Welcome back to What is California?, your home for conversations with notable Californians in a quest to understand the Golden State. I can hardly believe I’m writing this, but: Season 3 is officially underway! 🎉
I am so excited to share this season’s lineup of thought-provoking figures, led this week by Franklin Leonard. He is the founder of The Black List, which has developed into a multipronged operation at the heart of the film and TV industry. Leonard started The Black List in 2005 as anonymous roundup of Hollywood’s most-loved unproduced screenplays. In the years since, as many of those scripts are developed and brought to the screen, The Black List’s influence has grown to include scores of award-winning films, including Best Picture Oscar-winners like The King’s Speech and Argo and Oscar-winning screenplays to many others.
Today, Leonard is no longer anonymous, and The Black List connects screenwriters with agents, readers, producers, and other professionals while continuing to uphold its original mission of spotlighting extraordinary writing. Leonard is also a highly visible and vocal proponent of social justice initiatives both inside and outside Hollywood.
I have followed Leonard’s work since I covered film and TV regularly back in the ’00s, when The Black List’s release was like Oscar night, a fantasy football draft, and New Year’s Eve all rolled into one big event. I wanted to welcome him on What is California? to discuss how he has come to understand Hollywood as not only a place, but also as a description. What does “Hollywood” mean in the grand scheme of California—not just its past, its present, and (obviously) its future as a place, but how it’s perceived by folks inside and outside the state?
We talked all about it on the season premiere, as well as Leonard’s earliest California memories and, of course, his favorite Californian past or present. It’s great to back, and I can’t wait to share more this excellent season in the weeks ahead!
Thank you for listening! Keep your eye on the bear! 🐻 ❤️
Episode Notes
Franklin Leonard is the creator of The Black List.
You can sort of make the case that Hollywood IS the American film industry. For me personally, I think of Hollywood as the people who are working in that system. I think Hollywood for me also invokes the history of that industry. And the history of that industry isn’t great in a lot of facets. … But when I think about the people that I’ve had the pleasure of working with within this ecosystem at this moment, I’m also very optimistic.
Notes and references from this episode:
@franklinleonard - Franklin Leonard on Twitter
@thblcklst - The Black List on Twitter
The Black List - home page
The Black List - case study - by Henry McGee and Sarah McAra, Harvard Business School
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Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdale
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Twitter: @WhatCalifornia
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