Message Board

I entered this contest in July last year and they posted the winners on May 1, and I was glad to see that I made the cut winning the Elite Prize for AMERISTOCRACY.

But I have spent all last month trying to contact them with no result so I have to say that this contest is a SCAM!

I know previous winners have got results, but if a contest cant contact the winners within one month and the winners cant contact the company, what else is it???

I would be happy to accept the prize money ($500 cash and some other stuff) and say that this isnt a scam, but at the moment....

THIS IS ONE BIG SCAM.

And the only way that the company will honour thier promise is if this is spread, so that is why I am posting this on all the message boards I find.

Well, Janet, I did search and did see your posts, but...

1 - I used the word 'scam' to get thier attention. You or Dana may not have placed, but I did, but after spending my $ entering I want what I rightfully earned and someone high up suggested I contact message boards and that way someone in the company might see it and contact me through them.

2 - Why havent the news section in the Film Awards on this site been updated with the winners for this year? The latest is from Round 1 of this comp, nothing more.

3 - What AM I SUPPOSED TO DO? Give me a good answer and I'll do it, but Im not waiitng over a month for a check or an email that may or may not come...

That was the email I used, but after 5 weeks and 5 emails, I think something is amiss.

I know contests are delayed, but really, to wait this long, esp if you finished in first place?????

I also tried to search the other winners to see if they had recieved any contact with Filmakers, but I couldnt get any info off them.

The million dollar question is, how long is too long?

This is the first contest that AMERISTOCRACY has placed since I tried getting it out there via query letters and so on, so I've actually put this aside while I try to sell my new script.

Below is list of prizes from the contest via the moviebytes page which I should have got: "$500 + "Phone Consultation with Greenlight Script Coverage Professional + "PITCH your Winning Script to Producers and agents + "FREE Admission Pass to the Screenwriting EXPO** + "a copy of Movie Magic's Screenwriter by Write Brothers

PLUS...

Top 20 Screenplays: Production Consideration by Leading Hollywood Producers and Representation Consideration by Leading Hollywood Agencies/Management Companies.

The cash ($500) might not be a lot, but still enough to pay some contest fees so even if I just got that I would be happy. After all, I did pay $65 to enter.

But, I actually live in Australia, so thats why I turned to message boards, anything else is a bit out of my league. Aside from emails that is, but I cannot get a single reply. I even emailed them earlier in the year when they were delayed with posting the finalists and didnt get a response then.

I just don't know what to do.

Thanks Janet and others for all the help. Will wait till July 1 and hopefully something will have come.

But it's not like I dont appreciate them (Filmakers) giving me the Elite Prize, but I want them to deliver on what they promised. So if I spread the news that they are good, then they probbly wont respond. But if they did launch a 2010 contest and no one entered due to the bad rap, then they would have to try cleaning it up, such as giving me what I rightfully won.

So there is a fine line between 'bashing' a company and 'praising' them.

But as it is, I dont think AMERISTOCRACY is going to sell at this point, and I did get enough reads last year based on logline, so my main priority is the prizes.

I just feel sorry for the writers that won first prize which would be $2,500 cash. I wonder if they have recieved any response? I guess we'll never know...

Hi Janet.

Why don't you do a DO NOT ENTER and a ENTER list? That way, it would solve some of the critisms pointed at you and instead of the list being 'negative' as some people call it, it could be 'positive'.

I know the number of good contests is a fair few but you could always limit it to top 10 or top 15. That way people could visit your posts to see what contests not to enter, as well as enter...

Hi. I posted a message here about the above named contest and complained about how I had been waiting 5 weeks and hadnt recieved a message, and I opened my mail today and reciecved a message from them!

THE MESSAGE READ: ------------------------------- Dear Filmmakers Int'l Screenwriting Awards Finalist:

Please excuse us for the delay in getting this message out to you.

This email is being sent to the winners and runners-up in the Filmmakers International Screenwriting Awards.

The Filmmakers.com website is under construction and, for privacy and other legal issues, we have not been able to send or receive emails from our server. This is only a temporary situation so we've setup a temporary hotmail account to send and receive emails.

Cash Awards and Prizes (those who won) will be distributed within 7 weeks. -----------------------------

So, if this does come true, then I take it back that this is a scam. Personally, I didn think it was a scam, but I did think that somehting had gone wrong.

So Janet, I think it is fair to say to take Filmakers off you list, and hopefully in 7 weeks time I'll update you lot of if my prizes did come.

I know that posting the stuff about Filmakers didnt have any impact on them sending an email, but it is ironic that I did post sutff and then a few days later they sent an email...

Well, to clarify, Robert...

At the start when I did the initial post I thought It was a scam, but as time went on and I read what other people said about things being late and did some other research, I began to see that it probbly wasnt a scam as such, esp since it had gone for numerous years, it was just having a bad year.

And in hindsight I probbly shouldn't have said scam in the first post but that's all water under the bridge now...

The Who's Buying What? section has been made redundant. They sent out an email to all members about it one week ago...

Thanks Janet. Looks like things are moving along, finally, though to get a read may take a month or so. Just have to wait and see.

Thanks...

Thanks!

Hopefully I will place in top 3, and get a prize, will have to wait and see.

Thanks, though I just got the email for the Top 3 and Hon Mentions.... and I wasnt on it :)