Prime Time Propaganda: When Hollywood Blackballed Ben Shapiro

Mark Judge | December 21, 2017
DONATE
Font Size

Ben Shapiro recently posted a video about Hollywood. In “Hollywood Wants Your Money…and Your Mind,” Shapiro argues that the “toxic politics” of liberalism are fed to viewers via Hollywood’s “slickly produced left-wing propaganda.” Americans who might not approve of abortion, gay “marriage” or high taxes slowly come around after years of exposure to “Maude” or “Will & Grace.”

Left out of the video is how Shapiro himself was blackballed by Hollywood when he was on the verge of becoming a successful screenwriter. 

Shapiro tells the story of his blackballing in his 2011 book Prime Time Propaganda: The True Hollywood Story of How the Left Took Over Your TV.

Shapiro was born in 1984 “in the shadow of the Hollywood sign.” His parents work in Hollywood and his cousins are actors. Shapiro was a recent graduate of Harvard Law School in the early 2000’s when he was interviewing Hollywood executives for his book about liberalism in the TV industry. Leonard Goldberg, then the head of programming at ABC, recognized Shapiro’s intelligence and strength as a writer. Goldberg asked Shapiro to write a pilot about Harvard Law School. 

Shapiro: “I sat there for a minute. Then the butterflies started fluttering in my stomach. There’s nothing more exciting than having a major producer ask you to write a television series.” 

While waiting for Cohen to develop the script, Shapiro wrote another pilot, and this one got the attention of a powerful agent. The two had a great meeting. “I drove home singing to myself,” Shapiro recalls in “Prime Time Propaganda.” 

Then, a few weeks later, Shapiro got a call from the agent. “One of our agents googled you and four your website,” he was told. “I’m not sure we can represent you, because he thinks your political views will make it impossible for you to get a job in this town.”

(Cover Photo: Gage Skidmore)

That was that. Shapiro would never work in Hollywood.

It says something about Shapiro’s moral center that he has not let this episode leave him bitter. But think about it: You’re a year out of law school, and not one, but two Hollywood players have told you that they want to develop your scripts. One even goes so far as to say that your writing has the “sparkle” that he is looking for. Then, because of your beliefs - beliefs that are not far from the American mainstream - you get rejected.

After Harvey Weinstein, Hollywood had entered a deep period of contrition and self-reflection. Appropriately, the women who were abused and blackballed by Weinstein and others are having their voices heard. People are mourning the talent that was wasted, the directors who never got the make their films, the screenwriters whose projects got spiked. As Hollywood tries to clean itself up and promote based on merit, they should consider the work of conservatives.

They should offer Ben Shapiro a job.

donate