Hollywood Shuffle

Bobby Taylor (Robert Townsend) is a young black man aspiring to become an actor. His younger brother Stevie (Craigus R. Johnson) watches him prepare to audition for a part in Jivetime Jimmy's Revenge, a movie about street gangs which is so full of stereotypes that the light-skinned black actors who audition are cast as Latino gang members and have to speak with cartoonish Spanish accents. Bobby's grandmother (Helen Martin) overhears the "jive talk" of Bobby's lines and expresses disapproval. His mother (Starletta DuPois) is more supportive, but Bobby's grandmother says that if he desires a respectable job, there is honest work at the post office. Bobby assures his mother that if he lands the part, their lives will change for the better.