EXCLUSIVE: The Black List and Rafael Casal have announced the ten projects chosen for the inaugural 2025 Bay List.
Selected from over 1000 submissions, the initiative was created to identify and elevate exceptional film and television projects by writers from or with close ties to the Bay Area. The program aims to champion emerging storytellers through collaboration with leading industry professionals, production companies and organizations with roots in the Bay.
“Every cultural community should be so lucky as to have advocates who go as hard for their people as Rafael Casal and the Bay List partners go for the Bay. We’re elated to be partnered with them to do this work and are already looking forward to next year’s list. There’s just so much writing here that folks should know about,” said Black List founder and CEO, Franklin Leonard.
The Bay List launched on blcklst.com in October 2024 and received over 1000 feature film and pilot submissions from writers with close ties to the Bay Area in a period of just six months. As part of the Bay List’s commitment to lowering the barrier of entry for writers, Dolby Laboratories provided fee waivers for a free month of hosting and one free evaluation for the first 150 eligible submissions.
“We are so thrilled to have landed our first Bay List with the Black List team and our amazing partner organizations! We received more submissions than we ever expected — what an inspiring show of artistic force from the Bay Area writing community, said Rafael Casal, Bay List co-founder, showrunner, director and actor. “This tells us one thing clearly; there is a massive talent pool of storytellers here in need of more opportunities and resources, and I hope we can continue to highlight and support them,” said Rafael Casal, Bay List co-founder, showrunner, director and actor.
During the submission period, The Bay List hosted two successful in-person salons at Ciel Creative Space and Mama Dog Studios, each with over 200 attendees. Bay List and partner BAVC Media (Bay Area Video Coalition) also hosted three public online screenwriting workshops on Zoom with filmmakers Boots Riley (Sorry To Bother You, But I’m A Virgo), Ryan Fleck (Captain Marvel, Freaky Tales) and Casal (Blindspotting, Marvel’s Loki) alongside the Black List’s Franklin Leonard.
The full list of projects can be found below.
FILM PROJECTS
CHOMOLUNGMA – Karna Warrior
India, 1924 — After a racist inquest leaves climber M.K. Menon disgraced and unemployed, he and a team of mountaineers who have been treated as second-class citizens attempt to climb Mt. Everest and reclaim the mountain from the British, chasing dreams of glory they’ve always been told are unachievable.
FEMI – Tosin Coker
In a community plagued with violent cult activity, a young man struggling with personal and social adversity overcomes all odds stacked against him with the help of his supportive mother and his first love.
THE GHOST WEDDING – Sining Xiang, Patrick Boyd
In 1980s San Francisco, two grieving Chinese parents arrange a traditional “ghost wedding” to marry their son off in the afterlife, but a spirit from beyond the grave disrupts the marriage and forces them to confront their deepest fears.
GUTS – Isabelle Barbier
A timid young woman battling an anxiety disorder confronts her sexually traumatic past when she joins a local all-girl punk band.
THE HOLE STORY – Joe Veix After discovering a strange radio signal coming from somewhere deep underground, a lonely call center worker digs a giant tunnel to find its source.
TERP – Reinhard Cate
A by the book Asylum Officer is tasked with interviewing a hardened former Afghan interpreter. As he starts to suspect the man isn’t who he says, his quest for the truth will put his job and potentially both their lives at risk.
WHISKEY BENT AND HELL BOUND – Sean Lynch
An alcoholic bounty hunter is hired by a Texas crime syndicate to hunt down a missing drug dealer, only to find himself caught up in a deadly kidnapping plot.
EPISODIC PROJECTS
BAD COUNSELORS – Shirin Najafi
When an overworked and underpaid high school counselor at a wealthy private school in Los Angeles becomes burdened by medical costs and fed up with the politics of wealth, she decides to accept a bribe from a family, roping in her fellow counselors in the process.
EXORSISTERS – Kausar Mohammed
After their grandfather’s death, three Muslim sisters discover they’ve inherited the family “blessing” of performing exorcisms for the community — despite being wildly unequipped to handle its supernatural horrors… or each other.
RAMONA – Rusteen Honardoost
A jaded millennial, fed up with being coddled because she uses a wheelchair, makes one last desperate bid for a real career and romance.
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