H B C U PATHWAY TO HOLLYWOOD Sa’Rah L . Jones BY ERICKA BLOUNT DANOIS
T I M E S
T elevision writer Sa’Rah Jones has been dispelling myths and stereotypes about Black characters as one of a small number of Black women writers in Hollywood. But one of the biggest myths she’s had to dispel was the perception some people have about her own industry – specifically, Black writers in Hollywood that make it – and the myth that there’s a crabs-in-a-barrel mentality that comes with ambition.
Jones who has two Black women as managers, a Black woman as her attorney and a business manager who is a Black woman (as well as a Jewish male agent), was only able to get her start because Black people that had already excelled in the business reached out to her, mentored her, and helped generate her first big break. “It was hard to get management at first, no one wanted to read me,” Jones recalls. “It took a woman who is now my manager, Korin Williams, and another woman, Monique Nash, who had their own production company to give me a break.”
“I got here because of Black people,” Jones says about her success. “I’ve always had people willing to help.”
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