Kenya Barris will work on the script with Alex BarnowBack in February, word arrived that New Line had decided to take yet another crack at the John Shaft character played so memorably by Richard Roundtree in 1971 and (in the form of his nephew) Samuel L. Jackson in 2000. We don’t yet know who will be filling that iconic role, but we do know who will be putting words in his mouth, with TV writer/producers Kenya Barris and Alex Barnow snagging the job.