Part XLVIII: Script Pirates, Low Lifes and Stampedes

I received a question today- actually, an disparaging attack DISGUISED as a question- and instead of simply deleting it and ignoring it, I thought that it was an opportune time to address some of these wild accusations. I get questions like this a few times every year- not about me, but about the entire screenwriting and ghostwriting industry and, basically, the "theft of one's idea." Trust me, I can write a book on this subject, but we'll keep it limited to the "Accusation of the Day", by John Rivera (I've taken the liberty of correcting as many of the misspelling and grammatical issues as possible);

J.R. : "I have a few questions for you, Mr. Scala, since it’s being hard to reach you otherwise. Can ghostwriters take materials submitted to them for advise (sic) and turn them into their own script and, in turn, sell them as a screenplay? Since their name doesn’t appear in any of the script, but then again they claim not working for free? Aren’t they making tons of money under the radar? To me they are more like SCRIPT PIRATES, till someone with copywriten (sic) material prove and expose some of these LOW LIFE'S to a court of law and the public. In reference to the 2 movies playing on Amazon Prime that you claim are your screenplays, an accomplished writer tells me at least one of the movies were (sic) written by an accomplished writer. It seems to me there are a lot of Red flags, enough to set a BULL STAMPEDE. I’m just being curious. I will see if there any future films with a hint of my story, won’t that be something?"

TSM: Excellent questions, John. Now, you should realize it would be much easier for me to delete this question, since it makes very little sense, but mostly because you vowed to try to hurt me and my business, and this is how you're going about.

What readers should know that I've been working with you for 12-18 months on your life story- which is quite intriguing, and right up my alley of interest as far as subject matter goes. We've had phone calls, emails, and endless text messages back and forth. Eventually, you wore me down, from a $10,000 price (my standard) to PRO BONO (i.e. FREE), with the understanding that I complete my paying jobs first, while working on it in my "free" time.

I'm not sure what happened after that- whether you missed a meds cycle, or you just got a random, evil thought in your head, but you went "scorched earth" on me with insults and threats- for what, telling you how much I respected you and how I would do your story for FREE? I wanted nothing; no money, no credit, no shared credit- nothing.

I even had people lined up to read it.

So, that should help the readers understand the backstory. You got so abusive, I've had to block you on my phone, and disconnect you through LinkedIn- and I hated to do it, but you but you said some pretty awful and unforgivable things.

Now, to answer your questions; yes, any writer can take someone else's concept and make it their own if they wanted to, and if there was no "paper trail". They can also take someone's life story and, by changing names, places and dates, make it loosely based on that person, or have it be "inspired by" that person. You can create a character who is a black preacher that leads the townspeople through marches, preaches, and non-violent protests to overcome injustice in southern Alabama city- and it would be inspired by MLK- but NOT his story. You CAN do it- meaning one is ABLE to do it, but it's rarely done (except overseas). Why? Because 99.9% of the writers out there would much rather write their OWN material than steal someone else's.

The dreams I dream at night are mine; I would have little or no interest in your dreams.

The photos on my memory wall are MINE; I wouldn't replace them with your family photo album.

Another reason they don't do it is because, in some cases, it is illegal- which is why screenwriter's protect themselves. When I work a ghostwriting project, the first thing I do is create a logline and a synopsis and register that with the WGA, under the client's name and information. I want to protect THEM.

I'm asked a lot about screenwriters taking other people's material and turning it into their own, or claiming they wrote it. Personally, I have 40-50 of my OWN unique concepts that I'd love to start and finish BEFORE I'm finished, so I'm not interested in anyone else's concepts- certainly not enough to steal them. There's something I provide that cannot be bought;

Honesty, Integrity and Pride.

Regarding the two Amazon Prime movies I "claim" as written by me; one was a ghostwriting job, for which I was paid handsomely for (about fifty times what YOU were going to pay me), and the other is a situation which has been well-documented through various articles, when a producer from another country, instead of paying what he owed to me and my writing PARTNER (so there's another witness to this), decided to rewrite the contract after-the-fact; after we fulfilled our legal obligation to the letter.

Now, you can call ghostwriters "script pirates", "low life's" and accuse us of all sorts of improprieties, but they are simply fabrications in your mind. As for stealing your story- there's really nothing that separates your Rhode Island/Boston mob story from a NY mob story to an LA gang story; everyone involved is a real scumbag.

The fact that you "changed and went good" for forty years, now only shows us how you are a wolf in sheep's clothing, and in the twilight of your life, resorted back to the behavior that is deep in your core; anger, resentment, and blackmail. This is NOT the side of you I knew for the past year.

Good luck to you, and stay in good health.

WRITER'S BIO:?Mr. Scala spent 22-plus years in the Hollywood community, and was the Executive Director for the?72nd Annual Academy Awards, as well as?The Soul Train Awards,?The Grammys,?The Blockbuster Video Awards Show?and?The Saturn Award Show.?

He is working on his 41st adaptation; the fascinating autobiography?"Call Me Zena", by?Sally Barnard?who, after a brief illness, developed high-level artistic skills overnight. He is also developing biopic projects of rock pioneer?Jimmie F. Rodgers,?Motown star?Tammi Terrell?and iconic folk singer?Harry Chapin- all while continuing to mentor hundreds of new writers and self-published authors. Geno has two screenplays produced and currently on Amazon Prime;?"Assassin 33 A.D."??and?"The Tombs", and-at present- is the?Executive Script Consultant?of a major motion picture scheduled to begin filming Spring, 2022.