Inspired by the Hollywood Blacklist, thesis students Ash Bhalla and Shandor Garrison founded The Purple List in 2012, bringing the top production ready feature screenplays written by students or recent alums of the Grad Film Program to the attention of industry professionals and potential investors.
Yearly winners are determined by Grad Film faculty and voted on by an outside panel of industry judges. Numerous Purple List selections have been produced as accomplished feature films which have played top tier film festivals and gone on to enjoy successful theatrical releases.
The 2026 NYU Purple List Writers
KOBAYASHI by Vincent Lee Accettola
The incredible true story of Takeru Kobayashi, or how a skinny 22-year-old from Japan managed to shatter world records at the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest and catapult the fringe spectacle of competitive eating into a wildly lucrative American sports phenomenon.
LITTLE RHONDA by Aisha Ford
Teenage Rain's relationship with her estranged mother and caretaking father becomes complicated when she decides to film a short documentary for her high school film class about her mother's recovery.
LYCHEE GIRL by Mira Peng
In 1990s rural China, Yue, a lonely trans girl, encounters surreal visions of a spaceship after her mother escapes her father and leaves her behind.
ROUNDS by Taylor Sanghyun Lee
Years after a violent shooting shattered their Presbyterian church community, an impending deportation forces two Korean-American families to confront the limits of their forgiveness.
THE OTHER FAMILY by Juan Pablo Daranas Molina
In crisis-stricken Cuba, a desperate father spots a little girl wearing shoes stolen from his son. Determined to get them back, he spirals into an obsessive pursuit that tests the limits of his morality.
Read more at The Hollywood Reporter.