I thought you all would enjoy the exchange below…and possibly learn from it. 🙂
AUTHOR
I was contacted by a film company who has an executive producer interested in adapting my book for a movie or series. They require a screenplay to proceed. Do you have any recommendations for a group that is trustworthy for screenplays? Thanks.
ME
First, be very, VERY careful. The industry is filled with “your book can be a movie!” scams.
The only recommendation we have for screenwriting is HERE.
But, before you hire anyone, make sure the offer is legit. If they ask you for any money at all, it’s not. It’s also extremely unusual for a “producer” to require a story to be a screenplay before proceeding. The production company should be footing the bill for that.
AUTHOR
Thanks Angela. The film company is not asking for any money but steered me to a media company to write the screenplay who is charging $20,000 for that…which seems high. I’ll check your source and carefully proceed.
ME
I’d be willing to bet a lot of money that the film company is either getting kickbacks from the media company, or that they are the same company, but operating under different names.
If I were you, I’d run away FAST from those outfits.
AUTHOR
Thanks Angela… I agree with your assessment. The film company confirmed they would pay $10,000 toward the $20,000 screenplay writing fee, although I suspected some collusion. Regardless, I ended my discussion with them on Monday. I’m working on the 3rd novel in the trilogy, which may be ready for publishing by year-end. At that time, I’ll reach out to agents and see if anyone will pick me up to focus on the screenplay concept.
ME
Would you mind sharing the names of the two “companies?”
The exchange continued with the author providing me with the names of the “film” company, and the company that quoted him $20K for the screenplay. It’s not unusual with these scams for the “film” company to offer to pay half the cost for the writing of the screenplay. The fact is, the two companies are one in the same and they aren’t paying for anything. They simply quote twice the price, and pretend to only be charging the author half.
I did some poking around. Here’s what I sent to the author:
ME
I looked up their address. It’s an unimpressive brick building. I zoomed in a bit and saw names for two other film/production companies but not the name y0u mentioned.
There’s almost nothing on their facebook page and there have been no new posts since 2020.
I can’t get their website to open up.
Their Twitter feed hasn’t be updated since 2014.
There is a nice looking press release online and other things sure make them look legit but…I’m getting a bad feeling about this outfit.
I can also find no mention of them on bbb.org.
BINGO! I just found a post online under an article about scams in the industry that mentioned them specifically. Apparently, there was a legitimate production company with that name but they went out of business a few years ago. That explains why there are no updates on their social media posts. A scammer grabbed the name, and ran with it. And, the same person owns both the “film” company and the screenwriting service.
So, he’s posing as a “director” to lie to authors about a possible movie deal just so he can make money with the screenwriting.
AUTHOR BEWARE!
Angela Hoy lives on a mountain in North Georgia. She is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, the President and CEO of BookLocker.com and AbuzzPress, and the author of 24 books.
Follow Angela: twitter | facebook | linkedin
Angela is the creator of the Original 24-Hour Short Story Contest!
Learn more here: https://24hourshortstorycontest.com/
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You did the writer a huge service. Thank you for being there for all of us out in the “field.” Having suffered financial loss by a scammer in another industry (not writing or publishing), I know firsthand how critical it is to have good sources, solid information, and recommendations to avoid these crooks taking advantage of people who do business honestly and expect others to do the same.
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Hi Ang:
I had a similar experience a number of years ago where a shyster in Las Vegas tried to get me to invest in his proposed Las Vegas Film Festival – with the sweetener that he would use my writing services to promote the festival and promised to pass along a screenplay I had written to his film contacts.
My brother – also a writer based in Vancouver, British Columbia – and I met with the man in an office in Vegas festooned with signed movie star photographs on the walls personally inscribed to him. I actually knew a multi-millionaire in Toronto, Ontario who would have loved to get involved in such a venture. I was in Vegas because I had written some promotional literature for a Toronto-based airline that flew to Vegas. They paid me in contra – a flight to and accommodation in the gambling mecca. My brother flew in on his own hook for a reunion since we hadn’t seen each other in a few years. Upon arrival, he said a Vancouver contact had recommended that we phone his Vegas friend who was hoping to get the festival launched.
My brother was – and still is – a little more trusting that I am and was all gung ho about the project. Once we had left the guy’s office, I asked my brother if he had noticed anything fishy about the place. He hadn’t, but I had. When the guy had gone to get us coffee, I spent some time looking at the movie star photos on his walls. Every one of them was signed by the same hand! Ann-Margaret’s signature looked exactly like Robert Mitchum’s – which in turn looked like Elizabeth Taylor’s. All of them included glowing remarks about him.
Long story short, we did some asking around about the guy and found out that he was a grifter who had been trying to get people to invest in his “festival” for months. We were told that his “office” belonged to a friend who let him use it from time to time. He put up the pictures each time and took them down after a meeting with the suckers he was trying to dupe. His wife had kicked him out of their house and he was living in his car!
Your article brought back an old memory that had been buried for years…
Bear hugs,
Tom