Franklin Leonard & Racheline Benveniste

Teaches at brunchwork

Franklin Leonard is the founder of the Black List, the yearly publication highlighting Hollywood’s most popular unproduced screenplays and the company birthed to continue its mission. More than 250 Black List scripts have been produced as feature films, earning almost 200 Academy Award nominations and 37 wins.

Franklin has worked in development at Universal Pictures and the production companies of Will Smith, Sydney Pollack, Anthony Minghella, Leonardo DiCaprio, and John Goldwyn. He has been named one of Hollywood Reporter’s 35 Under 35, Black Enterprise magazine’s “40 Emerging Leaders for Our Future,” and Fast Company’s “100 Most Creative People in Business.” 

Racheline Benveniste is a Director of Original Studio Film at Netflix. Originally from the UK, she began her career assisting producer Mike Medavoy. After that, she worked at Paramount, before a lengthy stint at Warner Bros. as a Production Executive.

Racheline landed at Netflix three years ago, where she has since helped shape Netflix's movie slate with a collection of films, including The Christmas Chronicles, starring Kurt Russell. Upcoming projects include overseeing Netflix's new Chronicles of Narnia franchise and a live action adaptation of Carmen Sandiego starring Gina Rodriguez. Racheline most recently spearheaded the 2019 rom-com Always Be My Maybe, starring Ali Wong and Randall Park.