Writer's Literary Screenplay Agency, Screenplay Writers' Agency,The Screenplay Agency

James D. Macdonald

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What is the WL Screenplay Agency "Looking For Now"?

What are we 'Looking For Now'? Here are just a few of the requests that we are in the process of fulfilling. (Note: if your work matches one of these requests, please let us know on your submission query.

* Looking for completed script where one of the main lead characters or a central supporting character is a 10-year-old boy.
* Looking for completed family-oriented animal scripts, i.e. scripts that revolve around a horse, a dog, or some other animal and that would garner a probable G or PG rating. Scripts should be live-action.
* Looking for completed comedy script where the lead character is an African-American male in his 30Õs. The more outrageous, the better.
* Looking for smart, high-concept comedy set in a unique world and possessing an engaging protagonist. Can be R or PG-13, but should have a moral compass.
* Looking for clever, completed psychological horror scripts,
* Looking for completed feature sci-fi scripts. Only interested in big-budget summer blockbuster-type stories with strong fantastical elements that require lots of special effects.
* ... and more are added every day.


===============

Wow. Just wow. Sure are casting their nets wide.

What are the odds that any prodcos actually return the WL Screenplay Agency's phone calls?

Wait, what am I saying? In order to get their calls returned they'd have to make calls....
 

BarbJ

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"... and more are added every day."

Very wide, Uncle Jim. Wouldn't it be easier for them to simply write: "Looking for people willing to pay us to stomp on their dreams"?
 

Joseph

Help finding a real agent.

Hi, just read some things some companies are doing to steal honest writers' money. Can somebody tell me of any real honest agents for books and screenplays. I'm trying to take all the caution I possibly can to avoid any scam.

Also, about Writers Literary and all its agency groups, if all the negatives are true, then someone tell me how to proceed, with caution.
 

Popeyesays

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Hi, just read some things some companies are doing to steal honest writers' money. Can somebody tell me of any real honest agents for books and screenplays. I'm trying to take all the caution I possibly can to avoid any scam.

Also, about Writers Literary and all its agency groups, if all the negatives are true, then someone tell me how to proceed, with caution.

How do you proceed with caution?

If they ask for money up front, don't proceed with them at all. It does not matter HOW they ask for money, or why they ask for money.....if they require money at all it's because they cannot sell your script or your book at all.

You cannot get anything from WLA in any of it's incarnations--caution or not. You cannot allow yourself to be scammed 'cautiously'.

Between here and Preditors and Editors you can vette most anyone.

Regards,
Scott
 

xhouseboy

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What is the WL Screenplay Agency "Looking For Now"?

What are we 'Looking For Now'? Here are just a few of the requests that we are in the process of fulfilling. (Note: if your work matches one of these requests, please let us know on your submission query.

And we all know who's making these requests.

Bobby sweats over his PC in the basement, hoping to uncover that one killer script that he knows the industry is crying out for. When he finds what he believes could be a real winner, he sets it aside for submission. It subsequently disappears, and he later finds it edited beyond all recognition and attached to an invoice for $450. He rushes up to the attic room to tear a strip off Sherry who sits with her back to him, gazing out of the window...

In fact there's probably a movie in there somewhere.

No wait, Hitchcock got there first.
 

xhouseboy

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Also, about Writers Literary and all its agency groups, if all the negatives are true, then someone tell me how to proceed, with caution.

Forget they even exist, because, in actual fact, they don't -- they're a figment of Bobby Fletcher's imagination.
 

Joseph

Need help finding real agents.

Does anybody have any links to real true agents that are legit? I really need an honest feedback with a real link to a real hardworking agent who will try their hardest to sell my screenplay for their 10% or 15%. I just need a real agent. Please give me some links. I tried with Writers Literary Screenplay Agency, but it's taking a very long time, and now I'm not sure, with all the complaints. If anybody has any real links to real, honest, true, hardworking agents that they no for sure because they've worked with them before and know that they're real, please let me know. Thank you.
 

Joseph

And thanks for all the replies to my first thread.

I humbly thank you all for the replies you gave me on my first thread. Very sadly, I really am considering the advice. Hopefully WL might still be honest enough to sell my script after all the time and hard work I have invested in it, not to mention the money. Money is money, I know everybody needs it but I surely do frown at those who try to take advantage of people to get it.

But on my second thread, can someone please reply with some names of actual, real, legit, true, hardworking agents who will sell my script. I will great appreciate any agents that you know from personal experience because they've sold your own script so therefore you know they're true agents. Again, thanks for all the advice to my first thread.
 

Momento Mori

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Joseph, there's a thread in the Scriptwriting Forum here:

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24087

which gives some tips on producing screenplays and also resources for checking who to submit them to. Whilst I'm sure other people will chip in here to give any further databases/resources you can check out, ultimately you're going to have to do your own research as to who is the best fit for your script - no one else can do it for you.

Joseph:
Hopefully WL might still be honest enough to sell my script after all the time and hard work I have invested in it, not to mention the money.

You need to cut your losses because they're not going to sell your script. They are not set up to sell your script and they have neither the interest nor the capability to do so. All they will do is come up with more ideas for trying to gouge money out of you and after all that you will still have nothing to show for it. The very best thing you can do is terminate any contract you have with them and knuckle down to do some hard research. You can always check out agents/production companies here on AW if you're not sure about it.

I'm sorry if any of this sounds harsh, but there's an awful lot of legwork to trying to make a success of writing and doing it helps build up your own experience.

MM
 

eqb

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Hopefully WL might still be honest enough to sell my script after all the time and hard work I have invested in it, not to mention the money.

WL will never, never, never NEVER sell your script.

They are SCAMMERS.

Next question....

But on my second thread, can someone please reply with some names of actual, real, legit, true, hardworking agents who will sell my script.

You need to do your research. Start here:

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showpost.php?p=151221&postcount=2

Find the agents in the list that handle scripts.

Read the threads about them to find out which ones handle the kind of scripts/storylines you write.

Then query them.

You should also visit this form:

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=12

where other script writers talk about writing, querying, and selling their scripts.

The key is research. The tools and information are here on AW, but you need to do the work.
 

DeadlyAccurate

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Hopefully WL might still be honest enough to sell my script after all the time and hard work I have invested in it, not to mention the money. Money is money, I know everybody needs it but I surely do frown at those who try to take advantage of people to get it.

They aren't honest enough to sell it. They never have been. Nor are they competent enough. They won't sell it. Doesn't matter if you put in years of hard work or only minutes. They won't sell it. At all. They aren't interested in selling it. They don't care about you, not even a little bit, except for how much money you're willing to give them.

But on my second thread, can someone please reply with some names of actual, real, legit, true, hardworking agents who will sell my script. I will great appreciate any agents that you know from personal experience because they've sold your own script so therefore you know they're true agents. Again, thanks for all the advice to my first thread.

No, not really. Go to www.agentquery.com and research agents that are the right genre for you. Then check Preditors & Editors and the Index to this forum to see what people have to say about the agent and then check agent's own website if they have one. There's no such thing as a list of agent-good/agent-bad, because the right agent for a writer depends on many things.
 

xhouseboy

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I humbly thank you all for the replies you gave me on my first thread. Very sadly, I really am considering the advice. Hopefully WL might still be honest enough to sell my script after all the time and hard work I have invested in it, not to mention the money. Money is money, I know everybody needs it but I surely do frown at those who try to take advantage of people to get it.

Joseph, I'll second the above advice. I realise it's a hard one to take on board, but WL do not sell scripts, never have. Their income stems from the money they dubiously solicit from writers for a variety of 'services' that they claim to undertake. 'Honesty' does not enter into it.

Good luck in your search for an agent. If it's any consolation, in looking for a genuine agent there's at least a slim chance you could gain representation and your work might one day be produced, whereas with WL there was not the slightest hope of that.
 

James D. Macdonald

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If, by some lucky fluke, a writer who has a script with WL manages to sell it somewhere ... I promise you that WL has no idea how to negotiate a contract or what the clauses mean. If you follow WL's advice you will find yourself signing a disadvantageous contract for lowball money.
 

Joseph

Thanks

Thank you all so much. I'm still a little bit new here, but I'm definitely looking in for a new agent as of right now.
 

Roger J Carlson

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But on my second thread, can someone please reply with some names of actual, real, legit, true, hardworking agents who will sell my script. I will great appreciate any agents that you know from personal experience because they've sold your own script so therefore you know they're true agents. Again, thanks for all the advice to my first thread.
Here's the thing. Bad agents are bad for *all* writers. They are either out-right scammers or clueless. In either case, they should be avoided. Period.

However, it's not so easy to identify good agents because "good" is relative to a lot of variables. A good agent for you is one who: 1) represents what you write (and of course, has good contacts in that genre), 2) is taking new clients, and 3) one whose personality is a good fit for you.

No one here can determine these things for you. That's why no one is jumping in with suggestions. There's no such thing as a universally "good" agent. And there's no substitute for doing your own research. For one thing, you'll learn a lot about the publishing business in the process.
 

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Confidentiality with agents

I have queried many agents and wonder how bad is bad regarding confidentiality. Is it often that an agent can steal the story idea and sell it etc? Not sure where I should have posted this question but figured we have enough threads that somebody may see this and share their thoughts.
 

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I have queried many agents and wonder how bad is bad regarding confidentiality. Is it often that an agent can steal the story idea and sell it etc? Not sure where I should have posted this question but figured we have enough threads that somebody may see this and share their thoughts.

No agent with any reputation will steal your script or your idea. An agency like WL Screenplay can't sell anything, period. If they could, they wouldn't be scammers.
 

DaveKuzminski

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A good agent also has to want to represent what you have written to offer because the agent has to sell it and enthusiasm counts a lot in sales. Many good agents will pass on what is offered to them because they can't get behind it totally.

Bad agents will rarely pass up a manuscript. This is because they are after the money in your wallet. They will find a way to get you to pay them. If not through a reading fee, then they'll do it with a critique fee before agreeing to represent you. If not those, then with a representation fee. If not that, then a management fee. If those aren't how, then they'll do it with a large upfront fee for copying and postage.

Bad agents are also clueless and lack contacts in the industry. Good agents generally come from publishing backgrounds which includes working at a reputable publishing house or as an intern at a reputable literary agency. By the time they go out on their own as an agent, they generally have at least one sale or have taken part in sales with other agents. Very rarely will an agent appear without a background such as these who is capable of selling.
 

James D. Macdonald

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A real agent won't steal your book because he/she doesn't just want that book, but your next book, and your next, and the one after that.

A scam agent won't steal your book because what would he do with it? Sell it? He doesn't know how, and that's not where his cash flow comes from.

As to stealing ideas -- ideas are cheap. Everyone has 'em, and ideas aren't the important part of writing. The specific arrangement of words that expresses the idea. That's the important part.
 

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I'm presuming that these authors who have been posting about having lost not just time, but money to one of Robert Fletcher's agencies or editing services have already contacted me for important info on what to do now.

If not, they should write to me immediately. [email protected]

This is very important.

Thank you.

-Ann C. Crispin
Chair, Writer Beware
www.writerbeware.com
 
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firemothjoe

Add another name to list of those saved from the scam! I almost signed the contract and paid the $95 critique with wlscreenplayagency.com A little Google research beforehand lead me straight here! I read all 9 pages of this thread and give you all my humble thanks for saving me the cash and time.

I will never forget how good it felt when Sherry told me that they "wanted me as their writer" but I didn't let it get me down when I found out it was all lies and crap. I truly feel for the ones who were crushed at the news- but I learned a long time ago that it's not the end of the world, there is always another chance, another oppertunity. After all, American spirit means starting from scratch (often more than once) and still finding a way to live well, with a new hope each and every time.

I also learned that good outnumbers evil by at least 1000 to 1. The trick is finding a way to unite the good folks out there. This site is a perfect example. Incidently, both lessons are the underlieing theme behind my screenplay. It's a story that I feel must be shared with the entire world, and I cannot let such a small setback stand in my way. I hope you all feel the same way about your work.

To Sherry, if she happens to read my post, allow me to float a question quoted from Larry King:
"Who got you, was it the bloggers?"
 
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Richard McNally

WL Screenplay Agency

Glad to have this information about WL Screenplay Agency. I'll be sure to trash their e-mail if they respond to mine.