Screenwriting : Scammers by Anthony Michaels

Thank you Anthony for posting this. It helps to know and be aware.

Thanks Anthony Michaels. Are they coming through S32? @MauriceVaughn, can he report them to: support@stage32.com ?

Anthony Michaels Agreed, Tony! I received an email from producer Greg Beeman, praising me for my work. Greg was the producer of one of my all-time favorite shows, SMALLVILLE. Did some digging, discovered it was a scam, and reported the fake account. Would NEVER fall for a producer requesting cash from me. My cash stays firmly in my wallet. Such financial power allows me to purchase cookies. I like cookies.

I also got those, and I reported them. They were suspended right away.

Hey, Anthony Michaels. Are the scammers messaging you on Stage 32? If so, report them with support@stage32.com like Robin Gregory mentioned.

We don’t scammers. We are on your side.

Thanks Anthony - I had the same thing happen to me last week. He reached out here on Stage32. My manager sorted him out pretty quickly.

Thanks @Anthony! We're definitely keeping an eye out! Be sure to email us at support@stage32.com so we can look into them

Maurice Vaughan Yeh, x2 so far from S32. I feel ya @Bill Brock, sometimes that's how the cookie crumbles but cookies are awfully good. The same thing happened to me.

I've had many producers contact me saying they were interested in a relationship with me. Say they see my credits/awards and are interested in "Making Magic" I'll send them my registered script and get responses that I'm have a talent for writing and a great imagination . Not what they liked about the story and anything about the characters which makes me suspicious as to if they really read it. These are confirmed when out of nowhere, they want a collaborative fee I've seen as low as $3,800.00 and as high as $10,000.00 assuring me they would get my stories out there. Surprisingly a lot of them have credits on IMDB but I have heard from other established writers that these producers have probably not done anything in awhile and are looking for the quick buck.

two of them myself, if you ask them about their selection process and they won't answer before you send them anything you can bet they are going to want to charge you a "producer fee" to use your script

A banker lends an umbrella in the sun's embrace, but a scammer, with deceit, sets a trickier pace. Like fleeting shadows, promises gleam, yet truth, when revealed, shatters the scheme.

Every single time; producer contacts me, love your stuff. Do you have funding so you can afford to hire me to produce your show? No? K. Thanks. Bye.

The first guy who contacted me, I wasn't expecting the "you''ll be charged a $6K producer's fee and of course that went no further. The second guy, "send me information about your projects and I'll share my process if I want to proceed". When he looked at some of the information I sent him, he came back with "I require a small fee. I hope you understand." I was waiting for that one and replied, "Actually, if you had chosen one of my projects, I would be expecting an option fee from you." Curt reply from him, "I don't work with options." End of story. Interestingly, both of these guys have been suspended by Stage 32.

Richard M Kjeldgaard I've noticed that, too. If they either have no IMDb credits, or none in a decade, or their previous projects score lower than 5, I run. One recent producer (not on S 32) had a nice website, but no name or person attached to it. I googled the physical address, which appeared to be a private post office. Ha! Then, there are the scammers who borrow IMDb identities. S 32 is really good at spotting them, thank heavens!