May 23, 2024 • 27 mins
Scam artists steal dreams. We're finding ways to get payback.
In this incendiary episode of the Hollywood Confessional, we hear from an aspiring writer who pursued a seemingly great opportunity: taking a class from a mentorship program, the stated goal of which was to help underrepresented voices get into the industry. The first thing they learned? Some so-called "mentors" can't be trusted.
Red flags abound in this story of a dream gone wrong... but so do glimmers of hope. Ultimately our confessor realizes they've been conned out of their intellectual property, but is it too late to do anything about it?
Join us for a discussion on industry scams, how to avoid them, and what you can do if you find yourself caught in one. Spoiler: The answer is definitely NOT slashing tires.
Connect with us:
Check out some of our favorite shows:
- Screenwriters' Rant Room
- Screaming into the Hollywood Abyss
- It Happened in Hollywood
- The Secret History of Hollywood
Hollywood Confessional is a Ninth Way Media production, produced by Meagan Daine and J.R. Zamora-Thal.
Sound Effects and Music provided by Zapsplat and Pixabay.
Keywords: filmmaking podcast, film podcast, screenwriting podcast, entertainment podcast, Hollywood, filmmaking, writerslife, actorslife, setlife
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
In nomine Cinema e TV , espiritu Streaming Amen.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Hello Hollywood faithful, Welcome back to
another episode of the HollywoodConfessional.
I am your favorite podcastpriest, Megan Dane.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
And I'm JR Zamora-Thal.
Megan, you sound so far away.
What's going on?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Oh, that's so mean, dude, so mean.
So the writer's roomtechnically ended.
I am no longer employed and JRis still happily employed on the
same show.
So we're in separate spaces nowand I have the shitty mic and
he has the good mic.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Besk in the glory of these dulcet tones.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
So if I sound tinny and annoyed, you'll know why
listeners.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
But we can actually finally tell people what we were
working on, because it wasfinally announced.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yes, oh my God it, because it was finally announced
.
Yes, oh my God, it made it feelso much more real.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
I know it feels like there's actually going to be a
show on television now.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yeah, I mean, should we say what it is?
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I don't know.
We've gone this far withoutsaying it.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
I don't even know if we should, maybe you guys should
just look it up on your own.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
No, we for the past, oh, I don't know seven, eight
months now?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Well, I mean, if you don't count the strike, it's
been like two straight years.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
I was only considering season two.
You know what I'm ready to sayit.
We were on cross season two.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
We got a season two Hell yeah, the, the first season
was just officially announced,so so go check it out online,
check it out on YouTube orwhatever the official amazon
prime video accounts.
They have the teaser for seasonone and it looks amazing and
it's so exciting this is theshow by the way that, like so,
(01:57):
we got greenlit to have awriter's room for season two
even though season one had notpremiered, which was quite um,
unusual and very exciting andwonderful, particularly coming
right after the strike.
We're so lucky for that.
And then we started to watchthe daily or not the dailies the
cuts right of the episodes, andI was like so into the cuts
that I would be late for worksome days.
(02:20):
I'm like I got to find out whathappens, even though I
absolutely know what happensbecause I was there like every
step of the way in season one.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Oh man, it's like one thing to read it, though, but
then to see it on screen and seeit come to life is just like
insane.
Like it's so much more engagingwhen it's on screen, with those
actors saying the lines likeit's, it's incredible.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yeah, that's true.
I mean it does help that wehave Aldous Hodge yes, yeah,
that's true, I mean it does helpthat we have Aldous Hodge yes,
and Isaiah Mustafa, and and andwe could I mean Ryan Eggled like
we could go on and on with thelist of just incredible actors.
Um, I mean, gosh, thecinematography is amazing.
Like I'm not I'm not trying tomake this a cross ad here I'm
(03:02):
just really excited, uh that thetrailer finally come out, even
though I am now unemployed.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
It's going to be amazing and season two is going
to be amazing.
I don't know if we can talkabout any of the cast or
anything really.
I just know that it's beenofficially announced so we can
say that it exists.
But yeah, it's going to bereally fun when that comes out.
So, yeah, lots of excited.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
So thank you all for bearing with us all this time,
as we've been talking about itin code, and go check it out
online If you're so inclined.
Let us know what you think, andmeanwhile we have our own show.
Hey, hollywood.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Confessional.
That's what we're here for.
Why don't we jump into whatwe've got this week?
Speaker 2 (03:43):
This one's been like a long time coming right.
We recorded this pre-strike butyou know what, as I was
reviewing the episode after allthis time, it still got me so
fucking mad.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Oh, this episode is the one that I've had the most
reaction to Editing it this lastweek.
I am just reminded how furiousI get when they're people that
take advantage of the peopletrying to come up in hollywood.
I mean the people that are, youknow, living on hopes and
dreams and have nothing but thatthere are still people preying
(04:18):
on them and it's like what areyou even trying to get out of
them?
Like it's so infuriating.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
I'm still stuck on the fact that you said that you
have had this episode sincebefore the strike and you just
edited it this week.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
I was working on a little show called Cross.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Okay, okay, well, with no further ado, this is
Class Con, and I think it'sabout time to get into it.
What do you think, jr?
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Let's get into the confessional booth.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Forgive me, Father, for I paid big bucks for a
writing class that turned out tobe a grift.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Motherfucker.
Okay, this one is alreadypissing me off.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
We're about to take it from podcast priest to
podcast.
Vigilante, tell us how the fuckit started.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Okay, well, I'm really bad at networking.
I don't like talking about mycraft, I just like doing it.
I see people sit around andtalk about art all the time and
I'm like I can't do this.
So that's been a big hurdle forme as I'm working my way into
the industry.
I can imagine, when it's allabout who you know, you kind of
(05:41):
have to get to know people.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
That's amazing that paid your rent for a year.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Where are you living, wouldn't you like to know?
Thank you, it was my first bigcontest win.
It paid for my small life for ayear and it helped me see that
the way I network best is totake a class, have other people
read my stuff and see how I givenotes.
I find just doing what you dois the best calling card right.
Right there with you.
So at my university they had anemail list.
(06:10):
Mostly it's a bunch ofGoFundMes.
Sometimes it's like I'mteaching a class and it's
supposed to be vetted byprofessionals from our circle.
So this thing popped up on thelist called the B.
Their mandate is to helpunderrepresented voices get into
the industry and it's run by awoman named B.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Putting it on the hit list.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
We don't even know what she's done yet, but I like
where your head's at.
She was the teacher and hadsome professional credits under
her name.
Class was about 10 weeks, Ithink, and at the end of it
there was a showcase, a readingwith professional actors, of
your script.
To get into the program, yousent an email, you had to submit
a script and then there was acall where program.
You sent an email, you had tosubmit a script, and then there
was a call where I talked to youover the phone.
(06:51):
She sounded very professional.
She was like what?
Speaker 2 (06:53):
are your writing goals?
What do you want to do?
Speaker 3 (06:56):
That kind of thing.
Now, this was not my firstrodeo, so I asked a lot of
questions about how it would goand the details about the
showcase.
At the end, everything she saidsounded great.
There were literally no redflags.
But then I started taking theclass.
This is where it starts to geta little dicey.
The class cost $750 for 10weeks, which is comparable to a
(07:20):
lot of graduate level coursesand private classes.
So I went in thinking they weregoing to be held in a classroom
or some kind of professionalsetting, but it turns out they
were in the teacher's apartmentbuilding.
So my first red flag is youdon't have any overhead, so
you're just pocketing 750straight Cool.
The next red flag was there wasno teaching period.
(07:41):
What happened was every weekyou would turn in so many pages,
we would open up your documentin class, people would give
notes and the teacher would golast.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
So she would basically just listen to what
other people were saying andthen base her notes on that.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Absolutely.
And then it gets better.
Sometimes people wouldn't getfeedback.
There were so many of us.
Sometimes people would justleave after hour three or four.
They'd be like I don't want tosit through anyone else and
we're not going to get to mine,so bye.
(08:16):
So I was literally paying towrite and turn in pages and then
get notes from people who areall over the spectrum in terms
of experience.
Some of them had never writtenanything before, which is
wonderful, and everybody needsto start somewhere.
But this thing was vetted as aprofessional writing workshop
and it was totally not what itwas supposed to be.
Then it got even better.
About halfway through the class, six or seven weeks in, I got a
call from B***h on the phone.
(08:37):
She was like I have a question.
Would you like to be myassistant?
I wasn't working at the time,so I was like absolutely.
And she said Cool.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
You mentioned in your resume that you had been an
assistant in development.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
This was in reference to a gig I had back in school.
In that job my boss would belike Watch this movie, read this
book, and we'd have weeklyphone calls to discuss them and
bounce ideas off each other.
I was like a sounding board andthat boss paid me well.
She'd be like Charge me for thehours you spent reading this.
She'd be like charge me for thehours you spent reading.
(09:11):
This is a real job.
I soon realized this was notthat.
When I talked about the job Isaid I have helped with
development before that kind ofstuff.
At last.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
She said awesome, I'm pitching something.
Can I send it to you and letyou do your thing with it?
Speaker 3 (09:22):
so she sends me a document.
I open it up.
It is the title, it is thecharacter's names and what their
job was.
And she was like I need aseason.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Put her on the hit list.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Hell yeah, that is absolutely a qualifying factor.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
In my previous experience it was very clear I
was the assistant, I was helpingspringboard and if the show got
picked up I was going to bestaffed.
I had known the teacher, mymentor, for a while and we were
on good terms, like I knew Icould trust her.
I thought this was going to bethe same type of situation where
I was like you're my teacher,you've read my work, I think I
can trust you because of all thevetting, and then you send me a
(10:02):
blank document to do my thing.
This is before I knew anythingabout WGA rules or anything like
that.
So I'm like, fuck, yeah, I'lldo it.
I'm going to get paid by thehour minimum wage, but still I
was in her class and then Icould charge my hourly rate and
work on her stuff.
So she sent me the thing.
I was like, oh cool, when doyou need it by?
(10:22):
And she was like as soon aspossible.
I said my weekly turnaround is40 hours a week.
I think I could do a half hourseason in two weeks.
Let's do that.
So in two weeks I had 10episodes, three storylines,
eight characters, story arcs forall of them.
I did the job.
Oh my.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
God, you did your job .
You did the job.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
I turned it into her.
She had some notes.
I took the notes.
Then she said I have this otherthing I'm pitching, Can you do
it again?
And I did it again Four timesfor four different shows for her
, which I then know she tookaround town to pitch to and
other places.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
I swear to God if you tell me one of those shows got
made without your name on it.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
No, I think one of them got traction at one of the
places, but I would have went inhardcore if that had happened.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
It's still fucking wrong.
She's using a student payingthe minimum wage to develop an
entire TV show, which she thenput her name on, Even if she
didn't sell it.
She had meetings, she madeconnections, she got
opportunities, and all thosepeople were under the impression
that she was showing them herideas.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
So what ended up happening with the class?
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Remember there was supposed to be a showcase.
What that ended up being wasyou got 10 pages of your script
read in her apartment buildingjust for the class, nobody else.
Oh, wow, at the end of it I waslike, hey, I was in your class,
you really liked my work, Itook all your notes, I was your
assistant.
You brought me along to do yourprofessional work for you.
(11:59):
Do you think you could give mea recommendation to a manager,
or something like that?
Speaker 2 (12:03):
And she was like if I know anybody who's looking,
I'll let them know, and and shewas like, if I know anybody
who's looking, I'll let themknow, and I never heard from her
again.
I am trying so hard not to hatethis woman.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
No, you can hate her.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I mean they say that's bad for you more than
it's bad for the person who ishated.
I mean, I don't know.
I don't know this woman, buthow much more exploitative can
you get?
She could have asked him to beher unpaid intern, Jesus this is
depressing.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
She's a very smart businesswoman as far as I know,
I'm the only person she did thisto on this level.
But she also started afellowship that cost money to
apply.
She paid the fellows $750 toadapt a book, take her notes and
write a movie, and are youready?
At the end of those weeks thewriters kept zero rights.
They went to the publishingcompany.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Holy shit.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
So when that happened , I was like oh, this is your
job, You're a hustler.
Yeah, she's a con artist.
The thing aboutunderrepresented voices is we
aren't allowed in the room a lotand we're not allowed in the
industry a lot, so we don't knowa lot of the lingo and the
rules about what's good andwhat's not.
So some people are like oh, I'mgetting paid $750 to adapt the
(13:12):
book.
Who cares about the rights?
They're happy to get paid forwriting, Just like I was happy
to get paid for being anassistant for $15 an hour.
But the people who are tryingto take advantage of us, they do
know better.
So there you have it.
I took a writing course and itturned out to be a grift, I mean
.
On the other hand, it was alsovery validating to be like oh,
(13:34):
you think I'm good enough towrite your stuff.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Well, that's a very slim silver lining and I admire
you for finding it.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Okay, so for everybody coming up behind you,
how do you avoid stuff like this?
Or see those red flags to beginwith.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
My advice for people who do it is to always vet,
always vet, always vet.
I did the interview.
It seemed legit.
She had regular references.
She was really in the writer'sguild.
Everything about this womanshould have checked out.
There is no way this shouldhave happened, but, damn it, it
did.
So vet, vet, vet, vet.
And my new rule is ask them tosee their stuff first.
(14:13):
If someone says, hey, I want tobring you onto this project, I
say I want to see it first tomake sure I'm the best fit.
And then, if I get a blankdocument, I say I'm not sure I'm
the best fit for this, and also, I want to get paid more.
I never give a rate and I nevercommit to anything until I've
sat with it by myself and gonethrough it.
So that was the main takeaway.
Also, screenwriting courses arebullshit.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Amen, you think all screenwriting courses are
bullshit.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
I think the writing class format is bullshit.
You have to go on blind trust.
You're going to pay this money,assuming the person knows more
than you, and you're going tolearn to get more out of the
class than what you had going in.
That's the gamble of thewriter's class or writer's
workshop.
What you pay for a writer'sworkshop, you should be paying
someone to do something withyour writing.
Don't pay to write.
I can do this in my house.
(15:00):
I'm paying you to do somethingwith my writing, whether it's to
workshop it or to have ashowcase, but I'm not paying
somebody else for me to do myjob.
So when I say writing classesare bullshit, that's what I mean
.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
I think that's a really important distinction.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
You get what you want out of a class.
Some people came in and they'relike I paid to write a pilot
and that's what they did.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
That kind of accountability is really
important to a lot of people,myself included.
They feel like if they pay forsomething, they will actually do
it.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
But you don't have to do that.
Pay yourself, put a coffee canin the table and put 750 bucks
in it and then tell yourselfwhen you finish a pilot, you're
going to Disneyland.
That's what you should do withthat money.
So here's my advice If you hearanyone on the street saying I'm
thinking about taking a classat you, tell them to take that
money and go to Disneyland.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
I'm not going to Disneyland, but I might take
myself to Republique.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Man 750 bucks.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Yeah, with the wine, the appetizers, the main course.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
Wow, okay, I want to go with you.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
We better end this before I get too hungry.
Go create in peace my child.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Yeah, you go create in peace.
I'm about to go slash sometires.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Amen to that.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Okay, so you said, jr , that this story makes you the
maddest of any that we've evergotten and I am feeling kind of
that way too, like talk moreabout that, and I was ready to
jump at any opportunity anybodywould give me to write, and I've
(16:38):
been in those situations whereyou agree to do some work for
somebody and they're less thanprofessional.
Maybe they're promising youmoney that they can't pay you.
Maybe they're promising thatthe project's going to go
somewhere, even though they haveno way of knowing that it will,
and a lot of times you justhave to learn from your own
mistakes, which sucks, and sowhen I hear of somebody else
(17:00):
preying on people who were justlike me at one point, I just get
so angry.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Yeah, I totally hear you and I feel exactly the same
way.
I mean, I think about all thetimes that I fell into some kind
of trap like that and what,honestly?
What makes me particularlyangry, especially at this point
in time?
And I will say, by the way,listeners, the person who is
like the villain of this storyis still out there and is still
(17:29):
very active and is stilloffering all these fellowships
and classes and all this kind ofbullshit.
So you have to be reallycareful and I really want to say
who this person is.
But I'm going to honor our code,not name names, because we are
protecting the person who wentthrough this experience, not
(17:49):
because we are protecting theperpetrator.
But all that to say, what makesme the angriest is that they
prey on people who areunderrepresented in the industry
, right, like the confessor wastalking about, how you know, a
lot of times underrepresentedvoices.
They don't get to talk much inthe room, they don't get an
opportunity to to writesomething, to be heard, to have
(18:11):
their ideas come to life, and sothey, when they like, hear
somebody say and so they, whenthey like, hear somebody say I
see you, I'm going to give youthat chance that nobody else
will give you.
Of course, their hearts respondto that and I think it's just
absolutely the foulest thingthat someone could do to prey on
those kinds of people and theirdreams.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Yeah, you're totally right, and I mean we can't name
names because we are protectingour confessor.
But one thing we can do is talka little bit about what people
can do to make sure that theyavoid situations like this in
the future.
And the first thing you got todo is check for red flags.
Opportunities like this, Iwould be so excited my brain
(18:59):
wouldn't even be thinking aboutanything, but like the story
they wanted me to write, and sothe first thing you got to do is
just take a beat, take a breathand think about what the actual
opportunity is like.
Who's giving it to you?
What do they want from you?
What are they giving you inexchange?
How is everything working?
Rather than just being excitedabout the opportunity which I
know is hard, becauseopportunities are so far and few
(19:19):
between sometimes, it's reallyhard to take that breath and go
in with a mindset that you mighthave to say no to something.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Oh, that's so true, that's so true.
And like talking about learningto recognize red flags as far as
classes and fellowships go andfellowships go, or fellowships
it's not like that I use thatterm very loosely Um, but uh, I,
(19:49):
uh, we asked around a littlebit, um, listeners, to get some
advice from some you know,people we respect on what you
can do in situations like this.
And, um, one of the pieces ofadvice that I got that I thought
was really helpful is thatteachers good teachers they
always have ground rules andthey should say something up
front, Like if you pitch an ideafor someone else's project, you
(20:13):
are giving them that idea.
You are giving them that idea,that's a gift.
But if someone takes an ideathat you have from your project,
that's theft.
They should make that veryclear upfront, because classes
are a sort of a difficultpolitical atmosphere to navigate
.
You're a bunch of writers, abunch of creative people all
(20:36):
sharing ideas and trying tolearn and grow from each other's
ideas, and having thatdistinction is very important.
And if a teacher establishesthat up front, then you have a
pretty good idea that they'relegit.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
I think that's great, and I think the other thing you
need to look at with regard toclasses is both the teacher and
the institution.
You should check the teacher'sIMDb page.
What have they done?
What have they worked on?
Who have they worked with?
What are they bringing to thetable?
Are you taking a comedy classfrom somebody that's only worked
in drama?
That's probably not ideal.
(21:10):
And look at the institution,too.
Are you taking a class at, say,ucla extension, or are you
taking a class from a piece ofpaper that you ripped a phone
number off of in Silver Lake?
I mean, those are two verydifferent class types.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
That's a very specific hypothetical.
I've lived on the East Side along time I've been out here.
Oh my God.
So yeah, and I mean basicallylike what we're saying is, and
what a lot of people said whenwe reached out for advice is an
ounce of prevention is worth apound of cure.
Right, it's much.
It's going to be much betterfor you in the long run If you
(21:48):
do your due diligence beforehandbefore saying yes to something,
to make sure that this isindeed the type of opportunity
that you want to invest yourtime and energy in.
And one of the things you canalso do preventatively along the
way.
Say, you're in a position likethis, confessor, where somebody
is asking you to write somethingfor them.
(22:09):
You can copyright that shit.
You need to create a papertrail, and I know that there's a
certain amount of reluctance todo that, sometimes because
you're thinking well, if theyrip me off, like well, you don't
, you don't want to imagine thepossibility that they might just
steal it from you, right?
You want to imagine that you'regoing to be treated fairly.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Or you might just not want to spook them off, like
maybe you're scared that they'regoing to run away after you've
been given this opportunity, butif you're scared they're going
to run away and they run away.
It was never an opportunity inthe first place.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
That is a hundred percent true.
And, oh my God, we're justgoing to go on about this, guys,
cause this is, this is veryimportant, and it's more
important now than it ever wasbefore, because people like this
, bad actors like this, thrivein hard times, and it is a hard
time in the industry.
So there are going to be peopleout there who are looking to
(23:04):
make some cash or looking todrum up some ideas, because they
don't have any of their own,and they are going to be looking
to prey on people.
So that's why we're sopassionate about this.
But the thing that you justsaid, jr, that reminds me of
another story that I was toldthat I cannot share, but it
basically is about people or abad person who got spooked
(23:25):
because someone set boundariesright.
That is a huge red flag.
If you set some kind of boundaryup front, if you say something
like the confessor said hey, I'dlike to see the work, I'd like
to see what it is that you'reasking me to do before I say yes
to this, and they get pissedoff major red flag.
(23:45):
It means they were just tryingto use you and, like JR said, it
wasn't an opportunity to beginwith.
So back to, uh, what I wassaying before about like
registering your shit.
Um, you don't have to use thecopyright office.
That is.
It is probably the strongestlegal defense, but also poor
man's copyright.
You email things to yourself,you mail them to yourself, you
(24:09):
do all these things just toestablish that you are the
person who's creating thesedocuments and keep track of that
, just in case, just in casethings go wrong and you decide
that you want to do somethingabout it.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
And now in our confessor's case, they did their
due diligence, went down theroad, and this scammer was extra
nefarious because they put up afront that looked extremely
legit.
And so say, if you get in aposition like this, confessor,
and you get down the road andyou need to hire a lawyer to
sort some things out but youdon't have access to a lawyer,
(24:43):
we've got a resource for that,thanks to Megan Dane doing her
due diligence, and that'sCalifornia Lawyers for the Arts,
and you can find them atwwwcalawyersfortheartsorg.
Based on information that youprovide them, cla will connect
you with an attorney on theirpanel for consultation.
There is an administrativecharge of thirty five dollars,
(25:05):
but that is much cheaper thanhiring a full on attorney.
And again, their Web site is CALawyers for the Arts dot org
(25:37):
no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
sue someone because then you may never work again.
Well, there are other, morediscrete options that an
attorney might come up with.
For instance, an attorney couldsend a letter to the
representatives of the personwho is stealing your
intellectual property and justsay hey, just to let you know,
(26:03):
we have a paper trail thatproves that this was created by
someone else.
It's very under the radar, it'snot going to cause a big stink,
but it will notify the reps ofthis person that they can't move
forward with this projectwithout some serious legal
encumbrances.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
That's awesome.
And for those of you inclinedto slash tires never stab into
the tire.
The knife could pop out underair pressure.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
That is the best advice I've ever heard.
Thank you, JR.
That's all we've got for youthis week.
Guys, Thank you so much forjoining us.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
We'll be back in two weeks with a really awesome part
one of our two-part interviewwith Mo Ryan, the author of Burn
it Down, the bestselling book.
That really does a journalisticjob of what we try to do on the
podcast exposing the corruptionand abuse in Hollywood that
keeps all of us down.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
That's right, and Mo does name names, and until then
go create in peace in Hollywood.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
That keeps all of us down, that's right.
And Mo does name names anduntil then, go create in peace.
Cool, I think that was prettygood.
The Hollywood Confessional isproduced by Megan Dane and Jair
Zamora-Thal.
Joelle Garfinkel is ourco-producer and AJ Thal is our
post-production coordinator andeditor.
Our cast today Amy Baclini.
(27:20):
Special effects provided byZapSplat and Pixabay.
Hollywood Confessional is aNinth Way Media production.
Follow us on socials atFessUpHollywood.
In nomine Cinema e TV , espiritu Streaming Amen.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Hello Hollywood faithful, Welcome back to
another episode of the HollywoodConfessional.
I am your favorite podcastpriest, Megan Dane.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
And I'm JR Zamora-Thal.
Megan, you sound so far away.
What's going on?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Oh, that's so mean, dude, so mean.
So the writer's roomtechnically ended.
I am no longer employed and JRis still happily employed on the
same show.
So we're in separate spaces nowand I have the shitty mic and
he has the good mic.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Besk in the glory of these dulcet tones.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
So if I sound tinny and annoyed, you'll know why
listeners.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
But we can actually finally tell people what we were
working on, because it wasfinally announced.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yes, oh my God it, because it was finally announced
.
Yes, oh my God, it made it feelso much more real.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
I know it feels like there's actually going to be a
show on television now.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yeah, I mean, should we say what it is?
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I don't know.
We've gone this far withoutsaying it.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
I don't even know if we should, maybe you guys should
just look it up on your own.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
No, we for the past, oh, I don't know seven, eight
months now?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Well, I mean, if you don't count the strike, it's
been like two straight years.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
I was only considering season two.
You know what I'm ready to sayit.
We were on cross season two.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
We got a season two Hell yeah, the, the first season
was just officially announced,so so go check it out online,
check it out on YouTube orwhatever the official amazon
prime video accounts.
They have the teaser for seasonone and it looks amazing and
it's so exciting this is theshow by the way that, like so,
(01:57):
we got greenlit to have awriter's room for season two
even though season one had notpremiered, which was quite um,
unusual and very exciting andwonderful, particularly coming
right after the strike.
We're so lucky for that.
And then we started to watchthe daily or not the dailies the
cuts right of the episodes, andI was like so into the cuts
that I would be late for worksome days.
(02:20):
I'm like I got to find out whathappens, even though I
absolutely know what happensbecause I was there like every
step of the way in season one.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Oh man, it's like one thing to read it, though, but
then to see it on screen and seeit come to life is just like
insane.
Like it's so much more engagingwhen it's on screen, with those
actors saying the lines likeit's, it's incredible.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yeah, that's true.
I mean it does help that wehave Aldous Hodge yes, yeah,
that's true, I mean it does helpthat we have Aldous Hodge yes,
and Isaiah Mustafa, and and andwe could I mean Ryan Eggled like
we could go on and on with thelist of just incredible actors.
Um, I mean, gosh, thecinematography is amazing.
Like I'm not I'm not trying tomake this a cross ad here I'm
(03:02):
just really excited, uh that thetrailer finally come out, even
though I am now unemployed.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
It's going to be amazing and season two is going
to be amazing.
I don't know if we can talkabout any of the cast or
anything really.
I just know that it's beenofficially announced so we can
say that it exists.
But yeah, it's going to bereally fun when that comes out.
So, yeah, lots of excited.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
So thank you all for bearing with us all this time,
as we've been talking about itin code, and go check it out
online If you're so inclined.
Let us know what you think, andmeanwhile we have our own show.
Hey, hollywood.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Confessional.
That's what we're here for.
Why don't we jump into whatwe've got this week?
Speaker 2 (03:43):
This one's been like a long time coming right.
We recorded this pre-strike butyou know what, as I was
reviewing the episode after allthis time, it still got me so
fucking mad.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Oh, this episode is the one that I've had the most
reaction to Editing it this lastweek.
I am just reminded how furiousI get when they're people that
take advantage of the peopletrying to come up in hollywood.
I mean the people that are, youknow, living on hopes and
dreams and have nothing but thatthere are still people preying
(04:18):
on them and it's like what areyou even trying to get out of
them?
Like it's so infuriating.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
I'm still stuck on the fact that you said that you
have had this episode sincebefore the strike and you just
edited it this week.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
I was working on a little show called Cross.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Okay, okay, well, with no further ado, this is
Class Con, and I think it'sabout time to get into it.
What do you think, jr?
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Let's get into the confessional booth.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Forgive me, Father, for I paid big bucks for a
writing class that turned out tobe a grift.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Motherfucker.
Okay, this one is alreadypissing me off.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
We're about to take it from podcast priest to
podcast.
Vigilante, tell us how the fuckit started.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Okay, well, I'm really bad at networking.
I don't like talking about mycraft, I just like doing it.
I see people sit around andtalk about art all the time and
I'm like I can't do this.
So that's been a big hurdle forme as I'm working my way into
the industry.
I can imagine, when it's allabout who you know, you kind of
(05:41):
have to get to know people.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
That's amazing that paid your rent for a year.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Where are you living, wouldn't you like to know?
Thank you, it was my first bigcontest win.
It paid for my small life for ayear and it helped me see that
the way I network best is totake a class, have other people
read my stuff and see how I givenotes.
I find just doing what you dois the best calling card right.
Right there with you.
So at my university they had anemail list.
(06:10):
Mostly it's a bunch ofGoFundMes.
Sometimes it's like I'mteaching a class and it's
supposed to be vetted byprofessionals from our circle.
So this thing popped up on thelist called the B.
Their mandate is to helpunderrepresented voices get into
the industry and it's run by awoman named B.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Putting it on the hit list.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
We don't even know what she's done yet, but I like
where your head's at.
She was the teacher and hadsome professional credits under
her name.
Class was about 10 weeks, Ithink, and at the end of it
there was a showcase, a readingwith professional actors, of
your script.
To get into the program, yousent an email, you had to submit
a script and then there was acall where program.
You sent an email, you had tosubmit a script, and then there
was a call where I talked to youover the phone.
(06:51):
She sounded very professional.
She was like what?
Speaker 2 (06:53):
are your writing goals?
What do you want to do?
Speaker 3 (06:56):
That kind of thing.
Now, this was not my firstrodeo, so I asked a lot of
questions about how it would goand the details about the
showcase.
At the end, everything she saidsounded great.
There were literally no redflags.
But then I started taking theclass.
This is where it starts to geta little dicey.
The class cost $750 for 10weeks, which is comparable to a
(07:20):
lot of graduate level coursesand private classes.
So I went in thinking they weregoing to be held in a classroom
or some kind of professionalsetting, but it turns out they
were in the teacher's apartmentbuilding.
So my first red flag is youdon't have any overhead, so
you're just pocketing 750straight Cool.
The next red flag was there wasno teaching period.
(07:41):
What happened was every weekyou would turn in so many pages,
we would open up your documentin class, people would give
notes and the teacher would golast.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
So she would basically just listen to what
other people were saying andthen base her notes on that.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Absolutely.
And then it gets better.
Sometimes people wouldn't getfeedback.
There were so many of us.
Sometimes people would justleave after hour three or four.
They'd be like I don't want tosit through anyone else and
we're not going to get to mine,so bye.
(08:16):
So I was literally paying towrite and turn in pages and then
get notes from people who areall over the spectrum in terms
of experience.
Some of them had never writtenanything before, which is
wonderful, and everybody needsto start somewhere.
But this thing was vetted as aprofessional writing workshop
and it was totally not what itwas supposed to be.
Then it got even better.
About halfway through the class, six or seven weeks in, I got a
call from B***h on the phone.
(08:37):
She was like I have a question.
Would you like to be myassistant?
I wasn't working at the time,so I was like absolutely.
And she said Cool.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
You mentioned in your resume that you had been an
assistant in development.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
This was in reference to a gig I had back in school.
In that job my boss would belike Watch this movie, read this
book, and we'd have weeklyphone calls to discuss them and
bounce ideas off each other.
I was like a sounding board andthat boss paid me well.
She'd be like Charge me for thehours you spent reading this.
She'd be like charge me for thehours you spent reading.
(09:11):
This is a real job.
I soon realized this was notthat.
When I talked about the job Isaid I have helped with
development before that kind ofstuff.
At last.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
She said awesome, I'm pitching something.
Can I send it to you and letyou do your thing with it?
Speaker 3 (09:22):
so she sends me a document.
I open it up.
It is the title, it is thecharacter's names and what their
job was.
And she was like I need aseason.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Put her on the hit list.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Hell yeah, that is absolutely a qualifying factor.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
In my previous experience it was very clear I
was the assistant, I was helpingspringboard and if the show got
picked up I was going to bestaffed.
I had known the teacher, mymentor, for a while and we were
on good terms, like I knew Icould trust her.
I thought this was going to bethe same type of situation where
I was like you're my teacher,you've read my work, I think I
can trust you because of all thevetting, and then you send me a
(10:02):
blank document to do my thing.
This is before I knew anythingabout WGA rules or anything like
that.
So I'm like, fuck, yeah, I'lldo it.
I'm going to get paid by thehour minimum wage, but still I
was in her class and then Icould charge my hourly rate and
work on her stuff.
So she sent me the thing.
I was like, oh cool, when doyou need it by?
(10:22):
And she was like as soon aspossible.
I said my weekly turnaround is40 hours a week.
I think I could do a half hourseason in two weeks.
Let's do that.
So in two weeks I had 10episodes, three storylines,
eight characters, story arcs forall of them.
I did the job.
Oh my.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
God, you did your job .
You did the job.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
I turned it into her.
She had some notes.
I took the notes.
Then she said I have this otherthing I'm pitching, Can you do
it again?
And I did it again Four timesfor four different shows for her
, which I then know she tookaround town to pitch to and
other places.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
I swear to God if you tell me one of those shows got
made without your name on it.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
No, I think one of them got traction at one of the
places, but I would have went inhardcore if that had happened.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
It's still fucking wrong.
She's using a student payingthe minimum wage to develop an
entire TV show, which she thenput her name on, Even if she
didn't sell it.
She had meetings, she madeconnections, she got
opportunities, and all thosepeople were under the impression
that she was showing them herideas.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
So what ended up happening with the class?
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Remember there was supposed to be a showcase.
What that ended up being wasyou got 10 pages of your script
read in her apartment buildingjust for the class, nobody else.
Oh, wow, at the end of it I waslike, hey, I was in your class,
you really liked my work, Itook all your notes, I was your
assistant.
You brought me along to do yourprofessional work for you.
(11:59):
Do you think you could give mea recommendation to a manager,
or something like that?
Speaker 2 (12:03):
And she was like if I know anybody who's looking,
I'll let them know, and and shewas like, if I know anybody
who's looking, I'll let themknow, and I never heard from her
again.
I am trying so hard not to hatethis woman.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
No, you can hate her.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I mean they say that's bad for you more than
it's bad for the person who ishated.
I mean, I don't know.
I don't know this woman, buthow much more exploitative can
you get?
She could have asked him to beher unpaid intern, Jesus this is
depressing.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
She's a very smart businesswoman as far as I know,
I'm the only person she did thisto on this level.
But she also started afellowship that cost money to
apply.
She paid the fellows $750 toadapt a book, take her notes and
write a movie, and are youready?
At the end of those weeks thewriters kept zero rights.
They went to the publishingcompany.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Holy shit.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
So when that happened , I was like oh, this is your
job, You're a hustler.
Yeah, she's a con artist.
The thing aboutunderrepresented voices is we
aren't allowed in the room a lotand we're not allowed in the
industry a lot, so we don't knowa lot of the lingo and the
rules about what's good andwhat's not.
So some people are like oh, I'mgetting paid $750 to adapt the
(13:12):
book.
Who cares about the rights?
They're happy to get paid forwriting, Just like I was happy
to get paid for being anassistant for $15 an hour.
But the people who are tryingto take advantage of us, they do
know better.
So there you have it.
I took a writing course and itturned out to be a grift, I mean
.
On the other hand, it was alsovery validating to be like oh,
(13:34):
you think I'm good enough towrite your stuff.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Well, that's a very slim silver lining and I admire
you for finding it.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Okay, so for everybody coming up behind you,
how do you avoid stuff like this?
Or see those red flags to beginwith.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
My advice for people who do it is to always vet,
always vet, always vet.
I did the interview.
It seemed legit.
She had regular references.
She was really in the writer'sguild.
Everything about this womanshould have checked out.
There is no way this shouldhave happened, but, damn it, it
did.
So vet, vet, vet, vet.
And my new rule is ask them tosee their stuff first.
(14:13):
If someone says, hey, I want tobring you onto this project, I
say I want to see it first tomake sure I'm the best fit.
And then, if I get a blankdocument, I say I'm not sure I'm
the best fit for this, and also, I want to get paid more.
I never give a rate and I nevercommit to anything until I've
sat with it by myself and gonethrough it.
So that was the main takeaway.
Also, screenwriting courses arebullshit.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Amen, you think all screenwriting courses are
bullshit.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
I think the writing class format is bullshit.
You have to go on blind trust.
You're going to pay this money,assuming the person knows more
than you, and you're going tolearn to get more out of the
class than what you had going in.
That's the gamble of thewriter's class or writer's
workshop.
What you pay for a writer'sworkshop, you should be paying
someone to do something withyour writing.
Don't pay to write.
I can do this in my house.
(15:00):
I'm paying you to do somethingwith my writing, whether it's to
workshop it or to have ashowcase, but I'm not paying
somebody else for me to do myjob.
So when I say writing classesare bullshit, that's what I mean
.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
I think that's a really important distinction.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
You get what you want out of a class.
Some people came in and they'relike I paid to write a pilot
and that's what they did.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
That kind of accountability is really
important to a lot of people,myself included.
They feel like if they pay forsomething, they will actually do
it.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
But you don't have to do that.
Pay yourself, put a coffee canin the table and put 750 bucks
in it and then tell yourselfwhen you finish a pilot, you're
going to Disneyland.
That's what you should do withthat money.
So here's my advice If you hearanyone on the street saying I'm
thinking about taking a classat you, tell them to take that
money and go to Disneyland.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
I'm not going to Disneyland, but I might take
myself to Republique.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Man 750 bucks.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Yeah, with the wine, the appetizers, the main course.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
Wow, okay, I want to go with you.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
We better end this before I get too hungry.
Go create in peace my child.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Yeah, you go create in peace.
I'm about to go slash sometires.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Amen to that.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Okay, so you said, jr , that this story makes you the
maddest of any that we've evergotten and I am feeling kind of
that way too, like talk moreabout that, and I was ready to
jump at any opportunity anybodywould give me to write, and I've
(16:38):
been in those situations whereyou agree to do some work for
somebody and they're less thanprofessional.
Maybe they're promising youmoney that they can't pay you.
Maybe they're promising thatthe project's going to go
somewhere, even though they haveno way of knowing that it will,
and a lot of times you justhave to learn from your own
mistakes, which sucks, and sowhen I hear of somebody else
(17:00):
preying on people who were justlike me at one point, I just get
so angry.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Yeah, I totally hear you and I feel exactly the same
way.
I mean, I think about all thetimes that I fell into some kind
of trap like that and what,honestly?
What makes me particularlyangry, especially at this point
in time?
And I will say, by the way,listeners, the person who is
like the villain of this storyis still out there and is still
(17:29):
very active and is stilloffering all these fellowships
and classes and all this kind ofbullshit.
So you have to be reallycareful and I really want to say
who this person is.
But I'm going to honor our code,not name names, because we are
protecting the person who wentthrough this experience, not
(17:49):
because we are protecting theperpetrator.
But all that to say, what makesme the angriest is that they
prey on people who areunderrepresented in the industry
, right, like the confessor wastalking about, how you know, a
lot of times underrepresentedvoices.
They don't get to talk much inthe room, they don't get an
opportunity to to writesomething, to be heard, to have
(18:11):
their ideas come to life, and sothey, when they like, hear
somebody say and so they, whenthey like, hear somebody say I
see you, I'm going to give youthat chance that nobody else
will give you.
Of course, their hearts respondto that and I think it's just
absolutely the foulest thingthat someone could do to prey on
those kinds of people and theirdreams.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Yeah, you're totally right, and I mean we can't name
names because we are protectingour confessor.
But one thing we can do is talka little bit about what people
can do to make sure that theyavoid situations like this in
the future.
And the first thing you got todo is check for red flags.
Opportunities like this, Iwould be so excited my brain
(18:59):
wouldn't even be thinking aboutanything, but like the story
they wanted me to write, and sothe first thing you got to do is
just take a beat, take a breathand think about what the actual
opportunity is like.
Who's giving it to you?
What do they want from you?
What are they giving you inexchange?
How is everything working?
Rather than just being excitedabout the opportunity which I
know is hard, becauseopportunities are so far and few
(19:19):
between sometimes, it's reallyhard to take that breath and go
in with a mindset that you mighthave to say no to something.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Oh, that's so true, that's so true.
And like talking about learningto recognize red flags as far as
classes and fellowships go andfellowships go, or fellowships
it's not like that I use thatterm very loosely Um, but uh, I,
(19:49):
uh, we asked around a littlebit, um, listeners, to get some
advice from some you know,people we respect on what you
can do in situations like this.
And, um, one of the pieces ofadvice that I got that I thought
was really helpful is thatteachers good teachers they
always have ground rules andthey should say something up
front, Like if you pitch an ideafor someone else's project, you
(20:13):
are giving them that idea.
You are giving them that idea,that's a gift.
But if someone takes an ideathat you have from your project,
that's theft.
They should make that veryclear upfront, because classes
are a sort of a difficultpolitical atmosphere to navigate
.
You're a bunch of writers, abunch of creative people all
(20:36):
sharing ideas and trying tolearn and grow from each other's
ideas, and having thatdistinction is very important.
And if a teacher establishesthat up front, then you have a
pretty good idea that they'relegit.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
I think that's great, and I think the other thing you
need to look at with regard toclasses is both the teacher and
the institution.
You should check the teacher'sIMDb page.
What have they done?
What have they worked on?
Who have they worked with?
What are they bringing to thetable?
Are you taking a comedy classfrom somebody that's only worked
in drama?
That's probably not ideal.
(21:10):
And look at the institution,too.
Are you taking a class at, say,ucla extension, or are you
taking a class from a piece ofpaper that you ripped a phone
number off of in Silver Lake?
I mean, those are two verydifferent class types.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
That's a very specific hypothetical.
I've lived on the East Side along time I've been out here.
Oh my God.
So yeah, and I mean basicallylike what we're saying is, and
what a lot of people said whenwe reached out for advice is an
ounce of prevention is worth apound of cure.
Right, it's much.
It's going to be much betterfor you in the long run If you
(21:48):
do your due diligence beforehandbefore saying yes to something,
to make sure that this isindeed the type of opportunity
that you want to invest yourtime and energy in.
And one of the things you canalso do preventatively along the
way.
Say, you're in a position likethis, confessor, where somebody
is asking you to write somethingfor them.
(22:09):
You can copyright that shit.
You need to create a papertrail, and I know that there's a
certain amount of reluctance todo that, sometimes because
you're thinking well, if theyrip me off, like well, you don't
, you don't want to imagine thepossibility that they might just
steal it from you, right?
You want to imagine that you'regoing to be treated fairly.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Or you might just not want to spook them off, like
maybe you're scared that they'regoing to run away after you've
been given this opportunity, butif you're scared they're going
to run away and they run away.
It was never an opportunity inthe first place.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
That is a hundred percent true.
And, oh my God, we're justgoing to go on about this, guys,
cause this is, this is veryimportant, and it's more
important now than it ever wasbefore, because people like this
, bad actors like this, thrivein hard times, and it is a hard
time in the industry.
So there are going to be peopleout there who are looking to
(23:04):
make some cash or looking todrum up some ideas, because they
don't have any of their own,and they are going to be looking
to prey on people.
So that's why we're sopassionate about this.
But the thing that you justsaid, jr, that reminds me of
another story that I was toldthat I cannot share, but it
basically is about people or abad person who got spooked
(23:25):
because someone set boundariesright.
That is a huge red flag.
If you set some kind of boundaryup front, if you say something
like the confessor said hey, I'dlike to see the work, I'd like
to see what it is that you'reasking me to do before I say yes
to this, and they get pissedoff major red flag.
(23:45):
It means they were just tryingto use you and, like JR said, it
wasn't an opportunity to beginwith.
So back to, uh, what I wassaying before about like
registering your shit.
Um, you don't have to use thecopyright office.
That is.
It is probably the strongestlegal defense, but also poor
man's copyright.
You email things to yourself,you mail them to yourself, you
(24:09):
do all these things just toestablish that you are the
person who's creating thesedocuments and keep track of that
, just in case, just in casethings go wrong and you decide
that you want to do somethingabout it.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
And now in our confessor's case, they did their
due diligence, went down theroad, and this scammer was extra
nefarious because they put up afront that looked extremely
legit.
And so say, if you get in aposition like this, confessor,
and you get down the road andyou need to hire a lawyer to
sort some things out but youdon't have access to a lawyer,
(24:43):
we've got a resource for that,thanks to Megan Dane doing her
due diligence, and that'sCalifornia Lawyers for the Arts,
and you can find them atwwwcalawyersfortheartsorg.
Based on information that youprovide them, cla will connect
you with an attorney on theirpanel for consultation.
There is an administrativecharge of thirty five dollars,
(25:05):
but that is much cheaper thanhiring a full on attorney.
And again, their Web site is CALawyers for the Arts dot org
(25:37):
no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
sue someone because then you may never work again.
Well, there are other, morediscrete options that an
attorney might come up with.
For instance, an attorney couldsend a letter to the
representatives of the personwho is stealing your
intellectual property and justsay hey, just to let you know,
(26:03):
we have a paper trail thatproves that this was created by
someone else.
It's very under the radar, it'snot going to cause a big stink,
but it will notify the reps ofthis person that they can't move
forward with this projectwithout some serious legal
encumbrances.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
That's awesome.
And for those of you inclinedto slash tires never stab into
the tire.
The knife could pop out underair pressure.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
That is the best advice I've ever heard.
Thank you, JR.
That's all we've got for youthis week.
Guys, Thank you so much forjoining us.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
We'll be back in two weeks with a really awesome part
one of our two-part interviewwith Mo Ryan, the author of Burn
it Down, the bestselling book.
That really does a journalisticjob of what we try to do on the
podcast exposing the corruptionand abuse in Hollywood that
keeps all of us down.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
That's right, and Mo does name names, and until then
go create in peace in Hollywood.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
That keeps all of us down, that's right.
And Mo does name names anduntil then, go create in peace.
Cool, I think that was prettygood.
The Hollywood Confessional isproduced by Megan Dane and Jair
Zamora-Thal.
Joelle Garfinkel is ourco-producer and AJ Thal is our
post-production coordinator andeditor.
Our cast today Amy Baclini.
(27:20):
Special effects provided byZapSplat and Pixabay.
Hollywood Confessional is aNinth Way Media production.
Follow us on socials atFessUpHollywood.
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