How are readers assigned projects?
The Black List assigns readers to a project based on a number of dynamic and highly-personalized factors.
First and foremost, readers can only evaluate projects that correspond to their professional experience. For example, a reader with a background solely in feature film coverage will never be permitted to evaluate a theater project (and vice versa). For pilot coverage, we further segment our reader pool based on their qualifications to evaluate single-cam and/or multi-cam pilots, as well as one-hour and/or half-hour pilots.
In addition to our strict experience requirements, The Black List also asks readers to only evaluate projects in their preferred genres, which they select upon onboarding and are welcome to change at any time. We make it clear to readers that they should never evaluate a project in a genre they do not enjoy. For example, a reader who has professed to despise horror movies will never be assigned a horror screenplay.
The final factor that The Black List takes into account when assigning readers is our content advisory system. When writers upload a project, they are asked to select any potentially sensitive topics that are present in their work. Similarly, readers are asked to designate any potentially sensitive topics that would affect their ability to thoroughly evaluate a project. This process not only ensures a welcoming environment for our readers, it also helps incorporate an extra layer of accuracy into our process of assigning projects.
The Black List takes reader assignments very seriously. If you believe that your project has been mismatched with a reader in a serious way, please do not hesitate to contact Support.