I've recently concluded some business dealings with Geno and was curious what people here at SS had to say about TSM. If you'd like to answer in PM, that's fine.

Quoted from DanBall I've recently concluded some business dealings with Geno and was curious what people here at SS had to say about TSM. If you'd like to answer in PM, that's fine.

To be honest, never heard of them until now... shocking.  I checked out there website, looks all right, but it isn't for me.  I assume your dealings with them went all right?

Ghostie

Quoted from ghost and_ghostie gal To be honest, never heard of them until now... shocking.  I checked out there website, looks all right, but it isn't for me.  I assume your dealings with them went all right? Ghostie

Actually, if I could say they went all right, I would consider that advertising and wouldn't have tried to do that here. So, since I'm not advertising...guess how things went.

Also, just out of curiosity, Ghostie, why weren't you interested? I had some theories as to what a lot of writers' reactions to the business would be and was ridiculed for them.

Okay, gotcha.  Fair enough.


Ghost

EDIT;  just got the message.  A lot of writers do just fine without those services, not to mention, i spend enough money on coverage anyway.

I don't quite understand what you guys are talking about. Do you recommend The Script Mentor or not?

I glanced at their website and looked up the founder Geno Scala. Apparently he's a a full time screenwriter and producer...with a very short imdb list.

So, tell me, were they any good or not?

Thanks.  

Well, when it comes to mentoring, I have no idea how he/they rate. Geno wanted me to help him offer branding/marketing assistance to his clients by building their personal & project websites and creating logos, etc. Also, he wanted to have me to do some work to improve his own sites for his prodco and TSM.

To start off, I took a few days to analyze the TSM site, looking for any problems that stood out to me, from design to functionality to branding. This was my first real branding job, which Geno knew in advance and is why he let me do it, to help me get back on my feet. Overall, I thought the site needed a slight overhaul because it could've looked better and it didn't do a good enough job justifying the asking price for its offerings. Also, several things were a little misleading. If he wanted to lower the risk for clients, I recommended that he provide more information about his staff of mentors (supposedly, he has several, but he's the only one the site identifies) and a more detailed account of how TSM actually works.

My biggest recommendation was that he change his business model and/or his offerings because SS was robbing him blind, all without charging a penny or technically being called a business. It gives writers exactly what they want for a price they want to pay.

It's still a mystery to me why, but these recommendations made him dissolve our arrangement (which I was never paid for, BTW). When I responded, trying to make him, again, see the logic of my recommendations, he scoffed and sent a very nasty, undignified, and unprofessional reply insulting me as a writer, branding consultant, and (probably) human being. All this because I was doing my job, helping him turn a better profit from his business, earning HIM more money.

It's not a huge surprise. I'm not too old, but in my time, I've learned that when a charismatic person gets excited that quickly and things get moving that quickly, it's too good to be true. Geno is very charismatic and when I first met him, he was very aggressive about pursuing my business and letting me do work in return for TSM discounts. Recently, he offered that and to actually pay me. He sold me on the writer marketing project and I was excited that it might usher in a new era for The Dan Ball Brand, but I always had a hunch he'd find some way of reneging. And he proved me obscenely right.

I was curious since I didn't know what you and Ghostie were talking about.

I'm sorry to hear that your business venture with him did not work out.

What did you mean by this? "because SS was robbing him blind,"? Usually when I see SS somewhere, it's either Simply Scripts, Script Shadow or nazis.

Anyway, like I mentioned earlier, I looked him up on imdb and he had VERY few credits for someone who is a full time screenwriter and producer. Even my list is longer...

Anyone can put up a website and call themselves a mentor. Buyer beware.

Sorry it didn't work out Dan. Your chance will come.

Dan,

Sorry to hear about your experience.
Sounds like the lesson learned didn't cost you too much.

I do personally know a writer that had a questionable experience with him.
I even recommended they consult an entertainment lawyer.
Not my details to go into though.
Live and learn, but don't let the carrion eaters get you down.

Regards,
E.D.

Well that wasn't very nice!  I looked at the Script Mentor website when I saw this spot yesterday.  I didn't get a good vibe from it. I looked Geno up as well, his creditinals are ellusive to say the least.

Quoted from DanBall My biggest recommendation was that he change his business model and/or his offerings because SS was robbing him blind.

I listened to a some Simply Scripts webcasts (the one with MoviePoet was very engaging) and was thrilled at their perspective about reader feedback and the growing process for writers at every level.  I completely agree with this comment ^^^^

Thanks Simply Scripts!  

Always be very careful of those who seem extremely attractive and offer you the moon. Sorry about your misfortune Dan.

I am grateful to call SS my home away from home. I've learned everything right here. I've gotten feedback/reviews/coverage from right here. I only hope I can pay Don back one day for sponsoring such a super cool site and thank you to the people here for making the site such a successful place to call home.

Thanks, for the support, everybody!

I think it's funny that you guys are telling me precisely what I tried telling him and he was too proud to listen. And you're the people his business targets! If that's not good branding/market insight, I don't know what is. Not my fault if he loses business. I warned him.

Pride is a wonderful, horrible thing.

Anyway, I'm glad to have you all here and I'm glad that this community exists. Maybe The Dan Ball Brand will start picking up more soon and I can have more time to devote to writing again.