The Black List Expands Into Fiction and Unpublished Manuscripts

The Black List – the company behind the annual list of Hollywood’s best unproduced screenplays — is expanding into fiction, launching several initiatives focused on unpublished manuscripts. In today’s announcement, The Black List said the goal of the expansion is to bridge the gap between early-career writers and the established publishing industry.

Black List founder and CEO Franklin Leonard said of the new efforts, “Expanding into fiction is a natural progression. Right now, there are brilliant writers around the world who don’t have access to high-quality, accountable feedback, and whose work goes unseen for reasons entirely unrelated to how good it is. That’s a massive market failure, and it changes today.”

Similar to The Black List offering professional feedback on unproduced screenplays, writers can now submit novels for paid feedback from the company’s readers, as well as create a free profile that showcases their completed works.

Randy Winston will spearhead The Black List’s expansion into fiction. Winston, who joined The Black List in February, will spearhead the new fiction efforts. He previously served as the director of writing programs at The Center for Fiction and as the fiction editor at Slice, the literary magazine with a focus on acting as a bridge for early-career writers.

“Randy’s resume and reputation in the book world speak for themselves,” said Leonard of the hire. “But the work he’s done since joining the team in February should make absolutely everyone excited about the future.”

The company has also announced several new fiction initiatives, including The Black List Unpublished Novel Award. The award will be given in seven categories, including children’s and young adult, horror, and literary fiction, with the recipient receiving a $10,000 grant. With submissions currently open, judges for the 2025 awards include LeVar Burton, Roxane Gay and Mike Flanagan.

Additionally, The Black List has announced a partnership with mega-producer Simon Kinberg that will see Kinberg’s Genre Films banner identify an unpublished manuscript to receive an 18-month option for $25,000, with an emphasis placed on genre work including sci-fi and espionage.

Finally, The Black List will offer a free online educational series, “Read the Acknowledgments,” which will be a series of live-taped educational podcasts where Winston will host book professionals who will share their experiences and help to demystify the publishing process. Guest will include editors, agents, librarians, booksellers, critics and non-profit administrators of residencies, among others.