They paid thousands of dollars thinking the companies had an in with top Hollywood producers and executives to turn their books into films.  They even thought they might be getting an advance of $80,000 to $180,000 or more.

            But it was all a scam, getting book authors to pay more and more for the materials they needed to show the executives at a big video conference.  So they spent money on a logline/synopsis, a script, a show bible, a sizzle reel, or more which a legitimate producer or agent would want to see.  Some spent as much as $20,000-40,000 on these materials for which they paid much inflated prices.  But at the end, their pitches went nowhere, because they weren't made to real executives, and the scammers disappeared with the victims' money. 

            The scam was only exposed when the ghostwriter creating their materials spoke to one of the victims and discovered the scam.  The ghostwriter, Gini Graham Scott, who thought she was creating legitimate materials for books with film potential, has since gone on to write a book about the scam and create a GoFundMe campaign to help compensate the victims for their losses.

            The link to the GoFundMe campaign is at:

 https://www.gofundme.com/manage/help-victims-of-a-scam-recover-their-money

        Please help by contributing to the campaign.

        THE BIG CON: The Story of a Book to Film Scam, The Victims, Other Writer Scams, and How to Avoid Being a Victim tells their story and how readers can avoid becoming a victim of the many scams that target unsuspecting writers, publishers, and others.   It is now available on Amazon as a paperback, e-book, and in hardcover.

         After describing the investigation that revealed the scam, the book introduces ten of the victims and their projects and discusses the many scams targeting writers and self-publishers. Finally, it discusses how to recognize a scam and avoid becoming a victim, and what to do if you are scammed, including possibly getting back any money you have lost.

        THE BIG CON will be a documentary film featuring a many of the victims, with half the proceeds going to compensate those victims.  A Facebook group was just set up to feature the book and to search for stories for a companion book on other scams: I Was Scammed.  The link to the group is https://www.facebook.com/groups/1060223038128200. 

       The book has received many endorsements, including these:

"There are so many internet scammers these days.  The Big Con does a great job of exposing some of them and featuring the victims of one of these scams."

            Gustavo Sandi

            Insights Online Digital Architects, Oakland, California

"The Big Con is an important alert for creatives in any field not to get caught by phony offers from scammers that prey upon their dreams to make it big and find fame and fortune.  Unfortunately, the ten victims featured in the book had worthy projects that might have been turned into films by legitimate producers had they not encountered the scammers."

John Covert

Singer/Songwriter with 3000+ songs

Leader of the Crystal Image Band 

         For more information and to set up interviews:

Karen Andrews

Executive Assistant to Gini Graham Scott

Changemakers Publishing and Writing

Lafayette, CA 94549 . (925) 385-0608  

changemakers@pacbell.net

www.changemakerspublishingandwriting.com