Screenwriting : Green Light My Movie.com Any suggestions by Nikki April Lee

I don't know. A place that accepts anybody accepts anybody. I would go to their "Testimonials" page and do an IMDB search of the screenwriters raving about their service.

Get too far on the list doing that before you find someone who "might" be the same person, you have your answer.

I'm not sure I've never heard of it. I would look into what agencies and production companies would be reading your work. I'm on the fence I agree with Don just really research it and see who's used it before.

I think with any career in the film industry, being able to effectively research a variety of subject matter is a vital and highly crucial component. Cinematographers who want to be successful usually try to cultivate an in depth knowledge of films in which the cinematography played a role in the film's box office and/or critical success. Film editors are just as likely going to follow a similar technique. And so on and so on. In fact the very moment that I realized that Ben Affleck down the road in the future was going to have an amazing and highly unprecedented career as filmmaker way beyond what anyone besides possibly those who knew him personally, could ever possibly conceive him having at the time was the second time I watch the DVD for the movie Hollywoodland. Hollywoodland was a relatively small and unnoticed movie in the overall scheme of things, but in the special features there is a segment which goes into the exhaustive amount of research Affleck went into studying the 1950's actor George Reeves. Not just glancing over George Reeves Wikipedia page, or looking over a few examples of Reeves' work as an actor, or for that matter just taking the time to watch all the available old television episodes of Adventures of Superman. Effort was made by Affleck to capture George Reeves' mannerisms, his posture, even down to the cadence of the old Golden Age of Television star's individual use of words. And upon further researching and me realizing the man was not even nominated for a Best Supporting Actor for his role in that movie, it became readily apparent that even the elite of the elite in the film industry, the prestigious Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are not above having their own professionally honed perceptions severely skewed for reasons completely irrelevant to the art of film making. So in my opinion if you hope to be a successful screenwriter, my suggestion is that you take into account every single part of this Stage 32 comment I am making. Fully understanding that without a doubt, the very first time Ben Affleck as an actor and one who is involved in the art of making film ever came to true national attention, was when he and his friend Matt Damon worked together as screenwriters on a little project titled Good Will Hunting, for which the both of them received an Academy Award for screenwriting.

I've tried researching reviews.... the only reviews I found were the ones from the actual site. Of course they wouldn't put negative ones on there. I just don't want to fall for another scam. One is enough. LOL.

Not a chance. You can do your own legwork, and submit for the cost of a stamp. Guaranteed the same rejection letters.

:) All I'm interested in is helping people succeed, and protecting them from scams and useless 'services'. What companies like this do, is send a form application, and perhaps whatever treatment you've written. Doesn't work. It won't help at all, and production companies are used to getting this type of junk mail. You'll get a form 'due to our legal restrictions, we cannot read unsolicited submissions' letter back, if anything.

Yeah, I've seen (and been the recipient) of a lot of vitriol regarding 'stomping all over people's dreams' and the like. I can only share information. If someone chooses to stick their fingers in their ears and believe that wishes and fairy dust are going to be more effective than research and effort, that's not my problem.

Haha - I've been an author advocate and peer educator for about five years. I've been lashed out at when I warn someone that the 'publisher' that wants their book is a vanity press or worse, admonished that grammar doesn't matter, called every name in the book. Its hypersensitivity on the part of new writers (heck, new anybody) who just hasn't been around enough to know that their idea isn't new, execution matters, and there are sharks in the water.

Critique isn't personal. Calling a press vanity, a scam, or a bad idea (depending) isn't personal. But baby creatives are incredibly attached to their first works, and take everything as a personal attack. Shrug. They either get past that point and become pros, or blame the evil industry or imaginary cabals for their lack of fame and fortune.

Oh man, that sucks, dude. And generally why I'll only read if someone is paying me for coverage or I know them really well. I can shoot you a couple of examples. 1. Friend sends me screenplay. It's a complete mess, no characterization, and the premise makes no sense. I tell them this. They blow up, don't talk to me for months. Later, I get an apology, because it was going nowhere. With help, he's since optioned a couple of shorts. 2. This is my favorite one - I have lunch with another friend. He's written a bunch of stuff, and it's all pretty bad. We go over some of what I thought were the absolute basics of storytelling and character building. His eyes go wide, and I hear 'that's genius, I'm stealing that' a bunch of times. There's nothing to steal, this is all basic stuff. He's rewriting now, and I agreed to co direct and shoot, and help him along with this project. I've had people do nothing, too. Some move forward, some don't. I'm hardly a guru - the stuff I tell people is always the bare bones basics of writing that they just never picked up elsewhere. Style develops naturally over time. Don't worry about style - you don't have one yet. Don't worry about being unique - that comes with time and practice. Worry about being good first. Common sense stuff.

Anytime. (Sorry, Nikki, to have derailed this thread!)

Sometimes I feel like a gnat on the wall.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLu07aXTEKY

Sounds like a scam to me. I wouldn't use them. You can't guarantee replies from legitimate agencies unless you are the agent (and legit agencies don't charge).

I tend to agree.

yes, never pay upfront. you should only pay to legitimate registered organisations such as festivals, guilds etc.

Nikki: Though it's been four years, I've used Greenlight and at $70 a pop I would not recommend using them. I would use Happy Writers at half the cost or Virtual Pitchfest at ten dollars a pitch.

GreenlightMyMovie is a scam/ rip-off. I paid $300 for ten submissions three months ago and never got any responses. I wrote to the owner three times politely asking when I would be hearing from the companies I submitted to. He gave me the runaround then stopped responding altogether.

You're much better off with Virtual Pitch. They charge a fraction of what "GreenScam" does and they guarantee you a response within five days. I made a slew of submissions and heard back from everybody on time.

Nikki, Greenlightmymovie.com, Hollywood's Official Submission Platform, has never charged writers $70/per submission. The price in 2012 was $39. The price today is $29. Members receive monthly deals to get 3/5/10 submissions free as well. Jen Greenberg: Greenlightmymovie does not have any members with your name. Would appreciate you forwarding the emails you said you sent and received to see where there was a disconnect. If you have a Gmail account, responses do tend to go in to the Gmail promotions tab. This is noted on the registration page. Stanley Lozowski: Greenlightmymovie does not have nor has ever had any member with your name either so?!

Greenlightmymovie.com has many testimonials from people - first and last names - and has been a top-flight company for years.

And Audrey Kelly has been a Great Friend to Writers for many years.

My first pitch session was at FadeIn's Pitch Fest, which is Audrey's creation, many years ago. People lined up at the door hours before they opened to get on the pitch lists for the attending industry folks. I was very late, and mega-successful Patrick Duncan, if I recall correctly, was wrapping up his talk. I walked in, anxious, sweating and scared that I blew my first opportunity to pitch to professionals before I even started it.

I walked over towards Audrey, who was doing several things at once, and explained my dilemma. Her assistants had "uh-oh, he's screwed" looks on their faces. Audrey very calmly told one of her assistants to pull out all of the pitch sheets for this hyperventilating writer. She really didn't have to do that, and I would have sadly accepted a "sorry - you're too late to get on the lists" type-of answer.

For anyone to say one of her companies is a rip-off - like the probably-fake profile of Jen Greenberg - is a blatant lie. Not many people have worked as hard as she has, and for as long as she has, for us writers. I'll always be grateful to her, and for people like her.

And Stanley, don't pass on lies you can't prove to be true. Your seven or eight people are probably nothing more than "sour grapes writers" who got passes from the people they pitched. You should know better than to do stuff like that, and especially in this day and age when Internet lies can spread like wildfire and damage innocent peoples' reputations.

That's cool, Stanley. I helped to start up two very successful Internet companies, and we faced that kinda stuff every day, so I'm extra-sensitive about it. And Audrey Kelly's business efforts for writers is as good as it gets, so I was doubly irked. It is very commendable that you quickly apologized.