes.
“Let Evil Go West”
Screenwriter: Carlos Rios
In the 1800s, a father desperate to care for his family finds a barrel of gold, that may be less fortune than great curse.
“Blond Ambition”
Screenwiter: Elyse Hollander
In 1980s New York, Madonna struggles to get her first album released while navigating fame, romance, and a music industry that views women as disposal.
“Mother”
Screenwriter: Michael Lloyd Green
A teenage girl is raised underground by a robot “Mother” – designed to repopulate the earth’s surface following an extinction-level event. But their unique bond is threatened when an inexplicable stranger arrives with alarming news.
“Palmer”
Screenwriter: Cheryl Guerreiro
A recently-paroled convict returns to his hometown in the South, where he forms an unlikely-but-powerful bond with a young, effeminate boy.
“The Fruitcake”
Screenwriter: Trey Selman
The remarkable true story of an unremarkable church-going accountant who stole $17 million in the biggest fruitcake heist of all time.
“Man Alive”
Screenwriter: Joe Greenberg
After an alien invasion takes over the minds of humankind, one survivor know as “man” must make peace with the alien force to fight a greater evil.
“Untitled Late Night Comedy”
Screenwriter: Mindy Kaling
A veteran late-night talk show host comes close to losing her job after hiring the show’s first female writer.
“The Hunchback”
Screenwriter: Topher Rhys-Lawrence
A dystopian take on Victor Hugo’s classic “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame” sees a gypsy revolutionary and a hunchback take on an isolationist government.
“Layla and Other Love Songs”
Screenwriter: Derek Weissbein
Based on the lives and times of Eric Clapton, George Harrison, and Pattie Boyd and the tumultuous love triange that inspired an entire generation of music.
“Inner City”
Screenwriter: Dan Gilroy
When a hard nosed liberal lawyer who has been fighting the good fight while others take the credit assumes the role of his crusading firm’s front man, he discovers some unsettling things about what they’ve done, resulting in an existential crisis that leads to extreme action.
“Allison Adams”
Screenwriter: Devon Grave
A little girl goes missing in a small town, and the key to finding her resides with four disparate women who share nothing in common except for the young girl’s name…Allison Adams.
“Bad Education”
Screenwriter: Mike Mankowsk
The unfolding of the largest public school embezzlement scandal in United States history – an incredible true story that pits corrupt educators against dogged student journalists against the backgroup of a cutthroat Long Island suburb.
“Donziger”
Screenwriters: Matt Bai, Jay Carson<
After twenty years, Steven Danziger wins a $19 billion verdict against Chevron for poisoning rural lands in Ecuador. Chevron responds by hiring heavy hitter Randy Mastro determined to have the entire verdict thrown out.
Inspired by actual events from a phenomenon that occurred in 1974, a young married couple discover a mysterious metallic orb in the woods near their house following a meteor shower. While the unusual object dazzles the couple by exhibiting some awe-inspiring properties, its true purposes are revealed to be far more sinister than they could ever imagine.
“Reason of State”
Screenwriter: Matthew Orton
Twenty four hours inside the British Prime Minister’s abode at 10 Downing Street.
“The Olympian”
Screenwriter: Tony Tost
The true story of an underdog rower trying to make it into the 1984 Olympics, told through the story of his relationships with his coach, his father, his fiancée, and with competition itself.
“Free Guy”
Screenwriter: Matt Lieberman
A bank teller stuck in his routine discovers he’s a background character in a realistic, open world action- adventure video game and he is the only one capable of saving the city.
“Villains”
Screenwriters: Dan Berk, Robert Olsen
Two small time robbers become prisoners when they break into a house and discover a ten year old girl chained up in the basement.
“Boyfriend Material”
Screenwriter:Mackenzie Dohr
In the near future, a heartbroken girl who hates technology participates in an experiment that allows you to program a robot into your dream man.
“Space Oddity”
Screenwriter: Rebecca Banner
A young man obsessed with taking a one-way trip to Mars begins to question his motives when he starts to fall in love with the Insurance Agent underwriting his trip.
“America: The Motion Picture”
Screenwriter: Dave Callahan
An R-rated action comedy, animated, revisionist history of the founding of the United States of America
“Hart You”
Screenwriter: Zoe McCarthy
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“The Woman with the Red Hair”
Screenwriter: Michael Schatz
The extraordinary true story of Johanna “Hannie” Schaft, a young woman who dropped out of college to join the Dutch Resistance during WWII, eventually becoming one of their most talented assassins and one of the Nazis’ most wanted enemies.
“Letters from Rosemary Kennedy”
Screenwriter: Nick Yarborough
Told through a series of letters to family members, the tragic true story of Rosemary Kennedy, a vibrant, passionate young woman and oldest daughter of Joe and Rose Kennedy. Born with a severe learning disability, Rosemary so worried her father with her erratic behavior that he believed the stigma of mental illness in the family would ruin his plans to build a political dynasty. He hid her away in convents and sanitariums and sanitariums and ultimately had her lobotomized.
“The Burning Season”
Screenwriter: Jenny Halper
A primatologist takes her teenage daughter to a remote region of Madagascar, where her determination to save endangered lemurs puts their relationship and safety at risk. Based on the short story “What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us” by Laura Van Den Berg.
“Turned On”
Screenwriter: Charlie Kesslering
When a socially awkward engineer creates an android to fill in for her, things go awry when it becomes self actualized.“O2”
Screenwriter: Christie LeBlanc
Waking up inside a cryogenic chamber with no memory of how she got there, Charlie must somehow escape the chamber before her air runs out.
“James Cameron’s Titanic”
Screenwriter: Kate D’Angelo
A Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead take on Titanic. An overprotective mother attempts to keep her teenage daughter, young son, and rowdy sister together while sailing on the doomed voyage of the Titanic in 1912.
“Life Itself”
Screenwriter: Dan Fogelman
A multigenerational love story that weaves together a number of characters whose lives intersect over the course of decades from the streets of New York to the Spanish countryside and back.
“King of LA”
Screenwriter: Chris Bremner
Set in the 1980s, based on the true story of a man who went from star DEA agent to convicted drug trafficker in the worst corruption scandal in DEA history.
“Voyagers”
Screenwriter: Zach Dean
The cosmic love story of Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan.
“Maximum King!”
Screenwriter: Shay Hatten
An outlandish, surreal imagining of how in 1985 Stephen King wrote and directed his horror classic MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE.
“Dark Money”
Screenwroter: Matt Fruchtman
The true story of a young stock trader who goes to work for billionaire tycoon Steve Cohen and gets involved in the biggest insider trading scandal in history.
“Miller’s Girl”
Screenwriter: Jade Bartlett
A precocious young writer becomes involved with her high school creative writing teacher in a dark coming- of-age drama that examines the blurred lines of emotional connectivity between professor and protégé, child and adult.
“Saving Charlie Chaplin
Screenwriter: Justin Shady
With Nazi agents attempting to stop the production of a flm that is poking fun at Hitler, an FBI agent and an LAPD detective must team up to protect a drunk and angry Charlie Chaplin from being kidnapped.
“Barbarian”
Screenwriter: Rosalind Ross
Based on the true story of Boudicca, a queen and warrior of the British Celtic Iceni tribe who led an uprising against the occupying forces of the Roman Empire.
“Hotel Artemis”
Screenwriter: Drew Pearce
Near-future crime thriller with Jodie Foster starring in Pearce’s directorial debut. The Ink Factory is producing and financing.
“The Kings of Maine”
Screenwriter: Kathy Charles
Living with his wife and child in a trailer while working as a janitor, Stephen King struggles with alcoholism and his own dark history as he attempts to complete Carrie.
“Burn Run”
Screenwriter: Matt Tente
In war-torn Afghanistan, an American mercenary team is hired to escort a 20-ton heroin seizure bound for destruction but get caught up in a botched drug deal when their leader goes rogue, forcing them to overcome various enemies who wish to steal it.
“American Rebel”
Screenwriter: Christopher Cosmos
The true story of Deborah Sampson, a woman from Massachusetts who risked her life by disguising herself as a man and joining the Continental Army to help fight for independence during the Revolutionary War.
“Northeast Kingdom”
Screenwriter: Alex R. Johnson
When Angie witnesses the betrayal and murder of her father during a smuggler’s drop, the vigilant and determined young woman calls in the help of a mysterious female assassin to seek revenge against all those responsible.
“The Miserable Adventures of Burt Squire”
Screenwriter:Ben Bolea
The unbelievable true story of a family man from Alaska in the midst of a midlife crisis who embarks on what he hoped would be a dream sailing vacation but ends up shipwrecked in the Atlantic Ocean with a charming but psychotic sea captain who has decided to stop taking his medication.
“Liberty”
Screenwriter: Jayson Rothwell
The truly astonishing tale of Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi – the French sculptor wholly responsible for designing, building, and delivering the Statue of Liberty across the Atlantic to where it stands today.
“Two Butterflies”
Screenwriter: Evan Dodson
Torn apart by tragedy, two estranged sisters are forced to reunite and confront their differences after one sister must be transported to an Alzheimers facility.
“Captain Infinity”
Screenwriter: Harry Tarre
When his comic book obsessed five-year-old brother is diagnosed with cancer, Oscar Ruiz attempts to shield him from the truth by convincing him that his “treatment” is all part of a top secret program to become a superhero.
“Revolver”
Screenwriter: Kate Trefry
Based on true events in Anchorage, Alaska in 1966, a teen girl attempts to sneak into the hotel where the Beatles are staying to lose her virginity to George Harrison.
“Battle of Alcatraz”
Screenwriters: Neil Widener, Gavin James
A plan to escape from Alcatraz prison turns into a battle and hostage crisis that pits armed prisoners against US Army troops for two full days.
“Bitter Pill”
Screenwriter: Turner Hay
When an out-of-work divorced mother stops taking the court-ordered medication that made her feel like a zombie, her brazenly immoral, fifteen-year-old imaginary friend appears to help get her life back on track. ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
“Mr. Toy”
Screenwriter: Chai Hecht
The true story of Marvin Glass, brilliant, charismatic, self-loathing, paranoid, demanding – and probably the greatest toy inventor of all time.
“Hala”
Screenwriter: Minhal Baig
When a teenaged Muslim-American girl, struggling with identity issues already, discovers her father is having an affair with a colleague, she responds by seducing her English teacher, ultimately leading to her parents’ divorce.
“I Tonya”
Screenwriter: Steven Rogers
The Tonya Harding biopic is starring Margot Robbie as the ice skater.
“Adrift”
Screenwriters: Aaron & Jordan Kandell
In this incredible true story of love and survival, Tami Ashcraft sails into the heart of a hurricane and embarks on a harrowing 41 day odyssey against impossible odds to save the man she loves.