To Screen or Not to Screen...

Sufficient time has passed with no word from our would-be 'distributor' that I feel I can comment on their proposition without being accused of libel, and, in fact, I'm not going to mention the company's name.  So here's the deal:

First of all, my connections in the film biz said outright, "it's a scam."  Never pay for representation! 

I might add that they were asking for $25,000, which is double what it cost us in hard cash to make Mismo.  Of course, the scammers didn't know that, and if anything good came out of this it's that they said Mismo looks like a $300,000 production.

I was still willing to pursue the "opportunity," so I did the due diligence, which initially means Google.  The word "scam" was associated with the company in several blog/article mentions and my experience was recited virtually verbatim.  But, in fairness, I still thought that if it got me traction or industry connections, it still had potential... assuming, of course, that they would do what they said they would i.e. screen Mismo with an after party at Cannes.  I thought that could be worth $25k.

So the next time they called, I asked for references of people they'd worked with in the past.  And therein lies the rub.  They would not (could not?) supply any names.  I continued to get the hard -- though extremely slick -- sell, pressuring me to make a decision.  I said that my partners and I don't do things in a hurry and no decision would be made without proper checking...

And I've not heard from them since.  Except, I did get an email from an intern apologizing for "the delay," explaining that they had to deal with a catastrophe caused by the rain collapsing the roof of the Regency Cinema where their film festival was traditionally held.