GLAAD, The Black List join forces to promote LGBTQ screenplays

GLAAD, a LGBTQ media advocacy group has partnered with The Black List, the annual survey of Hollywood executives' favourite unproduced screenplays, to create The GLAAD List. It is a new curated list of the most promising unmade LGBTQ-inclusive scripts in Hollywood. The two organisations announced their decision Sunday at the Sundance Film Festival.

The inaugural 10 scripts include David Carlson's 'Trouble Man', the true story of gay African-American civil rights leader Bayard Rustin, Pamela Garcia Rooney's 'Me & Tammy Faye at the Betty Ford Clinic', a fictional tale of a friendship that develops between the televangelist and a Latina transgender woman and Harry Tarre's 'Queen', the true story of the world's first openly transgender high school prom queen, Corey Rae, wrote The Hollywood Reporter.

Speaking about it, Corey Rae said, "I'm so grateful to have my story of becoming the world's first transgender prom queen be recognised by two amazing organisations. GLAAD and The Black List combining for the first time is epic and I'm so happy they are focusing on elevating LGBTQ+ stories together. The making of 'Queen' has been a fascinating and fulfilling process thus far, and I'm really looking forward to it becoming a successful film."

The projects are drawn from scripts that have been hosted on blcklst.com or were included on the 2018 year-end annual Black List. The GLAAD List is not voted upon via a survey, but is instead curated by GLAAD based on a pool of the highest-rated scripts provided by The Black List which feature LGBTQ characters. A script may remain active on The Black List and The GLAAD List up until it begins filming.

The criteria used to evaluate to the scripts include fair, accurate and inclusive LGBTQ representation; boldness and originality of the content; potential impact of the media project; overall quality of the written project; and whether they passed the Vito Russo Test.

"There is no more reputable source for discovering quality scripts in Hollywood than The Black List," said Jeremy Blacklow, GLAAD's director of entertainment media.

"The Black List's commitment to elevating marginalised voices in the film industry is unparalleled and GLAAD is excited to lock arms with them in helping bring diverse LGBTQ stories to Hollywood's attention.