EXCLUSIVE: Simon & Schuster‘s extensive fiction and nonfiction backlist of 6,000 titles will now be searchable by film and TV industry figures on The Black List‘s material database, opening up a new avenue for vetted professionals to explore published books for adaptation.
Available to browse on blcklst.com alongside existing resources on the platform, the integration aims to expand access to preexisting tomes to exploit as potential IP, making the discovery process faster and more precise.
The initiative brings books from the extensive Simon & Schuster family of imprints, including Atria Books, Avid Reader Press, Emily Bestler Books, Gallery Books, Saga Press, Scout Press, Scribner, 37Ink, S&S Books for Young Readers and more.
Notable recent film and television adaptations from such Simon & Schuster imprints are Patricia Cornwell’s Postmortem (Scarpetta on Prime Video), Laura Dave’s The Last Thing He Told Me (on Apple TV), Jenny Han’s The Summer I Turned Pretty (also on Prime), Zakiya Dalila Harris’s The Other Black Girl (on Hulu), Julia May Jonas’ Vladimir (on Netflix) and Stephen King’s The Running Man (on Paramount+).
“We are thrilled to broaden the visibility of Simon & Schuster titles to film and television professionals through our collaboration with The Black List. This initiative allows us to showcase our books on a platform renowned for discovering and elevating original storytelling, creating new opportunities for our authors’ work to reach the screen. We are excited to connect our catalog with top-tier creators and decision-makers looking for their next great adaptation,” said Lesley Collins — Simon & Schuster’s Domestic Rights Manager, Film & TV Liaison — in a statement.
“Hollywood is obsessed with innovating how stories are made and distributed. The Black List is focused on innovating how they’re discovered,” added Black List founder and CEO Franklin Leonard. “It’s no secret that great books are a source of extraordinary screen stories, but efficient discovery remains a challenge. This initiative makes Simon & Schuster’s backlist searchable where thousands of executives, producers, and filmmaking talent already go to find their next project.”
Discoverability is available by searching according to title, author, genre and other pertinent information. Metadata provided by Simon & Schuster will also include details on a book’s imprint, cover art, pitch/short description and more. As a result of the integration, Simon & Schuster authors’ profiles will be prepopulated with a list of their works.
A platform dedicated to identifying and celebrating exceptional storytelling, The Black List was first established in 2005 as an annual survey of Hollywood’s most-liked unproduced screenplays. Since then, the resource has grown into an esteemed and comprehensive database serving thousands of writers, agents, managers, showrunners, producers, financiers, directors, actors and theater industry professionals.
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