I live in the Los Angeles curfew zone.

Screenwriting is inherently political. You can only tune out the real world violence for so long. Eventually, it will come for your neighbors, your friends, and you.

Today’s deep dive was supposed to be about when it’s helpful to hire a Script Consultant for your screenplay.

But due to recent events, I want to talk about something else.

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I run a paid community for people becoming professional screenwriters.

When members first join, I don’t have a long or restrictive list of rules for them because I don’t want their first experience with the community to be one of finger-wagging, telling people what they can or can’t do. Instead, I wrote the guide to give them a sense of the culture I want to promote in the space.

Writers are encouraged to share their personal stories, experiences, and insights throughout the process of finishing the first draft of their screenplay.

And while I hope that members spend most of the time talking about their creative lives and endeavors, I explicitly mention that discussing politics is allowed.

Because screenwriting is inherently political.

Movies and TV shows resonate with their viewers because the writers, filmmakers, actors, and crew members who make them are successful at pulling audiences into the story and getting them to emotionally identify with the characters. Those characters then go on a plot journey to either learn or fail to learn a life-affirming lesson.

The personality traits that those characters have, the lessons that they learn, and the fates that they earn by the end of the story are all political choices.

You cannot tease them apart from one another. They are inextricably intertwined.

During the 2020 protests that erupted in the wake of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of the Minneapolis Police, there was a discussion in Hollywood about its complicity in creating the current culture we live under through the proliferation of “copaganda.” This discussion never resulted in meaningful change. Military and police propaganda still thrives in the most popular shows and movies being currently released.

This is not a benign fact.

It is actively harming our society and making the world a worse place.

source: ABC News

I bring all this up not to lecture but because we are now at an inflection point as a civilization. Frankly, I am unconvinced that we deserve to survive it, but for selfish reasons, I hope that we do. There are many reasons to want to be a screenwriter, and I have previously talked about how it’s important to get clear on what motivates you.

If you don’t you will never have the resilience you need to succeed in this industry.

But we can’t deny that the current entertainment business landscape is shifting too quickly to keep up with.

Our business is dealing with competition from video games, social media, and Twitch streamers. Not to mention, corporations are frothing at the mouth to replace real human artists and workers with AI at every step in the creative process they can.

All of this points to a major change that has happened since the 80’s and 90’s:

You can’t make a good living as a cynical screenwriter showing up and churning out mediocre material that studios pay big money for and the public eats up eagerly (because they have literally nothing else available to them).

No, making a living as a writer today is almost impossible.

And the only way to do it is to find a real message that resonates with audiences.

I’m not saying that we need to get preachy in our storytelling. Audiences hate that too. But we need to take a real stand in our life and in our work. And those positions need to support one another. Audiences hate hypocrites, and being misaligned between your life’s work and your morals isn’t good for you either.

If the United States falls to fascism, succeeding as a screenwriter is going to be even harder than it was before.

If you even have the freedom or economic stability to pursue it anymore.

We all need to pull together, roll up our sleeves, and fix what is happening right now.

There are only 3 ways to change anything in this world:

Not everyone needs to do all of them.

But we’re all capable of at least one. The point is not to take on the fight by yourself. It’s to figure out how to contribute. Here are the options.

#1 - Physical Force

Typically, the state has a monopoly on this one.

As a 117-pound, 32-year-old middle class white girl with no fighting skills and who owns no guns, I’m not strong-arming anyone into doing anything ever. And in a typical situation, anyone outside of the military or the police can’t hope to bully people into following the rules that they want. This is what laws are for.

For example, when it wanted to discourage people from smoking cigarettes, the United States outlawed smoking on planes and many states followed by banning smoking in bars. Slowly but surely, it chipped away at what people were legally allowed to do.

The police are able to enforce these regulations when necessary.

source: CBS News

#2 - Peer Pressure

I like this one because anyone can do it.

Human beings are social creatures. We are motivated more than anything else by a need for love and a fear of being ostracized by the group. Even the least powerful among us has friends. We have family members. We have a social circle. Punishing these friends for behavior you don’t accept can be done through ridicule, serious conversations, or by setting an insistent good example.

It can also be accomplished by setting loving yet firm boundaries: “I won’t spend time with you while you are engaging in XYZ behavior.”

For example, as people started to learn more about the negative health effects of smoking, they insisted that their friends and family members do it away from them. Or they begged the people that they loved to quit.

Eventually, when something stops being cool among your friend group, you have little reason to continue doing this behavior.

Even when it is something chemically addictive.

#3 - Propaganda

I use propaganda as a neutral term.

As Edward Bernays describes it, propaganda is “A consistent, enduring effort to create or shape events to influence the relations of the public to an enterprise, idea or group.”

Propaganda is a tactic. It can be used effectively or ineffectively. For good or for evil. As screenwriters, we will participate in propaganda whether we want to or not—especially if we’re making money off of our work. Simply by acknowledging the fact that every story inherently has a message.

So, you might as well make choices (in your story and in your career) in the service of propaganda that actually makes the world a better place.

What does this look like?

It could mean refusing to participate in the narrative that police officers are morally upstanding members of society. That CIA agents are cool. Or that the United States military is impressive, organized, and principled in its deployment of violence.

On the positive side, it could mean highlighting characters who have jobs you admire. Telling stories about people who fought for causes you believe in. Or character arcs that show a person developing personality traits you think more people in the world should embody.

The way to make these stories palatable and not preachy is to make them feel real, human, and honest. To tell a powerfully entertaining story that also aligns with your moral and political beliefs. Rather than letting those beliefs take center stage.

For the cigarette example, think about the anti-smoking commercials, campaigns, and elementary school lesson plans designed to teach people the negative health risks that came from smoking.

I use smoking as an example here because it’s an encouraging shift.

In the 1960’s, people were smoking on airplanes and in offices. Doctors were prescribing it for lung issues, and housewives were puffing while pregnant. Thirty years later, the culture completely shifted. It became associated with being dirty and unhealthy.

And now in 2025, it’s barely seen at all.

People can change. Societies can change. They can give up their harmful behavioral addictions, but they need the right kind of pressure coming from all three sides.

Right now, the people have the ability to leverage Physical Force.

I live in Downtown Los Angeles.

This weekend, protests erupted in response to ICE Agents arresting over 2,000 members of the community. Arrests have been made illegally and also immorally.

Los Angeles is a sanctuary city.

The people who live here support our immigrant neighbors, and we have no problem living alongside them. We understand that they are valuable members of our economy. But more importantly that they are human beings who deserve to be treated with respect and who deserve the freedom to live without fear of the state kidnapping them without judicial warrants.

The protests have been happening downtown, just blocks away from where I live.

This is where I was, but I was gone before this specific photo was taken. (Reuters)

I was born and raised in California. I have been protesting on behalf of causes I believe in since I learned what climate change was in elementary school.

As the political situation in this country has gotten more dangerous, more violent, and more chaotic in the past few years, I have also been watching and reading inspiring propaganda.

Andor, It Could Happen Here, Red Rising, and the work of Amanda Yates Garcia and Chani Nicholas in particular have been inspiring me in recent months.

I’ve felt guilt for a long time about not doing more and saying more.

So when there was a protest two Metro stops away from me on Sunday, I had to go. Walking up the steps out of the train station, I was profoundly moved by the people I saw gathering to stand up for the rights of our community members. Marching, chanting, singing, my heart was warmed by the way Los Angeles showed up and showed out in defense of immigrants.

But also the people who have been arrested are not all immigrants.

One of the horrifying things that’s happening right now is that legal citizens are being detained just for being Latino.

I personally believe that every border is inherently violent and that immigration should not be restricted. But I also understand why you might disagree. However, what the federal government is trying to do right now: send agents into cities to kidnap people and haul them away in unmarked vans, detain them without a trial, and ship them to another country (still without a trial) should be terrifying to all of us.

Because if they can do this to someone else, they can do it to you.

You can’t just claim that someone is doing something illegal. You have to have a trial. There are legal processes here for a reason. They can’t be circumvented just to meet a deportation quota.

On this, we should be able to agree because if we can’t agree on this, that means you are saying that the government should have the unilateral ability to arrest anyone for any reason and send them to a foreign prison.

Without a legal process in place, there is no way to guarantee they won’t do it to you.

This is one of the reasons the protests right now are so important.

We can’t back down. We need to keep showing force.

Which brings me to the discussions of violence and comparisons of Los Angeles to a “war zone.” The protests here are non-violent. I saw them with my own eyes. They consisted of unarmed people chanting and singing. Sometimes dancing. Sometimes heckling the National Guard while wearing a dinosaur costume.

This was the case at the protest I went to on Sunday.

We marched from about 2pm to 5pm. Then the organizers were giving closing remarks and making plans to come back the next morning to continue to protest and march. I myself had RSVP’d to attend an ACLU-organized protest event in Grand Park (to protest the illegal arrest of union leader David Huerta, who has since been released).

It was around this time that someone lit the Waymos on fire.

seastersjones

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I could digress here to talk about how vandalizing self-driving cars isn’t just a victimless crime but it’s also really funny. But instead, I’ll just remind you that we are protesting the state literally kidnapping and torturing human beings. Any property vandalism cannot compare to what we’re up against.

Besides, until a protest disrupts capital, no one in power actually takes it seriously.

Anyway, the burning chemicals from the self-driving car fires made the crowd (including me) disperse.

It was on my way home, walking to the train station, that I encountered the war zone.

And by that I mean, I encountered peaceful, unarmed protesters cowering behind planters, lamp posts, and chairs as the LAPD fired indiscriminately into the crowd. They had brought out the horses, which are specifically used for the purpose of trampling people.

The LAPD (I did not personally see any National Guard soldiers) were unprovoked and not being attacked. They were firing a few different types of projectiles into the crowd of unarmed, non-threatening protesters.

On of them hit me directly in the head.

Something they are specifically supposed to be trained not to do.

jbryantproperties

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I went to the emergency room and now have five staples in my head.

The CT scan came back normal, but I do have a concussion. I have not gone back outside to protest because it doesn’t seem smart to do so until my head heals and I get these staples removed.

But in hearing from friends and family across the country, I have heard some disturbing narratives that I want to counter here:

1. Sure, the National Guard and ICE are here in Los Angeles violently escalating situations. But the LAPD are not the good guys. They are also shooting peaceful protesters. And from the looks on their faces, they are having the time of their lives. They’re smiling. They’re having fun.

2. There isn’t “violence on both sides.” The protesters don’t have weapons. They don’t have armor. Even if they were throwing rocks and bricks, which they are not, this wouldn’t justify a militarized police force shooting them.

3. Peaceful, massive demonstrations are necessary. They’re important. They show politicians that the public is united in their beliefs and that they care enough to give up their free time and take to the streets about it. But we need to stop bending over backwards insisting that protests be 100% non-violent. As I have seen firsthand, the police will shoot you even if you’re not being violent. The news will paint you as a riotous mob even if you are being non-violent. Taking direct, physical action to defend yourself and your community is required.

Destroying property is the only thing that the leaders of this country pay attention to.

Fighting back isn’t “playing right into their hands.” They are already spreading the narrative that you are dangerous. Getting a permit to march on the sidewalk next to politicians for a couple hours then going home having challenged nothing is what they want you to do.

You don’t need to be violent.

But stop playing this game of splitting hairs about “good protesters” vs. “a few crazies that don’t represent us.” Once you give physical force and property destruction a place in your movement, you don’t have to quibble over your opponent’s narrative about you. You can actually take steps to start making them afraid.

seastersjones

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That’s where the change happens.

When our mayor Karen Bass announced an 8pm curfew in my neighborhood on Tuesday evening, she aligned herself with the police, the military, and the fascist federal government. She propagated their narrative and drew a line in the sand that protecting the property of businesses is more important to her than the safety of the residents of her city.

I will never forgive her for that.

I know that this Substack is usually for talking about the craft and business of screenwriting. But it feels silly to give querying advice against the backdrop of not feeling safe leaving my home because I think the LAPD might shoot me. Again.

If you don’t like me getting political here or you don’t agree with my stance on standing with the immigrants in my community, I am happy for you to unsubscribe.

I don’t need your support or your business.

There’s so much content on the Internet right now.

There’s no point in trying to make your writing palatable to everyone. There’s no point in separating words from the human being behind them. Especially in an industry trying to replace that human with a plagiarizing computer program. I believe moving forward it’s going to be more important than ever that the writers and creatives we follow have values and messages that we align with.

So here’s my call to action for today:

I can’t be out there right now, so I need you to go do it.

Get out there and protest. Disrupt business as usual to the level you are capable of and comfortable with. No matter what that looks like, please wear a helmet. Yes, even if you—like me—anticipate the protest being 100% peaceful. You will probably get shot at anyway. Bring a helmet. The ballistic kind is best, but even a motorcycle, football, skateboard, or bike helmet is better than nothing.

Don’t be like me.

Going to the ER and then having to stay home injured does not actually help anyone.

If you can’t put your body on the front lines (or if you don’t want to), please find other ways to help. Volunteer to put protest kits together, or just start doing it yourself. Make signs to hand out. Just show up.

Don’t wait for something official to be organized.

Grab as many friends as you can.

Show up when you can, how you can, and where you can. People are out there. You’ll find them. Don’t make excuses. History needs you right now.

If you’re a lawyer, volunteer for an advocacy group.

Donate to a bail fund or protest kit making if you can’t donate your time.

Spread and share footage of police brutality. Fight the state’s narratives. But get offline as much as possible. Talk to your friends, your family members, and your neighbors.

Right now, we have the ability to overwhelm the militarized state with physical force but only if we show up en masse and outnumber them. The fact that the police are shooting at peaceful, unarmed protesters shows how terrified they are of us. They are scared of our unity, and they should be.

If the protests die out, they will learn the following lesson:

Mobilizing the National Guard and the military, then sending them to a city to shoot civilians works to quell resistance. They can continue to arrest people and ship them out of the country outside of the ramifications of the law so long as they keep deploying this playbook in any city, including yours.

But if the protests escalate and grow, they’ll be overpowered.

It’ll get ugly.

But we will win. We can’t let this administration establish a military dictatorship. No one will be safe under it.

Once we successfully fend off fascism, we can get back to our storytelling. More than ever, we will understand the importance of the messages in the stories that we tell.

Don’t forget the peer pressure.

As screenwriters, we have a moral responsibility to show our audiences characters and themes that make the world a better place. And cautionary tales that prevent our viewers for falling for harmful state narratives.

But as people, we can continue to keep up peer pressure.

How is ICE able to continue to recruit?

Why do people keep signing up to join the LAPD? Because we let them.

For the love of god, please stop being nice to cops. Even when they’re off duty. Even if they seem “cool” or like “one of the good ones.” They’re not. You just don’t see that side of them. And if we’re going to combat the state propaganda encouraging people to show up and “fight crime,” then just like the movement to get our friends and loved ones to quit smoking, we have to start insisting that committing violence on behalf of a fascist government is not cool and not socially acceptable.

There are no bad apples.

They are all bad by design, and they should feel bad. They should be ostracized.

Only then can we get to the fun creative work of imagining a better world.

As screenwriters, it’s your job to lead that that charge. I might be able to create the culture of my own small paid community. But it’s the artists and storytellers who build culture on the massive scale that creates the world we live in.

That includes you.