Update: Aspiring screenwriter suing CAA and WME
You probably remember this:
Justin Samuels is suing Creative Artists Agency and William Morris Endeavor — two of Hollywood’s top talent agencies — for eight million dollars. The scribe says that he has been unable to obtain professional screenwriting work because of those agencies’ racially and sexually discriminatory practices. “Their extremely restrictive recruiting policies for screenwriters locks out non-white and women screenwriters,” Samuels, age 34, told the Hollywood Investigator. “I tried to break in for nine years. I’ve sent out hundreds, if not thousands of query letters.“Major production companies always respond by saying that you need an agent to submit to them. Major agencies — such as CAA and WME — say that they don’t accept unsolicited communications, and that the only way they would consider you is if a major player in the industry referred you.”
Mr. Samuels took time out to do an interview with The Working Screenwriter (Jim Vines). It is a lengthy back and forth, something you have to read if only for the entertainment value. Some excerpts:
JV: As I’ve mentioned many times — on my blog, in interviews, etc. — a big part of a screenwriter’s success is contingent upon spending “face time” with the powers that be in the filmmaking community. You need to meet these people face to face. You need to network. Do you think you’d have better luck if you lived in Los Angeles?
JS: No. I lived in Los Angeles on and off during 2003–2005. While I did have a couple of marginal entertainment industry jobs, the problem with working to support yourself and pay your bills is it takes a lot of time. I had little or no time to meet people. And I left Los Angeles because ultimately the jobs I got in that time period didn’t pay enough to support me on a long term basis. And honestly, I’m established in New York, which is good, as there are other types of writing here. I could go into advertising as a copywriter, go into publishing as a novelist, or go out for other types of writing while I continue to write my screenplays.
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JV: According to the Social Hollywood article, you seem to feel it’s imperative that you get your scripts only to the “major” producers. I tend to think you’d have better results if you submitted to some of the lower-tier producers. In fact, I know quite a few screenwriters — by the way, one is a black man, two others are women — who make a pretty decent living getting their work optioned, sold, and produced by these lower-tier producers.
JS: Well, I did go that route with some lower-tier producers. They read my work and loved it. But then they went broke and went out of the business. Indie producers, at least in my experience, can have a lot of financial problems and are less likely to be able to raise the money to actually see the production of a film through. That’s really why I want to go the major producers. If they are interested in your work, at least they have the financial resources to pay the screenwriter and produce the film.
JV: Approximately how many of these “lower-tier” producers have you queried in the last nine years?
JS: I don’t recall the number. Some of the lower tier producers went out of the business; others had difficulty raising the money to do films that require decent budgets.
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JV: You also mention in the Social Hollywood article that you’re a graduate of Cornell University and have a B.A. in history. You also minored in English and “writing classes,” and have “done screenwriting workshops on the side.” In my opinion, this is all fairly irrelevant to your eventual success as a screenwriter. There are plenty of successful screenwriters who have had relatively little education. Sure, maybe they’ve attended a couple screenwriting workshops or seminars, maybe read a few how-to books, but they simply had the innate ability to craft a motion picture screenplay, to tell a story that people would want to pay to see.
JS: How did those people get read? Did they have relatives in the business? Did they live in Los Angeles all their lives? Who supported them and paid their bills when they moved to Los Angeles? You might have a lot more time for networking if you’re a trust fund baby. I mentioned my education in the context of if even I have this much difficulty getting read, I know it would be outright impossible for almost all non-whites in this country to break in. Since there would be others who would use the excuse that lack of education and/or talent explains the shortage of non-whites as screenwriters or in other behind the scenes positions.
JV: With regard to the agents and/or producers you’ve queried, how do they even know you’re an African-American screenwriter? I mean, your point of view seems to be: “They know I’m black — they won’t read my script!” Do you mention in your queries that you’re an African-American?
JS: I didn’t say that they know I’m African-American. I said since the majors do not even accept queries, this has a disproportionate impact on African-Americans in terms of locking us out of the industry, as we have no access to the people we would need to be read by.
JV: Justin, I’m not saying a certain amount of discrimination doesn’t exist, but I tend to think that a vast majority of producers and lit agents don’t necessarily care if you’re young or old, black or brown, gay or straight, male or female. These producers and agents simply want great material. I really can’t imagine one of these agents or producers — one who has read your script and thinks it would make a great movie — sitting down to meet with you for the first time and saying, “Uh-oh. He’s black. I can’t represent/buy his script.”
JS: But how would I access these producers or lit agents? I’d have to get read in order for them to like my work or not like it. Truthfully, I’ve had people say that my work is great. Unfortunately for me, they were so far on the fringe it didn’t matter. If I had gotten a bunch of reads from major people in the industry, and they didn’t like my work…I’d have to deal with that. Basically, I’m saying I have no access, in part because of my race and because I’m not in on the right social circles that would allow me to talk to a producer or agent one-on-one.
My response? These two names: Seth Lochhead. Matt O’Neill.
Lochhead emailed 400 reps with a 1-line description of his script “Hanna” which got produced and was released this year.
O’Neill faxed a query letter about his script to a producer and that led to a meeting the next day, then a deal with Mark Wahlberg attached to the project.
The fact is the doors are open to Hollywood. It all boils down to your script. That’s it. Write a great script, and as manager-producer Dan Halsted says, “We will find you.”
For more of the interview, go here.