Wham Bam Another Scam!

Someone asked me for $20,000.00 the other day. I'll just dip into my vault they just assume I have! But this wasn't wishful thinking. This was most likely a scam.

Ties Lies to Netflix

There I was, minding my own business, when a notification from Facebook pops up on my phone. This is insanely rare for me, since my regular messenger and Facebook notifications are turned off.

I highly recommend you turn off notifications for apps you visit regularly. You won’t miss the notifications, because you already visit the app, and any activity you care about will be there when you go back into said app. IT’S SO PEACEFUL!

“You haven’t posted a story in awhile!” That’s true. Look how happy it’s made us! Photo by Jeffery Erhunse on Unsplash

But if all my notifications were turned off, what’s the deal? My author account. I had a new message from CM Williams, aka Calvin. At least, that’s what they claimed their name was.

Calvin is a writer with credits on GoT, Better Call Saul, etc. He has an agent (Siyu Li Han). Calvin sent me to his IMDB. And he wants to adapt my novel into a screenplay and send it to Netflix.

Wow!

All for the BARGAIN price of $20,000, which to be fair, is a deal compared to industry standard.

Beware of User Submitted Data

IMDB lets you go in and claim you worked on various projects. I thought it was super strange that this accomplished, repped writer would send me this link up front.

Now, as I dive into this, I have some strong reasons to believe this person is completely lying to me. There’s a (slim) chance they’re legit. There’s a (tiny little) chance this person is real and I’m about to step in shit, so I’m going to tell you what I know, and let you come to conclusions of your own.

Maybe this guy and his agent hadn’t heard of IMDB Pro. Obviously they hadn’t, since I went there first and found almost nothing for this guy. Or for his agent. There might have been someone with that name tied to some script departments, but they had none of the fancy credits highlighted by CM Williams in our chat. Or take his agent’s ridiculously named agency, “Literary Agency for Screenwriters.” Well, except this compelling little website.

I mean… this website sure looks professional.

And these projects are all website placeholders, but OK. Most agents have pretty lame websites, right? RIGHT?

I guessed immediately this was bullshit. I mean, he was asking for money (we’ll get to this), but there’s no way neither of these two jokers (it’s more likely three kids in a trench coat) didn’t exist on IMDB Pro.

But his IMDB regular did have him as a “script doctor” on the shows he mentioned. Ever the pesky one, I thought it would be best to dig deeper.

Good thing my friend, let’s call her Melvinne, worked on Better Call Saul. One text, and she asked the EP who this guy was.

They had never heard of him.

This was their exact expression when asked. Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

So I sent screenshots of the conversation. Apparently these IMDB credits were fake, and the EP was now taking action to have them removed. Whoops!.

So there went this guy’s credits.

But you know the rules: it’s all about who you know.

Also, I continued to push this guy to verify whether he was a member of the WGA. Did you know you can search the WGA for its members? I couldn’t find any “Calvin Williams” or “CM Williams” anywhere. I even phoned them, and they said “He’s not in our database. Many people lie about being a guild member.” He mentioned he was from the UK, so I tried their guild as well. There were two hits for the last name Williams, and neither were this guy.

So he gets to be the subject of a blog post!

The Money Problem

First off, the audacity of this guy to ask me to hire him to adapt my book. I can adapt my own book, thank you very fucking much. I at least read the damn thing!

Even if I believed everything this person said about his credits, there are still many red flags. Why me? Why this book?

No idea. He didn’t mention it. He was looking for someone to pay him, so the book didn’t matter. He never actually said they’d do anything with the script (like there would ever be a script lol) once it was written. The book didn’t matter.

But this line of thinking also is irrelevant.

Anyone approaching you to work on your IP is asking you for something valuable. You don’t pay them. They pay you. They join your team. They want to be there, either because they believe the project is profitable eventually, or they’re a fan.

If anyone wants you to pay them and only offers potential and splashy credits, walk away. They have nothing but words.

“Let’s go home, Sam.” Photo by Gabriella Clare Marino on Unsplash

This guy seems to be selling false hope and crossed their fingers and toes that I wouldn’t think about it. And you know? He reasoned the 20K was a good deal compared to his usual rate, and yeah, if he were a professional, it would be.

He set the bar high enough that someone who was less knowledgeable might believe him.

Here’s an XKCD comic that sums up the situation perfectly. Did you know you can just call yourself a script doctor??

A week later, a friend of mine was approached by a producer who wanted to film her script. Some dude named “Clay Walker” told her it would cost her $20,000 to get producer started on her film. This was after he promised her he could package and distribute her script.

She kicked his ass to the curb.

PRODUCERS AND PUBLISHERS DON’T ASK WRITERS FOR MONEY.

Writing IS the product. Not the other way around.

This producer asked my writer friend for 20K up front.

This script doctor wasn’t expecting me to know my friend Melvinne, who worked on Better Call Saul.

Your Hope is Precious

If you are ever approached by someone and you don’t think it’s legit, ask people. Go one layer deeper, as they say on the podcast Crime Junkies. Challenge them. This person was affronted that I didn’t jump on the chance to hire them. Thought my questions were weird. Yeah, I’m the problem, it’s me.

But then I think of what this person tried to do. He wanted me to pay him to make some dreams come true. To make me hope. To make me excited enough not to look too closely at the offer.

WOW, LOOK AT THE QUALITY OF HIS AGENT’S WEBSITE! IT’S SO LEGIT! Photo by Rendy Novantino on Unsplash

In this industry, you’ll need all the hope and optimism you can get, but there will never be a shortcut to dedicated, hard work. Never.

That hard work pays off in spades, but it will take time. And it will feel like that day is never coming, or always slips away.

Enjoy the process. It’s all we get. It’s all we control. Have fun with it, but don’t let anyone sway you on a promise of hope. At best, they’ll help you, but the work will still speak for itself. At worst, you’re about to be taken for all you’ve got.

I care about y’all. Take care of yourselves out there.

This could be us but I’m busy writing. Sorry not sorry. Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

And until next week, happy writing!