The film tracks the attempts of Bobby Taylor to become a successful actor and the mental and external roadblocks he encounters, represented through a series of interspersed vignettes and fantasies.

His younger brother Stevie 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.

B. Sanders, a famous actor who plays a stereotypical black comedy character, Batty Boy, in the popular television sitcom There's a Bat in My House.

Later that night, he visits his uncle Ray, a singer who gave up a chance at stardom to take a "real" job and provide for his family.

In an echo of his grandmother's earlier admonition, Hollywood Shuffle ends with Bobby filming a TV PSA for the US Postal Service.

Townsend financed the film himself using his own savings and multiple pre-approved credit card applications, raising an estimated $60,000 to $100,000.

[10] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called the film "an artistic compromise but a logistical triumph, announcing the arrival of a new talent whose next movie should really be something.

[13] Harriet Margolis claims that "Townsend ignores gender issues, thereby weakening certain aspects of his own attack on Hollywood's misuse of stereotypes.

[6] 1987 Deauville Film Festival[15] 1988 Independent Spirit Awards[16] A restored 4K Blu-ray edition of Hollywood Shuffle with new audio commentary from Townsend was released by The Criterion Collection on February 28, 2023.