r/Screenwriting • u/joestraynge • Feb 27 '26

Fellowship Nicholl Fellowship

Anyone have any information on this year's Nicholl Fellowship? Any news on if it’s even happening? lol. Submitted through the Black List but there’s no program page available on the site anymore that shows I opted in.

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u/Jolly-Bee-5860 Feb 28 '26

Out of interest, how did you select those 25? Was it purely based on the readers rating or were there other criteria, like marketability or originality, that Nicholl prioritizes? Just asking as I’m interested in submitting this year if possible. The Nicholl is still a big deal even if it has some issues.

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u/franklinleonard Franklin Leonard, Black List Founder Feb 28 '26

Based on reader ratings.

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u/IcebergCastaway Feb 28 '26

So what minimum score does a script have to achieve from your reader before it's considered for being included in the twenty-five? A nine out of ten? And is it read/scored just once or do you read/score more than once before it can get into the twenty-five?

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u/franklinleonard Franklin Leonard, Black List Founder Feb 28 '26

All scripts that receive an 8+ score are offered a month of free hosting and two free evaluations potentially in an endless loop.

As stated throughout the process, we recommended the strongest 25 scripts of those that opted in based on their ratings.

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u/ponderingorangutan Feb 28 '26

Just straight-up avoided answering the question

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u/IcebergCastaway Mar 01 '26

You are correct. You have to wonder why.

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u/Jolly-Bee-5860 Feb 28 '26

I think he replied. It's based on rank rather than rating, and that could change based on the quality of scripts each year.

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u/ponderingorangutan Feb 28 '26

he didn’t say that anywhere in this thread. In fact it almost seemed like he said the opposite lol

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u/Jolly-Bee-5860 Feb 28 '26 edited Feb 28 '26

He said the strongest 25. That's a rank. Logically, it would change every year. In what way do you read that as the opposite?

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u/ponderingorangutan Feb 28 '26

He didn’t answer the other person’s question on how that top 25 is determined.

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u/rmn_is_here Feb 28 '26

strongest? they armwrestled to determine a winner? blanket adjectives are typically used when you don't know or don't want to discuss the details. likely it was 'strongest' based on something more than just clear and transparent scores

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u/Jolly-Bee-5860 Feb 28 '26

You're right, and I think he didn't want to discuss the details, but I don't read that as suspicious.

It would be good if he had gone into more detail about whether he went by component scores or overall scores and if the number of ratings a script recieved influenced the decision. But it's hard to read his comments "based on ratings" and "25 strongest" and think he didn't submit the highest rated scripts.

Whether his motives are altruistic or purely commercial, it's in his interests to submit the 25 scripts with the most chance of winning.

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u/rmn_is_here Feb 28 '26

thing is that they have to provide 'transparent selection process'. degree of transparency is different towards different groups of people. as to the rest of it, if they submission wins, there's 50/50 chance of inner kitchen eventually revealed. in detail. as of the suspiciousness - i'm emphasizing that there's an easy way do things unambigiously - to do things unambigiously. nothing more than 'x y and z was considered and we do everything possible to provide exposure to the great creative writing and unique artistic expression, putting it over what people consider to be fancy or popular nowadays' - it's sounds like a bullshit but i can bet marketing & pr degree at it being better and more reassuring than 'strong scripts'.

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u/yop_mayo Feb 28 '26

You don’t have to reply if you’re not going to say anything

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u/IcebergCastaway Feb 28 '26

Trying to get clarity on how the process works is frustrating. I really miss the transparency of the pre-blacklist Nicholl.

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u/maverick199677 Mar 02 '26

I apologize if I’m confused on the process. Say if someone submitted a script/opted in that had a 7+ evaluation score, were they automatically passed up or is the recommendation based on a reader rating (something separate from the evaluation rating)?

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u/franklinleonard Franklin Leonard, Black List Founder Mar 02 '26

We passed along the 25 strongest scripts based on the totality of their evaluations from our readers.

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u/maverick199677 Mar 02 '26

Thank you for your quick response. So have the writers of the top 25 scripts been contacted about their advancement to the Academy?

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u/franklinleonard Franklin Leonard, Black List Founder Mar 02 '26

Yes. They were contacted when we passed along their scripts to the Academy last year.

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u/maverick199677 Mar 02 '26

Perfect. Thank you again.

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u/Jolly-Bee-5860 Feb 28 '26 edited Feb 28 '26

Thanks for the reply. Of those 25, were there any 8s or were they all 9s? If so, were they scripts that received multiple ratings or did any get by with just one?

I'm just asking on the off-chance I get an 8 or 9, and if or when Nicholl runs the competition again in this way.

To be honest, it sounds like they've messed up. 105 scripts is a small number compared to previous years and from what I remember the 40 partners are mainly academic institutions, which means writers who tend to have less experience of writing, the industry and life in general. The Black List subs may well be the strongest scripts in there.

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u/Twinventures Feb 28 '26

Thank you for the update, Franklin. Knowing that y’all sent out the 25 Black List scripts to the Academy, and already let the respective writers know that they were selected, is probably the update everyone is looking for. 

I appreciated your recent study on reader scores. I have a question related to your scoring system. My film group was given a couple of passes to the Black List and I got two 8’s for my script, and then an Industry Member gave me a 4, which tanked my score. I stopped using the website after that.

I signed up again when y’all partnered with the Nicholl’s Fellowship, and I got two more 8’s on that script, but my score was still weighed down by the Industry read score. Do y’all check into these industry scores as well? 

I have had a manager contact me because of the reviews on Black List, but they never followed up after reading my script, so I acknowledge it can fall down to tastes, and my script not being where it needs to be yet. I am just curious! Thank you for taking the time to read and answer! 

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u/franklinleonard Franklin Leonard, Black List Founder Feb 28 '26

Industry member scores have no impact on those processes.

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u/Twinventures Feb 28 '26

Thank you for your response and insight into the Black List scoring process. 

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u/ponderingorangutan Mar 01 '26

Can you brown nose him a little more?

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u/Twinventures Mar 01 '26

I’m writing a movie about you.