Rapid Response: A new script for the book biz and Hollywood, with The Black List’s Franklin Leonard

Episode Summary

Executive Summary: Franklin Leonard explains how The Blacklist is expanding from Hollywood scripts into novels to surface overlooked talent across publishing, film, and TV. He argues both industries suffer from similar bottlenecks, flawed risk assumptions, and limited access, and that better discovery of high-quality work can unlock major commercial value while broadening opportunity for writers.

Main Topics: The Blacklist’s expansion into novels (Priority: 5/5): Leonard details how the platform now lets novelists create profiles, host work, receive feedback, and become discoverable to publishing, film, television, and theater buyers. Publishing and Hollywood have the same discovery problem (Priority: 5/5): He argues both industries are hit-driven, resource-constrained, and flooded with too much material for gatekeepers to evaluate, creating a need for better filtering and validation. Misconceptions about risk drive bad business decisions (Priority: 5/5): Leonard says perceived risk often reflects outdated assumptions about audience demand, citing examples like female-led action films and Black films internationally. Economic upside of inclusive and better-informed decisions (Priority: 4/5): He links overlooked talent and underinvested audiences to lost revenue, arguing that better access and smarter bets can create large financial returns. Why The Blacklist remains non-equity and service-based (Priority: 4/5): Leonard explains the company charges for hosting and feedback rather than taking ownership stakes, because writers should retain the ability to choose the best deal downstream. AI, authorship, and human judgment (Priority: 4/5): He rejects using AI to review manuscripts, arguing art depends on human emotional interpretation and that AI training on writers’ work without compensation is unethical. The changing life of a professional writer (Priority: 3/5): Leonard notes that writers’ careers have become more fragmented, but the core craft—writing alone and creating emotionally resonant stories—remains unchanged.

Key Arguments: The Blacklist is being expanded into novels because the publishing world has the same discovery bottlenecks as film and TV, and the platform is designed to find “needles” in a huge haystack of talent. Both publishing and Hollywood are subjective, hit-driven industries with too much supply and too little bandwidth for evaluation, so trusted validation helps decision-makers focus on promising work. What industries label as “risky” is often just a flawed assumption; if audiences are actually underserved or misread, the supposedly risky bets can be the best financial bets. The failure to invest properly in Black, Latinx, and Asian American audiences is not just inequitable—it is a measurable revenue loss for studios. The Blacklist’s value comes from solving a problem and creating impact first; profitability follows from occupying a high-value position in the ecosystem. Taking equity in discovered material would conflict with the company’s service model and with its belief that writers should be free to pursue the best possible deal. AI may help identify patterns, but it cannot replace human emotional judgment, which is central to evaluating art and stories. A writer’s essential job has not changed: they must still write compelling stories that move people, even as the surrounding business has become more unstable.

Data Points: Film production inputs represented by novels and original screenplays: 50% - Leonard cites a study saying roughly half of recent films came from original screenplays or adaptations of novels, meaning The Blacklist now sees a major portion of the industry’s source material. Revenue lift for Blacklist scripts: 90% more in revenue - He references a Harvard Business School study finding movies made from Blacklist scripts earned about 90% more revenue than comparable non-Blacklist scripts. Economic cost of anti-Black bias in Hollywood: $10 billion annually - Leonard cites McKinsey research estimating Hollywood loses this much each year due to underinvestment in Black films, marketing, and distribution. Economic cost of under-serving Latinx audiences: $12 billion to $18 billion annually - He uses McKinsey research to show the scale of missed opportunity from poor audience optimization. Economic cost of under-serving Asian American audiences: $2 billion to $4 billion annually - He cites McKinsey research showing additional missed revenue from insufficient investment in Asian American audiences. Total annual missed opportunity in Hollywood: About $30 billion - Leonard sums the above audience gaps as a large amount of revenue left on the table. Platform audience: Several thousand executives - He says The Blacklist sends weekly emails to several thousand film and television executives with the best scripts, pilots, and plays. Company funding status: Never raised money; profitable every month - Leonard emphasizes The Blacklist was bootstrapped, is owned outright, and has been profitable since day one.

Pivotal Quotes: "we could be an industrial-sized metal detector and take an infinite pile of haystacks and find the needles" — Franklin Leonard: He describes The Blacklist’s core mission of surfacing overlooked talent in publishing and entertainment. "what if our assumptions about what is risky are deeply flawed?" — Franklin Leonard: He explains his view that many “risky” creative decisions are actually based on bad market assumptions. "I don't think anybody really cares all that much about whether something was adapted or a remake. They just want it to be good." — Franklin Leonard: He argues that quality matters more than originality labels when audiences choose books, films, or TV.

Implications: The conversation suggests discovery platforms that reduce gatekeeping can unlock major commercial value while widening access for overlooked creators. For writers, it means more routes to visibility; for industries, it means better risk assessment and potentially better returns.