March 19

Arianna Jackson was thrilled when her agent called to say that Paragon Studios wanted to speak to her about the possibility of the young screenwriter taking a stab at adapting Octavia Butler's Earthseed Series for the big screen. It was the sort of opportunity every writer dreams of. She flew to L.A. to meet with Paragon's Head of Development, Malcolm Fuller. Jackson was flattered to learn that Fuller was familiar with all of her work - even her early credits for a couple of very low budget web series. Fuller had clearly done his homework, and recognized Jackson's raw talent. The discussion about what Paragon was looking for in the adaptation was robust: Fuller was a fan of the novels, and was thinking they could easily be adapted into a screen trilogy, or even a four-part saga. The conversation hit a snag when Fuller mentioned that, in writing her outline, she should keep in mind popular teen singer Pamela Quick, who was looking to branch out into acting, and had expressed an interest in the lead role. Arianna pointed out that the Earthseed series revolved around a protagonist who was African American, and that Quick, who was white, would never work in the role. Fuller just laughed and said, "You're the writer. You'll make it work. Color means nothing in this day and age, anyhow." Jackson, who had been a fan of Octavia Butler's work since her teens, could not let this go. She pointed out that, while the idea of color-blind casting might seem great in theory, in this case, it would be detrimental to the spirit of the source material. Fuller took Arianna's words to heart and then explained that, as a black person, herself, she should know better than anyone that,"Blacks, in general, just don't DO sci-fi. Quick has a huge following among white AND black music fans, and she wants to star in this. We've got you writing it, so there's no way anyone can say there's any kind of racism going on. Pammy Quick gets her movie career, the studio makes a bundle on a big-budget film series starring the hottest teen pop star to come along in decades, you get a very impressive writing credit under you belt, and fans of the Earthseed books get the movies they've been clamoring for. Everybody wins. " When Jackson naively asked, "What about Octavia Butler and her vision?" Fuller's answer was chillingly concise and to-the-point: "Octavia Butler is dead. Paragon buys properties, not visions."

Jackson turned down the offer. Her most recent IMDB credit is for a corporate training film on workplace diversity.