Nicola Quilter: Director, producer and screenwriter in London, UK.

First time on STAGE 32. Thought I better warn/confirm everyone's fears about MONSTER PITCH.

A clever, nefarious, 18-month-long scam, spanning the writers strike, pitching, table reads, hotels, flights and 100s of emails from CRAIG. 

I was out at dinner with my sister last night and she said, 'Nic, why are you so suspicious of everyone?"

Answer:  living in London for 20 years, I get a feeling for things, even if I can't tell you exactly why - if it feels too good to be true, it is. This time I overrode that feeling because I wanted it to be true.

That said, I did do some checking on Monster Pitch - not a lot but there was a company reg (at the time - disappeared later) - and, well, for 55 bucks worth a roll of the dice. My theory being - at worst it's breaking my flight back from Sydney to London, a couple of weeks in LA in a nice hotel to do some pitch practice with my producer. I'll see some friends, organise other meetings - so what if I'm seeing the tea boy/ girl/ neutral at Netflix. 

WRONG. Not even the hotel booking exists, none of it does.

This week when my 'personal link' didn't go live, I was like, 'maybe they are having tech issues, maybe'. I lied to myself.

By Friday I called the Marriott - no group booking - the booking reference is a digit short :) . Friday night I was organising fraud claims with Paypal (which they paid straight  out).

I kept saying 'how can anyone organise a table read for 75 bucks. Answer - never intend to do a table read :)

Craig is in the Bahamas by now. Brilliant scamming btw. lots of back and forth. That's the part I actually hate the most - bastard.

I'm still in Sydney and will start trying to wrangle back flight change moneys and new flight change costs...

The most disappointing thing is that I was really looking forward to it, good or bad... just the adventure in LA and maybe meeting some new people at the conference or hotel.

The smartest part about frauds is targeting an audience who wants it to be true. Cause you when you look back, it was way way way too good to be true.

Hope you all get your money back.

Nicola

Interested in hearing from screenwriters who have a full day to devote to the craft - how many hours a day do you actually spend writing? Maybe it's because I'm on "the wrong side of 40" but I find it hard to spend more than 4 hours a day on solid writing.

Interested to hear about other people's output!

MONSTER PITCH - a clever, nefarious, 18-month-long scam, spanning the writers strike, pitching, table reads, hotels, flights and 100s of emails from CRAIG.

I was out at dinner with my sister last night and she said, 'Nic, why are you so suspicious of everyone?"

Answer: living in London for 20 years, I get a feeling for things, even if I can't tell you exactly why - if it feels too good to be true, it is. This time I overrode that feeling because I wanted it to be true.

That said, I did do some checking on Monster Pitch - not a lot but there was a company reg (at the time - disappeared later) - and, well, for 55 bucks worth a roll of the dice. My theory being - at worst it's breaking my flight back from Sydney to London, a couple of weeks in LA in a nice hotel to do some pitch practice with my producer. I'll see some friends, organise other meetings - so what if I'm seeing the tea boy/ girl/ neutral at Netflix.

WRONG. Not even the hotel booking exists, none of it does.

This week when my 'personal link' didn't go live, I was like, 'maybe they are having tech issues, maybe'. I lied to myself.

By Friday I called the Marriott - no group booking - the booking reference is a digit short :) . Friday night I was organising fraud claims with Paypal (which they paid straight out).

I kept saying 'how can anyone organise a table read for 75 bucks. Answer - never intend to do a table read :)

Craig is in the Bahamas by now. Brilliant scamming btw. lots of back and forth. That's the part I actually hate the most - bastard.

I'm still in Sydney and will start trying to wrangle back flight change moneys and new flight change costs...

The most disappointing thing is that I was really looking forward to it, good or bad... just the adventure in LA and maybe meeting some new people at the conference or hotel.

The smartest part about frauds is targeting an audience who wants it to be true. Cause you when you look back, it was way way way too good to be true.

Hope you all get your money back.

Nicola

Hi Nicola. I'm RB, Founder and CEO of Stage 32. As a screenwriter, producer, actor and filmmaker, I know first-hand the challenges all creatives face finding work, landing representation, launching projects, securing funding and simply making the connections that will make a difference in their careers. That's why I created Stage 32. Since our launch in September of 2011, the community has grown to 1,000,000+ members representing every country on the planet making Stage 32 the social network uniquely populated with the most creative people on Earth.

This is a network for you, built by you. Like most things in life, the more you participate, the greater the rewards. We ask all new members to pay it forward by inviting 5 fellow creatives to the network and by spreading the word of Stage 32 through other social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. The more creatives, the stronger the network. The stronger the network, the more opportunities.

Thanks for joining the movement and for being a part of this most talented and inspiring community. I very much look forward to your contributions.

Thanks, and have a creative day!

RB

Helpful information:

• To send invites to your fellow creatives, please click here.
• For any questions on how to utilize the site, please check our HELP and GETTING STARTED sections.
• Also, I host a FREE webinar every month where I go over site features and answer user questions. You can view them here.

Please take a moment to follow and like our other social media accounts.

• My personal Twitter account - @rbwalksintoabar
• Our company Twitter account - @Stage32
• Our company Facebook account – Stage 32 Facebook

irst time on STAGE 32. Thought I better warn/confirm everyone's fears about MONSTER PITCH.

A clever, nefarious, 18-month-long scam, spanning the writers strike, pitching, table reads, hotels, flights and 100s of emails from CRAIG.

I was out at dinner with my sister last night and she said, 'Nic, why are you so suspicious of everyone?"

Answer: living in London for 20 years, I get a feeling for things, even if I can't tell you exactly why - if it feels too good to be true, it is. This time I overrode that feeling because I wanted it to be true.

That said, I did do some checking on Monster Pitch - not a lot but there was a company reg (at the time - disappeared later) - and, well, for 55 bucks worth a roll of the dice. My theory being - at worst it's breaking my flight back from Sydney to London, a couple of weeks in LA in a nice hotel to do some pitch practice with my producer. I'll see some friends, organise other meetings - so what if I'm seeing the tea boy/ girl/ neutral at Netflix.

WRONG. Not even the hotel booking exists, none of it does.

This week when my 'personal link' didn't go live, I was like, 'maybe they are having tech issues, maybe'. I lied to myself. By Friday I called the Marriott - no group booking - the booking reference is a digit short :) . Friday night I was organising fraud claims with Paypal (which they paid straight out).

I kept saying 'how can anyone organise a table read for 75 bucks. Answer - never intend to do a table read :)

Craig is in the Bahamas by now. Brilliant scamming btw. lots of back and forth. That's the part I actually hate the most - bastard.

I'm still in Sydney and will start trying to wrangle back flight change moneys and new flight change costs...

The most disappointing thing is that I was really looking forward to it, good or bad... just the adventure in LA and maybe meeting some new people at the conference or hotel.

The smartest part about frauds is targeting an audience who wants it to be true. Cause you when you look back, it was way way way too good to be true.

Hope you all get your money back.

Nicola

Hello Nicola -

Welcome to the community! I'm Amanda Toney, the Managing Director at Stage 32. Since 2013 I've been proud to oversee Stage 32's Next Level Education, which provides you the most up-to-date tools necessary to become a better creative.

Over the years Stage 32 has worked with over 500 industry executives and professionals to teach online webinars, classes and intensive labs exclusively for you - our Stage 32 community. We bring you instructors who have worked directly on some of your favorite films, TV shows or theater productions to teach you in-the-trenches information that you won't find anywhere else on producing, directing, financing, writing, packaging, acting and more.

Our Next Level Education has a 97% satisfaction rate and averages 4.5 out of 5 stars. Plus, we've had the honor to be called "LinkedIn meets Lynda.com for film, television and theater creatives" by Forbes Magazine.

I encourage you to take the next step to continue learning and expanding your career by clicking here, or clicking "education" on your top menu bar.

I'm grateful you've joined the Stage 32 community. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Amanda