NYU Black List-Inspired Unproduced Screenplays

New York University has revealed its 2025 picks for its Black List-inspired Purple List of the best production-ready screenplays from Tisch School of the Arts graduate film students and recent alumni.

The four screenplays, selected via a blind reading process by industry insiders, are How I Learned to Die by Manya Glassman, Mandingo by Terrance Daye, Punter by Jason Adam Maselle and Sweetwater by Cassidy Batiz.

Prominent filmmakers whose work was included on past editions of the Purple List, now in its 14th year, include Chloé Zhao (Nomadland, Eternals), Judas and the Black Messiah‘s Shaka King, Cathy Yan (Succession, Dead Pigs, Birds of Prey), Desiree Akhavan (Appropriate Behavior, The Miseducation of Cameron Post) and The Starling Girl’s Laurel Parmet.

Nineteen of the 58 scripts showcased in past editions of the list, founded by alumni Ashim Bhalla and Shandor Garrison and faculty member John Tintori in 2012, have been turned into finished feature films.
This year’s winners were selected by a panel of producers, writers, directors (including James Franco, Jennifer Lee and Laura Terruso) and people from organizations like UTA, Brillstein, Paradigm, Gersh, Anonymous Content, Grandview, The Sundance Institute, The Gotham, Nine Stories, Cinetic Media, Sony, Roadside Attractions and Searchlight.

More information about each of this year’s screenplays, provided by the Purple List team, follows.

How I Learned to Die by Manya Glassman
When 16-year-old Iris learns she has a 60% chance of dying from a risky surgery, she chases a bucket list of teenage milestones on a journey that leads to unexpected discoveries. In preparing to die, Iris learns how to live in a world where happy endings are never guaranteed.

Glassman earned an MFA in film directing from NYU in 2024, including a proof-of-concept short of How I Learned to Die that was executive produced by Spike Lee. She has won numerous awards, including New England Best Director (2022) and Audience Pick (2021) at Flicker’s Rhode Island International Film Festival.

Mandingo by Terrance Daye
Nearly a decade after a public scandal tears his family apart, former State Champion Wrestler Jafari Parks returns to the Long Island suburbs of his childhood and a future that remains uncertain for him and his family.

Daye graduated from Morehouse College and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. His film, Ship: A Visual Poem, won the 2020 Short Film Jury Award for U.S. Fiction at the Sundance Film Festival, and he has been honored by NewFest, Outfest, and The Wrap’s Shortlist Film festivals. Day has assisted on Netflix, Disney+, and BET+ productions. Mandingo was a Top 10 selection in 20204’s AT&T Untold Stories Competition.

Punter by Jason Adam Maselle
On his 14th birthday, Brett and his grifter father Harris must survive a day of chaos and deadly odds traversing Johannesburg’s gambling underworld in order to hit one final horse racing bet that will save their family.

Maselle is a BAFTA-nominated filmmaker from Johannesburg currently working in New York City. After graduating from NYU’s graduate film program, Maselle had his work screened at numerous international and Oscar-qualifying film festivals. His short film, Punter, was executive produced by Spike Lee and won prizes at the Locarno Film Festival and the Austin Film Festival.

Sweetwater by Cassidy Batiz
A rural Texas teen’s last summer in her hometown is upended when she suspects she’s been assaulted at a friend’s ranch party. As the daughter of a retired rodeo star, she must decide whether to pursue justice at the cost of being ostracized by her tight-knit community.

Batiz is a director/writer/editor from Dallas who now lives in Brooklyn and is a candidate for an MFA in film at NYU. Her narrative short film, Big Lot, has been screened at national festivals, and her upcoming documentary short, Metal Dad, won the Alan Landsburg Documentary Production Award. Sweetwater has been selected for the 2025 NYU Production Lab Feature Development Studio.