Shaun Scott (born November 8, 1984) is an American filmmaker, film director, film editor, writer, historian, activist, and former candidate for

Seattle City Council The Seattle City Council is the legislative body of the city of Seattle, Washington. The Council consists of nine members serving four-year terms, seven of which are elected by electoral districts and two of which are elected in citywide at-lar ...

Film career

Scott is a

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

-based independent filmmaker whose first feature film was "Seat of Empire" (2009), a 3-hour long documentary tour of the city of Seattle using archival footage. In 2010 he directed and wrote "Waste of Time", a historical mash-up of original footage, archival images, and contemporary music meant as a portrait of

consumer capitalism A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or Service (economics), services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or bu ...

. Scott's first narrative feature was "100% OFF: A Recession-Era Romance" (2012), a docudrama about a kleptomaniac and the immigrant wife with whom he enters a marriage of convenience. It was followed in 2014 by "Pacific Aggression", a straightforward narrative about a social media addict and the blogger she stalks. In 2014, Scott announced plans to direct the (as yet uncompleted) feature film "Their Eyes Were Watching The Light," a period piece about a hostage situation set in 1932.

Writing career

Scott began a career as a writer in late 2014, contributing pieces about American politics and race relations to The Monarch Review and The Seattle Weekly. In July 2015, Scott was hired by City Arts Magazine as a columnist, where he runs an ongoing thread called "Faded Signs" about popular culture under late capitalism. In September 2015, Thought Catalog Books published Scott's short-form essay "Something Better: Millennials and Late Capitalism at the Movies" on iTunes and Amazon. In 2018, Zero Books published Scott's book-length history of the Millennial generation titled "Millennials and the Moments that Made Us: A Cultural History of the U.S. from 1982-present."

Political career

Scott was a field organizer for

US Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

Pramila Jayapal Pramila Jayapal ( ; born September 21, 1965) is an American politician serving as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative from since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, she represents ...

. Scott helped unionize Jayapal's 2018 campaign staff through the Campaign Worker's Guild. In November 2018, Scott announced his bid for

District 4 to replace interim council member Abel Pacheco. Scott received endorsements from alternative weekly ''The Stranger'' and local chapters of the

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...

and

Our Revolution Our Revolution (sometimes known by its initials OR) is an American progressive political action organization spun out of Senator Bernie Sanders's 2016 presidential campaign to continue its work. The organization's mission is to educate vote ...

. He received enough votes in the 2019 Washington primary election to advance to the general election in November 2019, but lost the race to Alex Pedersen. In 2020, Scott served as the Washington State Field Director for Presidential Candidate

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007 ...

. Scott is a member of the 43rd LD Democrats and the Seattle chapter of the

Democratic Socialists of America The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a Left-wing politics, left-wing Democratic Socialists of America#Tendencies within the DSA, multi-tendency Socialism, socialist and Labour movement, labor-oriented political organization. Its roots ...

Political Positions

Housing

Scott advocates a housing policy geared toward decommodification of housing to combat soaring rents and

homelessness Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are: * living on the streets, also kn ...

. He proposes investing in

public housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...

and implementing policies that discourage real estate

speculation In finance, speculation is the purchase of an asset (a commodity, good (economics), goods, or real estate) with the hope that it will become more valuable shortly. (It can also refer to short sales in which the speculator hopes for a decline i ...

Green New Deal

Scott has publicly called for a municipal

Green New Deal Green New Deal (GND) proposals call for public policy to address climate change along with achieving other social aims like job creation and reducing economic inequality. The name refers back to the New Deal, a set of social and economic refo ...

for the city of Seattle. This is set of policy proposals meant to reduce Seattle's

carbon footprint A carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an individual, event, organization, service, place or product, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). Greenhouse gases, including the carbon-containing gases carbo ...

by increasing urban density and investing in mass transit in order to reduce dependency on private cars.

Labor

Scott is a supporter of

labor unions A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

. In addition, he has proposed a "Freelancer's Bill of Rights" to ensure worker protections for

gig economy Gig workers are independent contractors, online platform workers, contract firm workers, on-call workers, and temporary workers. Gig workers enter into formal agreements with on-demand companies to provide services to the company's clients. In m ...

workers, including mandatory contracts for work over 30 days, an end to

non-compete clause In contract law, a non-compete clause (often NCC), restrictive covenant, or covenant not to compete (CNC), is a clause under which one party (usually an employee) agrees not to enter into or start a similar profession or trade in competition agains ...

s, and a portable benefits program.

Municipal Broadband

Scott supports the creation of a Seattle

municipal broadband Municipal broadband is broadband Internet access owned by public entities. Services are often provided either fully or partially by local governments to residents within certain areas or jurisdictions. Common connection technologies include unlice ...

public utility, similar to what exists in

Chattanooga, TN Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

Public Health

Scott supports a

harm reduction Harm reduction, or harm minimization, refers to a range of public health policies designed to lessen the negative social and/or physical consequences associated with various human behaviors, both legal and illegal. Harm reduction is used to de ...

strategy to combat drug addiction, including the establishment of safe injection sites. He has criticized sweeps of homeless encampments as both ineffective and unjust.

Filmography

Feature Films (as Director/Writer) * ''Seat of Empire'' (2009) * ''Waste of Time'' (2010) * ''100% OFF: A Recession-Era Romance'' (2012) * ''Pacific Aggression'' (2014) Short Films/Music Videos * ''Shaun's Daydream'' (2008) * ''Steppin' Into Tomorrow'' (2009) * ''Driven'' (2013) * ''An American Day'' (2014) * ''Home Of The Mighty'' (2014)

Bibliography

*''Something Better: Millennials and Late Capitalism at the Movies'' (2015) *''Millennials and the Moments That Made Us: A Cultural History of the U.S. from 1982-Present'' (2018)

References

Sources

*http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/scotts-empire/Content?oid=3538008 * *http://dailyuw.com/archive/2010/05/20/imported/artist-spotlight-shaun-scott#.U9LGdlaE7Bg *http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/art-house/Content?oid=5623834 {{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Shaun 1984 births American film directors Living people American film editors Washington (state) Democrats African-American people in Washington (state) politics Members of the Democratic Socialists of America 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people