GLAAD, the world’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) media advocacy organization, in partnership with The Black List, the unique platform dedicated to identifying and celebrating exceptional storytelling, today announced The 2024 GLAAD List, the fourth curated list of the most promising unmade LGBTQ-inclusive scripts that have been hosted on blcklst.com.
The 10 scripts on The GLAAD List represent the type of LGBTQ-inclusive stories that GLAAD would like to see studios producing on big and small screens to increase and improve LGBTQ storytelling in Hollywood. With the proper attention, and with the collaboration of directors and actors, these scripts show tremendous promise and should one day become films that will both entertain audiences and change hearts and minds around the world.
GLAAD and The Black List are honored to announce the 10 feature film scripts that have been selected for The 2024 GLAAD List. They are presented below in alphabetical order.
ACIDS by Tamar Feinkind
In 1982 New York, a closeted lesbian doctor battles her trauma and societal stigma when she invites a pregnant AIDS patient into her home, forging a powerful, transformative bond.
CHASING TAILLIGHTS by Harrison Hamm
After a star-crossed one-night stand, a trans Filipina trucker and a professional ‘lot lizard’ face a surreal mid-July snowstorm in the New Mexico desert — unleashing a series of supernatural events where heartache and past ghosts blur into a weather of reckoning.
DUJA by Ambar Riat
Perpetually drowning in a sea of normies, a Punjabi-American named Bhagat navigates a second coming-of-age as a transgender adult. When he begins dating a charismatic young woman named Gigi, Bhagat learns that forming vulnerable and intimate bonds with himself and others will pave the path to his higher self.
JULIET by Jen Richards
Diana is a lifelong theatre techie, but when she transfers schools to finish her senior year, gets cast as the lead of Romeo & Juliet, and falls for her costar, she learns that a great performance will require her to be her fullest self, and that stepping from the wings into the spotlight is all the harder when you’re a trans girl trying to live an ordinary life.
OFFSIDE by Natalie Cutler
An uneducated coal miner plays for the most famous football team in Britain. But when the FA realises her relationship with a female can be used as a weapon to put women ‘back in their place,’ Lily Parr must make a choice. Football? Or the freedom to love?
QURAN CAMP by Samah Meghjee
At a summer camp for Muslim tweens, shy and nerdy Tanveer doesn’t expect to find a crush – especially not one who’s her bunkmate.
SUMMER 58 by Estephan Khattar
Amid another crisis in Lebanon, a closeted, young man must embody masculinity to be cast in a film. To do so, he forms an unusual bond with a militia fighter who becomes his unlikely mentor. Together, they embark on a transformative journey, exploring their masculinity and sexual identity, all against a backdrop of a scorching Mediterranean summer.
WHEELS COME OFF by Kryzz Gautier
In the year 2065, a fiery teenager with a wild imagination, her paraplegic mom, and their clueless robot struggle to navigate the post-apocalypse; but when the mother’s wheelchair breaks, the trio must venture out into the dangerous outside for a chance to survive.
WINGBOY by Grace Mei Ng
Fifteen years ago, Singaporean children began to be born with a wide range of feathered mutations. Despite these children being shunned, Adam, a Filipino-Chinese boy, decides to help a wingboy learn how to fly – therefore going on a journey that helps Adam embrace his whole self.
WOODSIDE by Gerard Shaka
While struggling to cope with an abusive father and a conflicted mother, a misunderstood, queer Bahamian teen discovers self-love through his experiences replanting mangroves with a marine conservationist.
“The scripts on the 2024 GLAAD List are compelling and entertaining stories of LGBTQ people that have rarely been seen onscreen. As shown by recent box office and critical successes, audiences and critics are demanding to see more inclusive stories while a small group of loud anti-LGBTQ activists try and repeatedly fail to create ‘backlash’ against them,” said GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. “To the studios, networks, and production companies looking for fresh, intersectional stories that will break through, The GLAAD List is the place to find them. From period dramas to gripping sci-fi to coming-of-age narratives to stories that defy categorization, these scripts reflect the breadth and depth of the LGBTQ community and the unique perspectives we bring to every genre.”
“Yet again, The GLAAD List has produced an incredible collection of widely diverse scripts, by genre and beyond,” said Black List founder Franklin Leonard. “No surprise given that it’s The Black List’s original partnership of this sort. It continues to be an absolute joy to work with GLAAD to do this every year.”
The first GLAAD List was announced in January 2019, and subsequent editions of The GLAAD List were announced in January 2020 and April 2022.
Of the 40 scripts named to the first three GLAAD Lists, four have been released as feature films:
- ANYTHING’S POSSIBLE by Ximena Garcia Lecuona (fka What If?) premiered on Prime Video in July 2022 and stars Eva Reign, Abubakr Ali, and Renee Elise Goldsberry.
- BEFORE I CHANGE MY MIND by Trevor Anderson & Fish Griwkowsky premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in August 2022, and was distributed theatrically in the US in March 2024. The film stars Vaughan Murrae, Matthew Rankin, and Dominic Lippa.
- KNOCK AT THE CABIN by Steve Desmond and Michael Sherman (fka The Cabin at the End of the World) was released theatrically in February 2023 and stars Ben Aldridge and Jonathan Groff.
- THREE MONTHS by Jared Frieder premiered on Paramount+ in February 2022 and stars Troye Sivan, Viveik Kaira, and Ellen Burstyn.
Four additional GLAAD List scripts have been filmed as proof-of-concept short films (see below), and another 13 scripts are in development at production companies.
- BLUE BOY by Nik Dodani
- FRAUD by Dana Aliya Levinson
- IN THE CITY OF SHY HUNTERS by Sam McConnell
- MARGO & PERRY by Becca Roth
Methodology for selection:
Unlike The Black List, an annual survey of Hollywood executives’ favorite unproduced screenplays, The GLAAD List is not voted upon via a survey; rather, it is curated by GLAAD based on a pool of the highest-rated scripts provided by The Black List which feature lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer (LGBTQ) characters. A script may remain active on The Black List and The GLAAD List up until the first frame has been shot during production.
Scripts, provided by The Black List, were evaluated by GLAAD using the following criteria:
- Fair, accurate and inclusive LGBTQ representation
- Boldness and originality of the content
- Potential impact of the media project
- Overall quality of the written project
- Passes the Vito Russo Test*
*To pass the Vito Russo Test, the following must be true:
- The film contains a character that is identifiably lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer.
- That character must not be solely or predominantly defined by their sexual orientation or gender identity (i.e. they are comprised of the same sort of unique character traits commonly used to differentiate straight/cisgender characters from one another).
- The LGBTQ character must be tied to the plot in such a way that the character’s removal would have a significant effect, meaning the character is not there to simply provide colorful commentary, paint urban authenticity, or set up a punchline. The character must matter.
- The LGBTQ character’s story must not be outwardly offensive (avoids defaulting to well-known tropes or stereotypes with no further development). In films with multiple LGBTQ characters, at least one character must pass this point for the film to pass the test
GLAAD’s selected scripts represent the most promising stories from the pool provided.
If you’re an entertainment industry professional who is interested in reading any of these scripts, please contact Claire Austin-Kulat and Elisa Suarez at The Black List.