Sexist America, Racist Hollywood
by Jaden
Since the dawn of my website Screenwriting for Hollywood, I wanted to write about prejudice in Hollywood, but was advised against it.
Good table manners, right? Do not discuss politics, religion, money, or sex.
Uh oh, here we go…
With America’s most controversial election on the horizon, what better time to talk about racism and sexism in Hollywood?
Reality is not what you see on the screen. Even shows that call themselves “reality shows” are selective and manipulating.
Movies and TV do not accurately reflect America’s population when it comes to race, gender, career, and crime. Characters are often unrealistic stereotypes that aid to suppress certain groups of people.
Due to this year’s presidential candidates, I have heard many racist and sexist jokes. My first thought is: Clearly, you didn’t go to college. Yet, truth is, a lot of these people did go to college.
Many years ago, I co-wrote a script with two female lead characters. A reader at ICM (International Creative Management) who gave coverage on it said that scripts like ours would never exist if it were not for Sex and the City.
Hmmmm, I am a female living in Hollywood, is it really that strange that I would write a story about women in a big city?
Aside of having strong female leads and being in a city, nothing else in the script was like Sex and the City. Our characters are a generation younger and wander through the gritty underbelly of a city, not the upscale shi-shi side of Manhattan. The female and male characters are based on real people and many of the incidents are true, yet the reader said they are unbelievable.
There are millions of women who live in big cities, yet we can only have the one specific subculture that is represented in Sex and the City?
Talk about being put in a box!
A large untapped market of women would pay to see stories to which they can relate, stories written by women for women. I’m not talking about Lifetime television movies wherein all the women get stalked and killed. I’m talking about real inspiring women and fun stories that men can enjoy too.
The new box for any female screenwriter trying to break into Hollywood is the stripper blogger Diablo Cody Juno box. Now, female writers would not exist if it were not for her, right?
Half the population are women!
In 80 years of Academy Awards, from what I can gather, only three women without male writing partners have won an Oscar for writing and zero non-white male.
In 1930 and 1932, Frances Marion won for her scripts The Big House and The Champ. 71 years went by before the next solo female writer was to win. Sofia Coppola, daughter of the famous award-winning father Francis Coppola, won for Lost in Translation in 2003. And for Juno, Diablo Cody won in 2007.
In 219 years in America, all the presidents have been Caucasian men.
Racism, sexism, xenophobia, and many other prejudice are alive and sustaining. When you decide to take up a career in Hollywood, be prepared for this road block.
My modest estimate from working in Hollywood for a decade is that 85% of screenwriters and directors are white male. It is a boy’s club to be sure.
For the few race and gender exceptions who break through, seldom are they recognized for their talents, and often they are picked apart and scrutinized.
One of the most beautiful, creative, and intelligent films I have seen is Frida, for which director Julie Taymor did not get nominated.
Endless untapped talent is ignored and rejected out of fear and ignorance.
Who do you envision as a terrorist? Who plays the funny sidekick? Who is the drug dealer? Who plays a thief? How about the gangster? What people are needy and weak? Who knows martial arts? What is a sexy line of work? What color does the bad guy wear? What color does the good guy wear?
Each of those questions prompts a stereotypical image in your mind of a specific race and gender; how do you think those images got in your mind and who put them there?
If you don’t know drug dealers, don’t write about them, because in my hometown, the drug dealers were not Black, they were Caucasian.
If you are going to write about strippers, you ought to know some, because you will see that they are not all pretty and their lives are far from glamorous.
If you are going to write about terrorists, go beyond what is current propaganda, because all the Middle Easterners I know are spiritual loving prosperous Americans who deserve kindness from their neighbors, not suspicion and crappy movie roles.
One successful Iraqi man I know living in Hollywood (who looks just as white as any European and uses a fictitious name, like half the Hollywood Middle Easterners I know) recently lost nearly all of his family to the hands of Americans in his homeland. With sadness in his heart, he holds no grudge and comes to work everyday with a smile on his face, glad he is alive and in a position to make money to send back home to the remaining survivors.
You will not see current heartbreaking stories like these on the screen because America and Hollywood do not want you to know. Furthermore, the American public will not pay to see such movies when they are losing their own sons and need an enemy for justification.
As a screenwriter selling to Hollywood, don’t sell your soul by being part of the suppression machine that teaches hate to the subconscious. Know about what you are writing from first-hand experience. Turn stereotypes upside down. Dig deep in your research. Let the light shine.
A commendable war film project directed by Clint Eastwood are the two films Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima. With an honest and respectful approach, two entire films are dedicated to showing the perspective of each side, the Americans and the Japanese. This is a beautiful endeavor.
For screenwriters who are not white male and not in a position of power, I strongly suggest making your own films. With today’s technology and the Internet, cost of filmmaking is affordable, and the want of the public will speak for itself.
Choose to have a positive effect on the world.
[In the comments section, you may read additional discussion brought forth by Friar about the overplayed stereotypes placed upon white men.]
Sunday Picture Post 14 / The Manimal
For The Sunday Picture Post, we are going to flip upside-down the saying: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Thousands of words are great if you are writing a novel, but if you are writing a screenplay, you need to do the opposite and be as concise as possible.
Each Sunday I will post a picture. For your screenwriting practice in brevity, in the comments section, please post one or all of the following:
- A title for this movie
- 1 word describing the theme, mood, or scene
- 1 sentence to describe the scene
- A pitch to sell the entire movie
The more colorful and creative you are, the better! Use any genre.
A good screenwriter is laconic, using a few words to say a lot.
SCREENWRITING TIP OF THE DAY: THE MANIMAL
A fun technique that I call the MANimal for building characters is to either 1) attribute animal traits to a human character, or 2) attribute human traits to an animal character.
The manimal technique is usually best used with comedies, but can be done with any genre, mystery, crime, and romance.
You can practice with the above image.
Of what type of dog does the man make you think?
What type of human does the dog summon to mind?
Now make up some new traits for both the dog and the man.
Give the dog some human traits — he clearly likes to ride scooters.
Give the man some dog traits — say, he likes sniffing butts, which gets him into trouble with the authorities.
It’s fun. You try it now.
Let’s see if any of you can come up with a story more interesting than the true story of this guy, which I will add as a comment here next week.
Sunday Picture Post 13 / Flaws
Image sources: Off Grid Living and Otherpower.
For The Sunday Picture Post, we are going to flip upside-down the saying: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Thousands of words are great if you are writing a novel, but if you are writing a screenplay, you need to do the opposite and be as concise as possible.
Each Sunday I will post a picture. For your screenwriting practice in brevity, in the comments section, please post one or all of the following:
- 1 word describing the theme, mood, or scene
- 1 sentence to describe the scene
- A pitch to sell the entire movie
The more colorful and creative you are, the better! Use any genre.
A good screenwriter is laconic, using a few words to say a lot.
SCREENWRITING TIP OF THE DAY: ADD FLAWS
Add flaws to your hero.
Flaws make the hero believable and relatable. Your hero can and should make mistakes and blunders.
All superheros have weaknesses and failures.
I love the old James Bond movies starring Sean Connery, because even though he was super sexy, slick, and smart, he would trip on the sidewalk or get smacked by a lady, and that added believability and comedy.
9 Tips to Improve Your Pitch Meeting
by Jaden
The producers like your treatment or screenplay, but now they want to know more about you and if you have any other good projects. Will you have longevity in the business or was this a one-time creative spark? What matters most is that you sell yourself if you want to sell your story.
Smile some.
Smile genuinely with your happy eyes to show that you are amicable, but not too much that you seem silly, giddy, or nervous.
Be confident.
Everyone loves confident people. Confidence is attractive. Accept your flaws as part of your interesting character. Focus on your strengths and why someone else ought to have confidence in you. Do not voice these things, just have them in mind and believe in yourself. You don’t have to be perfect, but you do have to be personable.
Do not brag or boast.
Bragging and boasting are signs of feigned confidence that show you don’t believe in yourself, but you’re trying real hard to convince everyone else in the room how great you are. Be straightforward about your accomplishments, not arrogant, snobby, or long-winded.
Be concise.
Practice all your story pitches and get each pitch down to two sentences. That should be enough to sell it if the story is any good. If they want to hear more about the story, they will say, “Tell me more about that one.” Also, reduce your writing experience and life story to a paragraph or two at most. Write out these things and remember them. Join in on our Sunday Picture Posts to practice brevity and creativity.
Put a lid on it!
Ask questions and listen. Do not babble or you will annoy your prospectors. Even though they want you to sell yourself and your story, they don’t want to hear your personal dramas or complaints. They want to hear how you are going to make them a lot of money and nothing else. When you hear yourself rambling, just stop. If they ask you personal questions, keep your answers positive and short to one sentence.
Show respect.
Appreciate everyone in the room who has taken time out of their day to give you a chance. Shake their hand and thank them for their time and mean it.
Never give up.
As it has been said, each rejection brings you closer to the win. Ask for feedback. Find out what went wrong and why. Learn from your mistakes and change by the next meeting.
You are ‘it’.
Every time you walk into a meeting, everyone wants you to be ‘it’. If you are the person with the talents for which they have been seeking, you just made their day better, possibly even their year and their life. Your great success means their great success. Show them that you are ‘it’ and you have what they want.
Glowing, confident, talented, lovable people have the ‘it’ factor.
If you were going to give someone a million dollars for a story, what would you want to know about that person?
What I would want to know is that he or she is interesting, cool, creative, original, positive, eloquent, articulate, polite, grateful, experienced, and has common sense. This meeting is your chance to prove those things by your behavior, the way you talk, and what you have to say. Would these people want to sit with you in a room ever again?
Sunday Picture Post 12 / Memorial Day Weekend
photo credit: digiyesica
For The Sunday Picture Post, we are going to flip upside-down the saying: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Thousands of words are great if you are writing a novel, but if you are writing a screenplay, you need to do the opposite and be as concise as possible.
Each Sunday I will post a picture. For your screenwriting practice in brevity, in the comments section, please post one or all of the following:
- 1 word describing the theme, mood, or scene
- 1 sentence to describe the scene
- A pitch to sell the entire movie
The more colorful and creative you are, the better! Use any genre.
A good screenwriter is laconic, using a few words to say a lot.
SCREENWRITING TIP OF THE DAY: MEMORY AIDS
Scripts of 90 to 120 pages become a lot of information to keep in your mind. Outlines and scene cards are good to create for quick reference. To tell a better story, you might want to put certain scenes before or after other scenes; with cards, it is easy to move the scenes around and see what works best. Separate sheets that have character and story point breakdowns are useful as well.
Having tangible reference sheets outside of your computer are helpful.
For Memorial Day, enjoy the favorite meal of a lost loved one and remember their funny eating quirks.
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