Or was it early this morning?
Okay, let me back up a little. I'm a noob at screenwriting, an utter fledgeling. I've got one (count 'em, ONE) feature-length project to draft stage.
So I'm at a conference in LA a few weeks ago when I run across a fellow who introduces himself as a producer from Calgary. We're staying in the same hotel, and he and I meet in the hotel restaurant. I share a table with him and two other acquaintances.
Naturally, the talk turns to creative work...it's why we're both there, after all...and I mention that I'm hoping to make contacts through which to market my screenplay. He invites me to pitch it, right there at the table. So what do I do? Well, he didn't have to ask me twice. I pitched.
This fellow allows as how he supposes that my project is commercially viable, and wishes me luck with it. I volunteer that I haven't the faintest idea of how to proceed with it. We trade contact information, and part.
Some days later, home again, I e-mail him, asking if *he* is interested at all in taking on the project. He replies after some deliberation that yes, he'll help me with it. I ask what's the next step. He directs me to raise seed money, "...maybe twenty or forty thousand dollars, so we can put together a slick marketing package that includes a three- or five-minute video clip about the story."
I say "You mean like shooting a trailer first?" "Yeah," he replies. "Get the money together, and we can get started."
Well, I think to myself, maybe he's thinking like a producer, and not like a writer. Maybe that's how they do things...start by going to a bank with a business plan, etc., etc... banks lend money on movie projects all the time, right?
So I e-mail him back. "Look," I say, "First off, you're the only person whose plan includes money flowing FROM the writer, rather than TO the writer. Second, in order to raise money for this project, I would need to show any potential lenders some homework. You know, like a business plan, a marketing agreement even, maybe a tentative schedule? Something that tells them that we're on the up-and-up. I couldn't do it on just your word. You've got to provide some bona fides." "Call me," he replies.
I do. After talking in circles for half an hour, here's where it stands: This guy wants me to send him a cashier's check for, oh, about fifty grand, from wherever I can find it. Friends, relatives, banks, credit cards, second mortgage. On his say-so.
Ain't happenin'. Where on earth do guys like this come from? Are there really morons who will fall for this kind of stunt?
[sigh]
No. While I did indeed fall off a turnip truck, it wasn't yesterday or even the day before.
Okay, let me back up a little. I'm a noob at screenwriting, an utter fledgeling. I've got one (count 'em, ONE) feature-length project to draft stage.
So I'm at a conference in LA a few weeks ago when I run across a fellow who introduces himself as a producer from Calgary. We're staying in the same hotel, and he and I meet in the hotel restaurant. I share a table with him and two other acquaintances.
Naturally, the talk turns to creative work...it's why we're both there, after all...and I mention that I'm hoping to make contacts through which to market my screenplay. He invites me to pitch it, right there at the table. So what do I do? Well, he didn't have to ask me twice. I pitched.
This fellow allows as how he supposes that my project is commercially viable, and wishes me luck with it. I volunteer that I haven't the faintest idea of how to proceed with it. We trade contact information, and part.
Some days later, home again, I e-mail him, asking if *he* is interested at all in taking on the project. He replies after some deliberation that yes, he'll help me with it. I ask what's the next step. He directs me to raise seed money, "...maybe twenty or forty thousand dollars, so we can put together a slick marketing package that includes a three- or five-minute video clip about the story."
I say "You mean like shooting a trailer first?" "Yeah," he replies. "Get the money together, and we can get started."
Well, I think to myself, maybe he's thinking like a producer, and not like a writer. Maybe that's how they do things...start by going to a bank with a business plan, etc., etc... banks lend money on movie projects all the time, right?
So I e-mail him back. "Look," I say, "First off, you're the only person whose plan includes money flowing FROM the writer, rather than TO the writer. Second, in order to raise money for this project, I would need to show any potential lenders some homework. You know, like a business plan, a marketing agreement even, maybe a tentative schedule? Something that tells them that we're on the up-and-up. I couldn't do it on just your word. You've got to provide some bona fides." "Call me," he replies.
I do. After talking in circles for half an hour, here's where it stands: This guy wants me to send him a cashier's check for, oh, about fifty grand, from wherever I can find it. Friends, relatives, banks, credit cards, second mortgage. On his say-so.
Ain't happenin'. Where on earth do guys like this come from? Are there really morons who will fall for this kind of stunt?
[sigh]
No. While I did indeed fall off a turnip truck, it wasn't yesterday or even the day before.