This past week, I received dozens of emails and a couple of phone calls regarding pay-to-play websites and my concerns about them. To put it succinctly, I think they're a scam and I hate them. Today, I wanted to expand on that idea for you. Let's dive in. The Hope MachineBefore I get into pay-for-play, I want to make sure you know about The Hope Machine. It's a term I think was first coined by screenwriter John Gary. The idea is that people and corporations often prey on aspiring writers, and the notion that you can break into Hollywood at any time with the right spec screenplay. The Hope Machine uses the reality of writing your way into Hollywood and creates a paywall between the aspiring creative and the industry as a whole.It involves sites that promise you access to managers, agents, and producers, so long as you pay a fee. That fee is usually a lot of money to someone trying to break into the arts and, therefore, represents a financial burden to follow their dreams. We've even seen websites soliciting a monthly fee for ongoing connections. I believe that is exploitative and wrong. But some contests and websites collect these fees without actually trying to make good on the promise from the money collected. Instead, they often wait for the aforementioned tastemakers to use their website and proactively reach out through it. This creates a bit of a rock and a hard place.What do you do if you...
Published By: NoFilmSchool - Yesterday