#21 - Franklin Leonard, Founder and CEO of the Black List, Pt 2

Welcome to Pitch. For this week's episode, we pick back up with Franklin Leonard, CEO and founder of The Blacklist. The Blacklist was originally an insider's list of a year's best scripts yet to be produced, which is now expanded to become an organization serving writers the world over seeking to get their scripts into the Hollywood ecosystem and connected to production entities seeking material. We ended our last episode with me asking Franklin who he admires in this industry that isn't a part of his team. Let's jump in and hear what he has to say. And those are people that I admire, like, first first slot on the team sheet there is definitely Ava DuVernay. You know, when I look at what she's accomplished literally in, like, the last eleven years, it blows to my mind. Not only has she sort of, vaulted herself to the the sort of top tier of of directors, and then made films, about things that traditionally the industry has not film and television about things that the industry has not traditionally done. She's built multiple infrastructures that help other filmmakers, get access to the same, resources that she has available to her. Whether it's the distribution company, whether it's the, the sort of below the line database of talent, from diverse backgrounds, countless other programs, that she runs through her array, campus on the East Side Of Los Angeles. And then I I also just happen to know for a fact tons of things that she's doing behind the scenes that, like, neither I I can't talk about and she won't talk about. It what she's accomplished in just a decade is is absolutely extraordinary. And I think it also sort of lays bare how little others are doing relative to that. Because if she and her team could accomplish that with the resources that she has, imagine what people actually could accomplish with the resources at their disposal, if they chose to, apply themselves with the same level of intensity that she does. She's a she's a big hero of mine as well. And over the last ten years, from not in my awareness to, wow, what what someone to aspire to to move through the industry like to tell stories like. It's just a 100% on the same page with you about Ava. I mean, it's wild. I'm you know, Ava and I met when she was Ava DuVernay publicist. Right? And, like, I was, like, Franklin Leonard, like, junior production company executive. And to think about what she's done from that moment, like, again, literally, like, post 2010. Listen, I'll I'll air on the side of, like, being absolutely sure that I'm right. That's it's mind boggling. But it also sort of it shows what's possible. Now you have to work at the level of intensity, and expertise that she does, admittedly. And there are very few people who can do that. But a lot is possible if if …