Ovation Financial Group

[edruggi]

Does anyone know if they are legit?

[Mac H.]

According to the guy's Myspace page, it is a simply a 33 year old male in New York.

His name appears to be 'Austin Nicholes' (or perhaps it is a pseudonym) and appears to have been the same guy as 'declarationpictures@yahoo.com'.
(The only thing I can find about him is that he bid on a Roomba vacuum cleaner in an online auction)

He seems to advertise by posting messages on the 'misc.writing.screenplays' newsgroup, which is really weird.
As he points out, "We don't produce films, we only represent investors." So why is he advertising to contact writers? Investors or producers, fine.
From their strategy of inviting writers to send them scripts, I'm guessing that they'll propose to create a 'package' for the writer ... for a fee. In other words, they may make money because writers provide them with money.

Attempts to entice investors seem to include postings on the 'Real Estate' message board of 'www.moneymakergroup.com'.
Other quality investment schemes promoted alongside 'Ovation Financial Group's offering include "a truly reliable method of making a great deal of money every month from placing bets on the outcome of horse races."

Personally I have a problem with people who pretend to be huge, by calling themselves "XXX Financial GROUP" and referring to their office as the "GLOBAL HEADQUARTERS".

There is also zero information on the impressive team of international financiers behind it ... although the MySpace user (which is the same person as the 'Financial Group') has a habit of posting videos of Kramer.

So, to summarise:

* The guy advertises for investors alongside horse-racing 'investment' schemes
* The guy is pretending to be a big global company when he clearly isn't. Not exactly truthful.
* The guy isn't proud of his background in financing ... he doesn't mention his name at all on his website. It is so hidden that the only thing that can be found of his financing background is an attempt to buy a roomba vacuum cleaner. (And I can't even count that as a genuine credit)
* They haven't mentioned a single success. Not a single 'Fred was paid XXX for his script' or 'we organised the financing for Film YYYY, which was released to DVD today'.

By law, because they are marketing their investments publicly (along side horse racing schemes) they will have at least one prospectus properly registered with the SEC.

Since they have 'a team of highly experienced finance professionals who are ready to advise our clients' they will also be properly registered as financial advisers.

You can verify with the SEC to verify the legitimacy of this company. Go to www.sec.gov for details.

Good luck,

Mac
(PS: According to his website (www.ovationfinancial.com/redcarpetpartners.html) the following companies are officially 'Red Carpet Partners' with his business:

* Paramount
* Disney Pictures
* Sony Pictures
* Fox Movies
* Universal Pictures
* Warner Brothers
* MGM

I wonder if they know that they are partners with him ?)

[edruggi]

Thanks, Mac.