Interview with Jim Vines and Justin Samuels

directorik

IndieTalk's Resident Guru
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Samuels is suing two of the major agencies for racial discrimination because
they have not even looked at any of his scripts. I know Jim only by reputation.
And have read several of his scripts. He is a straight up good guy.

This is an interesting interview.
 
Heard about this... not judging his character, but the thought of using racial discrimination in a case like this is silly.

I did read the article, and even being objective (in favor of the screenwriter) it sounds like he just doesn't have the contacts needed to do what he's trying to do.

Not anyone else's problem.
 
He doesn't have a case. I was hoping that he was actually discriminated against and had evidence for it. I was hoping that he could prove that he was discriminated against because he wasn't somebody's son or nephew. That would bode well for all of us without a relative in the industry. But this guy is just wasting everybody's time and making some lawyer richer.
 
Showing any kind of actual discrimination (in the legal term)
is nearly impossible. Sure "who you know" is essential in this
industry - it is in most industries where there is a lot of money
- but blood relations is never an issue.

I have gotten every single job I have ever had because I knew
the right people. I sold my first script because I knew the right
person. And I do not have a father or uncle in the business.

Does any think a producer is going to read a great script and
then turn it down because the writer is black. Or not his son
or other blood relation? Seriously?

This guy said over and over in the interview that he didn't have
time to meet people or make connections. I wonder how any
lawyer can think there is a case here.
 
Pretty clear from the outset that Vines is merely giving Samuels an increasingly longer length of rope with which to hang himself. The classic excuses: didn't have time to hustle because he had to work to pay rent, met one agent at a conference one time and didn't pitch a script, no one can access agents anyway, I only want to work with the top-tier producers because my material is better than anything ever previously attempted in Hollywood, etc. All the classic excuses you hear all the time from writers who feel they've been shunned by industry (regardless of race, social status or wealth).
 
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