The big talent agencies violate the civil rights laws

[JeffLowell]

Originally Posted by NYNEX

In fact, the fact that I was able to attend an Ivy League School actually makes me angrier about this matter. To get into an Ivy League school, all anyone has to do is to apply, and if your grades are good enough, if you've got written good essays and have good recomendations from your teachers, ANYONE can get it.

If only Hollywood were a meritocracy, like Ivy League schools, everything would be fine.

Originally Posted by NYNEX

The problem is, minorities are DISPROPORTIONATELY underrepresented in Ivy League Schools.

Oh no!

[SBScript]

You complete contradict yourself. You and Jeff, upon finding out I went to an Ivy League School, told me I should be able to work their network, and I replied I went once and upon not meeting anyone worthwhile, never attended again.

So then, you and Jeff told me right there you do indeed believe it depends on who you know, or else, why should I persistently go to my Ivy League network?

The problem is, minorities are DISPROPORTIONATELY underrepresented in Ivy League Schools. Of course, there are SOME, I attended myself. But compared to the overall population, we're underrepresented (partially because of economic reasons, and that's whole other discussion).

But back to what you said, if the film industry was totally a meritocracy, you never would have mentioned networking.

Now, upon seeing my last post, you basically say women and minorities don't even have the brains to write commercial scripts.

Wonderful, man.<<<



First, I never said it was a "meritocracy" and by that I assume you mean based on talent...? It's talent plus hustle plus understanding how to write a commercial movie. Period. No, I'm saying that, in my experience reading many hundreds, in fact thousands, of spec scripts from writers trying to break in, I almost never saw genre stuff from women. Therefore, if you are a female writer, you will be able to stand out if you write a kick ass, action driven, or horror driven genre piece. Now, if I am a female writer, maybe I will decide to take a shot at that.


>>Note SBS doesn't give women and minorities a concrete way of getting read, other than a vague if it's good it will get read. Yes, I guess if I type up a good script, it's going to fly off my computer and by magic land in the hands of some important industry person.<<

Dude, it's the same way anyone gets read!!! You query. You call up everyone you can get to, through friends and family, networking organizations, you HUSTLE! Which you are obviously not doing, or you would have reached out to every alumnae you could dig up contact info for...but you imply you only talk to alumnae that are of your ethnicity or an ethnicity that's acceptable to you. Maybe you should, like, try and make some friends outside your demographic.

>>The issue you can't stand to deal with is the big three agencies and the studios are LOCKED out to newcomers, and those already in are white males, and there's little to NO chance for women and minorities to break in. After all, the OFFICIAL POLICY is no UNSOLICTED submissions, PERIOD!<<

Do you know how you change the "official policy on no unsolicited submissions." You call them up or email them and convince them to read your script. And, unless you are doing it on a video phone, they have no clue what your ethnicity is. Newcomers break in every day. But they have talent and hustle and understand the market--those are the only real criteria.

Shoot, I know some managers that just sold a kick ass action pilot to WB, written by a 25 yr. old woman!! How many 25 year old women are writing action driven TV pilots? Almost none. A rare commodity indeed, and one I want to hear about. When they told me about her, I begged to read the material and ANYTHING ELSE SHE HAS because her take is within the genre expectations and yet unique enough to elevate it. But I don't suppose you'll understand any of this.

[kenp]

Bottom line -- we're thicker skinned than you, tougher than you, and those of us who break through, are usually more talented than you because we have to be to overcome the odds against us.


---we're thicker skinned than you - PLEASE!!!! not quantifiable!
---tougher than you - PLEASE!!!! not quantifiable!
---and those of us who break through, are usually more talented than you - PLEASE!!!

Avoid using generalizations...

the 'bird with the broken wing' syndrome sucks.

[invaderujin]

Thread fail.