Posted by mark0509 at hse-ottawa-ppp323073.sympatico.ca on July 21, 2003 at 03:44:16:
Hi all. Well sure in a perfect world, Kevin Smith would have time to read this but maybe that wouldn't be such a perfect world because if he had time for my nonsense, he'd have that much less time doing something useful and/or funny.
Anyway, I’d like some advice about a situation I’m in. Recently, a guy who heads up a talent management company (and also a production company) read one of my scripts and said he wanted to work with me to develop it, try to get funding, etc. He suggested a bunch of changes and I made them.
So he sees the most recent draft, then emails me a few weeks later saying that he couldn’t get past the first three pages of it and that several things he wanted weren’t there (though he didn’t say what exactly wasn’t there), etc. He ended by saying he felt that either I wasn’t that dedicated to the script or I didn’t understand his direction. After reviewing his notes, I’m puzzled by what he feels wasn’t done. I had given him updates regarding what I was doing between the earlier draft and this one and each time, he sounded happy with the progress I was making so I saw no reason to think I was doing anything wrong.
Another concern I have is that I know very little about this guy. Since he’s considered a “talent management” company and not an agency, he doesn’t appear to be regulated, so that makes me worry. No-one I’ve spoken to has heard of him except for one person who is currently involved in some kind of legal dispute with him, which also makes me worry. None of this necessarily means he’s a scammer but I’m not totally convinced he’s legit either.
I don’t think I want to work with this guy anymore. Not that I've been paid or anything but in fairness to the guy, he did give me some constructive advice when he first looked at my script. So far, there’s been no contract signed, no money exchanged, no promises, etc. Anyone have any advice as how to stop working with this guy without potentially burning bridges? Some people I’ve spoken to think I should tell him off but I see no sense in that. Who knows for sure if this guy is legit or not but I’d hate to do something rash now and then later have it come back to bite me on the ass.
Thanks for any help you can offer.
P.S. On the off-chance that Kevin Smith or any of his people get a chance to read this, I recently saw "An Evening with Kevin Smith" and enjoyed it immensely. I wish I could find an original way to phrase that since you've likely heard it 3-4 thousand times but this will have to do I guess.