[Agency] BigScore Productions, Inc.

They seem to be legit, and the fact that they post their clients and their books tell me that they are.

However, on a sour note: they never replied to my proposal. Not even a form rejection letter in my SASE.

Same here...

maestrowork said:

They seem to be legit, and the fact that they post their clients and their books tell me that they are.

However, on a sour note: they never replied to my proposal. Not even a form rejection letter in my SASE.

Click to expand...

Same thing happened with me. From what I can tell, they appear to be a legitimate agency with some big sales, but they're not too keen on replying to queries, even with follow-up letters, etc.

Cheryll

Cheryll said:

Same thing happened with me. From what I can tell, they appear to be a legitimate agency with some big sales, but they're not too keen on replying to queries, even with follow-up letters, etc.

Click to expand...

I understand from a writer who was hooked up with David Robie that they charge fees/office expenses...not only that, they give the impression in their contract if you don't pay the fees they will not only stop submitting your manuscript but prevent you from removing your property from their "representation", even though when they stop submitting the manuscript, they have voided the contract.

Having seen this agency's contract, my suggestion would be to stay away.

If you can send me a copy of that contract, I would appreciate it.

Axler said:

I understand from a writer who was hooked up with David Robie that they charge fees/office expenses...not only that, they give the impression in their contract if you don't pay the fees they will not only stop submitting your manuscript but prevent you from removing your property from their "representation", even though when they stop submitting the manuscript, they have voided the contract.

Having seen this agency's contract, my suggestion would be to stay away.

Click to expand...

Really? Very interesting indeed... maybe it's a good thing they never bothered to respond to my queries. LOL

Cheryll

According to their website, they seem to be very Christian and family-value oriented. If this is what you are selling, you have opportunity.

Kiva Wolfe said:

According to their website, they seem to be very Christian and family-value oriented. If this is what you are selling, you have opportunity.

Click to expand...

Huh? I don't understand what you mean. A bad contract is a bad contract. There are enough Christian publishers with decent contracts that no one should consider a bad one just because they're Christian--and that's assuming they actually are, and aren't just playing to the Christian crowd.

Hi Aconite:

I was't implying that this agency offers a good or bad even contract, because I haven't read it. Rather, I was just passing along information I had gleaned from their website to indicate what they represent. As we sometimes find in this business, agents are not who, or even what they claim to be, which can deal a cruel blow to a writer's self-esteem and creative aspirations. I try to be fair and not rush to judgement. If they have a bad contract or charge fees, I hope someone does us all a favor and reports them to P&E. Once I see it listed there, good or bad, I know it's for real.

Is there any updated information on this agency? Has anyone dealt with them recently?

Thanks,

Cindy

Ditto, they never replied to me, either.

Big Score Productions are FRAUDS!!!

I'm shocked to have gotten this response from them, because I only send to reputable agencies. It must have been before I looked over Mr. Robie's credentials, when I sent this. Nevertheless, as you read below...they say that because they don't read "unsolicited proposals"...they're offering this service to me, which I have to pay for. What a bunch of crap. ALL QUERIES ARE UNSOLICITED...THAT'S THE WHOLE FRIGGIN POINT!! It's disgusting to me that these companies try yet again to make money off us writers. DO NOT send these people your work. I'll never associate with them again. And I love how they say near the beginning of the letter, "...we're not doing this to make money,". Oh yeah. Really? NOT!

Dear Writer

Thank you for your email submission to BigScore Productions.

Due to the thousands of submissions we receive each year, your submission (a complete proposal) will now only be reviewed if you pay a small $50 Processing Fee. This fee covers a reviewer’s time, credit card and handling fees. We are not doing this to make money. If we do not hear from you, your email will be unread and deleted.

Just as with almost all editors and agents today, BigScore does not have time to give careful consideration to unsolicited manuscripts. These have increased dramatically with the advent of the internet, the tightening of publishers’ lists, and the necessity of having to have an agent. Even many published writers are now faced with having to find representation to get their work seen.

It used to be that writers would have to spend some money to print, bind, and mail their proposals out. Now with the internet it costs nothing to send tens, if not hundreds, out at a time. Agents and publishers are swamped. I’ve heard it said that at any one time there are as many as two million book proposals floating around. The key, like in most things in life, is to get someone’s attention.

We actively consider manuscripts that are referred to us by our own authors and the editors we work with. This always leaves us wondering what potential bestsellers we may be missing in the many unsolicited manuscripts we receive. So we decided the best option would be to give you the writer the chance to “know” your work is being looked at.

The BigScore submission review “will not” be a full manuscript critique. We will only respond with a short personal paragraph on why we want to further consider your work, at no additional cost to you, or why we are passing on your work. If we do accept you for representation, your work will be submitted to the best publishers. Please go to www.bigscoreproductions.com and learn about our successes if you have not done so already.

BigScore is not interested in looking at poetry.

To continue on with the $50 Processing Fee:

• Click the Pay Now button below. Sign in to your PayPal account or establish an account.Send payment.
• Once payment is received we will ask you to resend your work (your complete proposal, not just an email query).

***If for some reason the Pay Now button does not work correctly . . .

• Put “$50 Processing Fee” in the in the subject line of a new email, your “email address” and “name of your work” in the body of the email, and send to [email protected]. You will then receive an invoice from PayPal requesting payment with a major credit card.
• Once payment is received we will ask you to resend your work (your complete proposal, not just an email query).

David A. Robie, Agent
BigScore Productions

Moved from SF/F.

Concerning BigScore Productions

You are right, Pookalah. I got the same message from them today: Wednesday 10 December, 2008 - asking me to pay $50 US Dollars "small Processing Fee." Processing what??? "Small": Please, don't let me get so angry.

David A. Robie and his BigScore Productions are heartlessly out to rip writers off. I suggest writers stop querying them. It makes me mad to think that they even have the audacity to claim that: " We are not doing this to make money." What nonsense: Yet they make an extra effort to tell you how to send the money to them if the Paypal system does not work.

Anyway, I won't even bother to respond to them. Below is the same email I got from them:

"Dear Writer

Thank you for your email submission to BigScore Productions.

Due to the thousands of submissions we receive each year, your submission (a complete proposal) will now only be reviewed if you pay a small $50 Processing Fee. This fee covers a reviewer’s time, credit card and handling fees. We are not doing this to make money. If we do not hear from you, your email will be unread and deleted.

Just as with almost all editors and agents today, BigScore does not have time to give careful consideration to unsolicited manuscripts. These have increased dramatically with the advent of the internet, the tightening of publishers’ lists, and the necessity of having to have an agent. Even many published writers are now faced with having to find representation to get their work seen.

It used to be that writers would have to spend some money to print, bind, and mail their proposals out. Now with the internet it costs nothing to send tens, if not hundreds, out at a time. Agents and publishers are swamped. I’ve heard it said that at any one time there are as many as two million book proposals floating around. The key, like in most things in life, is to get someone’s attention.

We actively consider manuscripts that are referred to us by our own authors and the editors we work with. This always leaves us wondering what potential bestsellers we may be missing in the many unsolicited manuscripts we receive. So we decided the best option would be to give you the writer the chance to “know” your work is being looked at.

The BigScore submission review “will not” be a full manuscript critique. We will only respond with a short personal paragraph on why we want to further consider your work, at no additional cost to you, or why we are passing on your work. If we do accept you for representation, your work will be submitted to the best publishers. Please go to www.bigscoreproductions.com and learn about our successes if you have not done so already.

BigScore is not interested in looking at poetry.

Here are a few of the many positive responses we have received from those who paid the BigScore Processing Fee:

Thank you for your $10,000 review of my work. Looks like I owe you $9,950. May the Good Lord bless and keep you. Tom

Thank you for your response; I appreciate any and all critiques, yours were quite incisive and to the point. Rachel

My point is that you took the time to read my sample chapters and then went beyond the call of duty to write me the greatest feedback I've yet to receive. You actually taught me some very important lessons that will help make my book a better product. Robert

To continue on with the $50 Processing Fee:

Click the Pay Now button below.

Sign in to your PayPal account or establish an account.

Send payment.

Once payment is received we will ask you to resend your work (your complete proposal, not just an email query).

***If for some reason the Pay Now button does not work correctly . . .

Put “$50 Processing Fee” in the in the subject line of a new email, your “email address” and “name of your work” in the body of the email, and send to [email protected].

You will then receive an invoice from PayPal requesting payment with a major credit card.

Once payment is received we will ask you to resend your work (your complete proposal, not just an email query).

David A. Robie, Agent
BigScore Productions


Press the above button to pay.

If you can not see the payment button, please click here .

This email was generated using the Payment Request Wizard. Visit http://www.paypal.com/paymentwizard to download a free copy from PayPal."
___

Pookalah said:

I'm shocked to have gotten this response from them, because I only send to reputable agencies. It must have been before I looked over Mr. Robie's credentials, when I sent this. Nevertheless, as you read below...they say that because they don't read "unsolicited proposals"...they're offering this service to me, which I have to pay for. What a bunch of crap. ALL QUERIES ARE UNSOLICITED...THAT'S THE WHOLE FRIGGIN POINT!! It's disgusting to me that these companies try yet again to make money off us writers. DO NOT send these people your work. I'll never associate with them again. And I love how they say near the beginning of the letter, "...we're not doing this to make money,". Oh yeah. Really? NOT!

Dear Writer

Thank you for your email submission to BigScore Productions.

Due to the thousands of submissions we receive each year, your submission (a complete proposal) will now only be reviewed if you pay a small $50 Processing Fee. This fee covers a reviewer’s time, credit card and handling fees. We are not doing this to make money. If we do not hear from you, your email will be unread and deleted.

<snipped>

Click to expand...

Watch out for the "Big Score"

Several weeks ago, I sent an email query to a mid-state Pennsylvania based outfit called Big Score Productions. I thought something was strange about their listing, only a website and email address.

A check of the website shows purported books they've gotten published, and they seemed to have some connections to TV as well. There is however, only one agent listed.

It didn't seem right, but as I was sending only a query, I thought it would be interesting to read what they had to say. And boy, was it ever!

Here's the full text of the reply to said email:

###

"Dear Writer


Thank you for your email submission to BigScore Productions.

Due to the thousands of submissions we receive each year, your submission (a complete proposal) will now only be reviewed if you pay a small $50 Processing Fee. This fee covers a reviewer’s time, credit card and handling fees. It is not a reading or editing fee, and does not guarantee representation. We are not doing this to make money. If we do not hear from you, your email will be unread and deleted.

Just as with almost all editors and agents today, BigScore does not have time to give careful consideration to unsolicited manuscripts. These have increased dramatically with the advent of the internet, the tightening of publishers’ lists, and the necessity of having to have an agent. Even many published writers are now faced with having to find representation to get their work seen.

It used to be that writers would have to spend some money to print, bind, and mail their proposals out. Now with the internet it costs nothing to send tens, if not hundreds, out at a time. Agents and publishers are swamped. I’ve heard it said that at any one time there are as many as two million book proposals floating around. The key, like in most things in life, is to get someone’s attention.

We actively consider manuscripts that are referred to us by our own authors and the editors we work with. This always leaves us wondering what potential bestsellers we may be missing in the many unsolicited manuscripts we receive. So we decided the best option would be to give you the writer the chance to “know” your work is being looked at.

The BigScore submission review “will not” be a full manuscript critique. We will only respond with a short personal paragraph on why we want to further consider your work, at no additional cost to you, or why we are passing on your work. Please go to www.bigscoreproductions.com and learn about our successes if you have not done so already.

BigScore is not interested in looking at poetry.

Here are a few of the many positive responses we have received from those who paid the BigScore Processing Fee:

Thank you for your $10,000 review of my work. Looks like I owe you $9,950. May the Good Lord bless and keep you. Tom

Thank you for your response; I appreciate any and all critiques, yours were quite incisive and to the point. Rachel

My point is that you took the time to read my sample chapters and then went beyond the call of duty to write me the greatest feedback I've yet to receive. You actually taught me some very important lessons that will help make my book a better product. Robert

To continue on with the $50 Processing Fee:

• <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Click the Pay Now button below. <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Sign in to your PayPal account or establish an account. <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Send payment.
• Once payment is received we will ask you to resend your work (your complete proposal, not just an email query).

***If for some reason the Pay Now button does not work correctly . . .

• <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Put “$50 Processing Fee” in the in the subject line of a new email, your “email address” and “name of your work” in the body of the email, and send to [email protected]. <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">You will then receive an invoice from PayPal requesting payment with a major credit card.
• Once payment is received we will ask you to resend your work (your complete proposal, not just an email query).

David A. Robie, Agent
BigScore Productions"

####

I turned down their generous offer.

Nice, aren't they? Nowhere did I see anything about a reading/processing fee (if I had, I would never have even sent the query). It also sounds like in ensuing paragraphs that they're looking for more money out of prospective "clients." Oh, and the "Good Lord Bless You" quote was just so inspiring, wasn't it? Really gets 'em there in the heart of Amish/Mennonite country.

I do not know if anyone has run into difficulty with this person or any of his colleagues, but I thought it important to pass along.

AVOID THESE PEOPLE AT ALL COSTS!!!!!!!

I know the Robie business well -- used to work for them. They are money-hungry nuts. I wouldn't trust them and especially wouldn't trust their "Christian" values. They are only in it for the cash, but most of you figured that our on your own. Trust your instincts on this one and keep clear. Wish someone had given me this advice before I got involved with them.