Abbot Management

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  • #31
    Re: Abbot Management

    If you're not comfortable sending a script to these guys, you could always go to work for them.... of course, you'd be working for free....

    http://www.mandy.com/1/jobs3.cfm?v=29758825

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    • #32
      Re: Abbot Management

      best insight from this line on their site:

      "We have a growing database of hundreds of spec film and television screenplays, the best of which are available to qualified parties upon request."

      ez-translation:

      "our database holds tons of crap, the best of which we throw at walls"

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      • #33
        Re: Abbot Management

        Originally posted by Shari Hari View Post
        best insight from this line on their site:

        "We have a growing database of hundreds of spec film and television screenplays, the best of which are available to qualified parties upon request."

        ez-translation:

        "our database holds tons of crap, the best of which we throw at walls"

        So do a lot of places.
        "A screenwriter is much like being a fire hydrant with a bunch of dogs lined up around it.- -Frank Miller

        "A real writer doesn't just want to write; a real writer has to write." -Alan Moore

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        • #34
          Re: Abbot Management

          I'm thinking of sending them something just for the free feedback they offer. From what I've gathered, you get coverage (not really, but that's what they call it) from three or four readers, and maybe one will give some useful critique.

          You can always turn down being "represented" by them.

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          • #35
            Re: Abbot Management

            Since they aren't stopping you from continuing to solicit your work, what if you find a buyer yourself? Won't they be holding out their hand for a portion? (Sorry if the letter addresses that. I didn't read the whole pitch letter they sent you)

            "Until the Lion writes his own story, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter." -African Proverb

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            • #36
              Re: Abbot Management

              Originally posted by yvonnjanae View Post
              Since they aren't stopping you from continuing to solicit your work, what if you find a buyer yourself? Won't they be holding out their hand for a portion? (Sorry if the letter addresses that. I didn't read the whole pitch letter they sent you)
              If you find a buyer on your own, not through their website, they get nada. Not one dime.
              http://www.pjmcilvaine.com/

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              • #37
                Re: Abbot Management

                Originally posted by LIMAMA View Post
                If you find a buyer on your own, not through their website, they get nada. Not one dime.

                And that's the attractive factor. Why some people here are skeptical about the arrangement is a mystery to me.
                "A screenwriter is much like being a fire hydrant with a bunch of dogs lined up around it.- -Frank Miller

                "A real writer doesn't just want to write; a real writer has to write." -Alan Moore

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                • #38
                  Re: Abbot Management

                  Actually, I have a good friend who let Abbott shop his script around in a "non-exclusive" agreement, and overall, he has good things to say about them. In addition, my friend just got a deal, on his own, to write a spec off of a producer's idea, and even though Tim had nothing to do with the deal, he kindly offered my pal the use of Abbott's lawyer to review the agreement--at no charge.
                  http://www.pjmcilvaine.com/

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                  • #39
                    Re: Abbot Management

                    Originally posted by LIMAMA View Post
                    Actually, I have a good friend who let Abbott shop his script around in a "non-exclusive" agreement, and overall, he has good things to say about them. In addition, my friend just got a deal, on his own, to write a spec off of a producer's idea, and even though Tim had nothing to do with the deal, he kindly offered my pal the use of Abbott's lawyer to review the agreement--at no charge.

                    Thank you, LIMAMA (sounds like Long Island MaMa to me...) and I wish your friend good luck. If I didn't mention it, I already gave them (particularly Tim since I live in NYC) a spec to look over, due to your info that Cody Cannell, the West Coast rep, is Stephen Cannell's son. I'm a big fan (and informal student) of the elder Cannell (www.cannell.com). Thank you again.
                    Last edited by Madbandit; 09-15-2008, 11:07 AM.
                    "A screenwriter is much like being a fire hydrant with a bunch of dogs lined up around it.- -Frank Miller

                    "A real writer doesn't just want to write; a real writer has to write." -Alan Moore

                    Comment


                    • #40
                      Re: Abbot Management

                      Originally posted by LIMAMA View Post
                      Actually, I have a good friend who let Abbott shop his script around in a "non-exclusive" agreement, and overall, he has good things to say about them. In addition, my friend just got a deal, on his own, to write a spec off of a producer's idea, and even though Tim had nothing to do with the deal, he kindly offered my pal the use of Abbott's lawyer to review the agreement--at no charge.

                      LIMAMA, your comment really is appreciated, and makes me feel even more comfortable dealing with Abbot. They are the NEW kids in the game as far as their company goes, but thus far, I've only had positive experiences with them.

                      The negative comments and views are well taken, simply because writers are trying to look out for other writers, and we've all heard of fake management companies, or deals where the writer gets royally screwed... but Abbot seems to be a very legit, up and coming management company, which can do a lot of good in this early stage of their company.

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                      • #41
                        Re: Abbot Management

                        My interest in Abbott derived in that some pals of mine were submitting to Abbott and asked me for my opinion. I didn't feel that I could honestly answer their questions unless I submitted myself, which I did. I soon learned that yeah, their readers are all over the map.

                        Tim seems to be very sincere, and he went above and beyond in helping my pal. Trust me, if they turn out to be a flakey company or I had a hint this was not legit, I would be the first to sound the alarm.
                        http://www.pjmcilvaine.com/

                        Comment


                        • #42
                          Re: Abbot Management

                          Originally posted by LIMAMA View Post
                          My interest in Abbott derived in that some pals of mine were submitting to Abbott and asked me for my opinion. I didn't feel that I could honestly answer their questions unless I submitted myself, which I did. I soon learned that yeah, their readers are all over the map.

                          Tim seems to be very sincere, and he went above and beyond in helping my pal. Trust me, if they turn out to be a flakey company or I had a hint this was not legit, I would be the first to sound the alarm.

                          Once more, I thank you.
                          "A screenwriter is much like being a fire hydrant with a bunch of dogs lined up around it.- -Frank Miller

                          "A real writer doesn't just want to write; a real writer has to write." -Alan Moore

                          Comment


                          • #43
                            Re: Abbot Management

                            Originally posted by LIMAMA View Post
                            My interest in Abbott derived in that some pals of mine were submitting to Abbott and asked me for my opinion. I didn't feel that I could honestly answer their questions unless I submitted myself, which I did. I soon learned that yeah, their readers are all over the map.

                            Tim seems to be very sincere, and he went above and beyond in helping my pal. Trust me, if they turn out to be a flakey company or I had a hint this was not legit, I would be the first to sound the alarm.
                            Thanks Limama. I'll give it another look.
                            Norman Bates
                            She just goes a little mad sometimes. We all go a little mad sometimes. Haven't you?

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                            • #44
                              Re: Abbot Management

                              Originally posted by darrylyo View Post
                              Oy.

                              Whenever an unbroken writer is willing to subject themselves to, ahem, "unconventional" approaches like this, it just blows me away. I guess it's because they just don't get the way business really gets done--and just by the way this definitelty is NOT it.

                              This kind of sideshow should be enough to send a self-respecting, career-oriented writer running in the opposite direction...because this approach will *definitely* have serious buyers running from these guys even faster. (Cannell or not)
                              I agree. They offered me the same thing, after I had queried them with one of my best scripts a year ago. They rejected the script for managment and then came back a year later and offered a place on a website. They emailed me every two days for a week. I spoke to them about the initial coverage they gave me. If I had not had that experience with them about the coverage, I would have considered them an innocent new company as well. But that experience told me they didn't have their business model together before they went into business.
                              Last edited by cocobarbie; 10-01-2008, 07:01 PM.

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                              • #45
                                Re: Abbot Management

                                This is an e mail I received from Tim Lambert yesterday after I asked if he could email me some information about their business model, and the difference between their model and Inktip. THis e mail has not been edited, except for the removal of the headers.

                                -----

                                Our primary business model will be as a conventional management
                                company - mailing out scripts to production companies, following up on
                                the scripts, repeat. This is something which we did briefly in the
                                past - similar to the model that every other management company /
                                agency on the planet follow - and it went well for us. With the
                                exception of Pixar and Castle Rock, we didnt have much difficulty
                                getting permission to send over scripts. This is something that we
                                have put on hold however - as while it is easy to call major
                                production companies, pitch them projects, and send them projects, it
                                took up every free moment we had.

                                Websites such as inktip have been phenomenally successful - They have
                                50+ produced movies from their service alone, and seem to sell /
                                option a script evrey week. The reason that major production
                                companies are not interested in inktip is because they have to
                                download 100 scripts to find 1 good one - and because they already
                                have 50 on their desk from the big 5 agencies, its not worth their
                                time. With our service, in addition to being able to search by
                                scripts that were previously optioned / won writing competitions /
                                have outside representation - they can also sort screenplays by
                                overall average grade and in addition to reviewing loglines and
                                synopsises, also review coverages (if the screenwriter makes their
                                coverage visible). Our search features are on par with theirs -
                                though in the next 2-3 months we plan to include far more specifics -
                                so if production companies wanted to find a bullying movie, or a
                                romantic vampire movie, etc, they could.

                                In the end, with inktip, yeah they have 50 produced movies, but they
                                probably have 10000 submissions - and all of the sudden 50/10000 isnt
                                that high of a number when you have to pay money every year to be
                                included and in general, nothing happens. In the end, we have yet to
                                come across a screenwriter who is unwilling to pay a commission to
                                someone who is directly responsible for finding a buyer for their
                                script - unlike the screenwriter, we are able to call production
                                companies and most always get through the the creative executive. In
                                the end, because we take a commission, we are in a position to make
                                sure that the deal is as good as it can be. If, for example, someone
                                wanted to purchase a low budget comedy - well we currently do business
                                with a bunch of people who have produced low budget comedy and as such
                                can contact them and say "so and so company wants to option this
                                script, we're going to go through with the deal in a week unless you
                                want to make a counter offer" which is a good way to get multiple
                                parties interested in a script. On top of that, because we take a
                                commission and only get paid AFTER the writer gets paid, it is in our
                                best interest to make sure that the writer gets paid - both front end
                                and back end - and as such we hvae an entertainment lawyer who can
                                look over all contracts and let the writer know if anything is missing
                                that should be there - or if anything is there that shouldn't.

                                As we see it - it is a win/win, as a writer would never pay a penny
                                unless we sold their script, and no one would have access to their
                                script unless they gave them access. In addition to that, it is a
                                non-exclusive agreement and we're not holding anyone back. As opposed
                                to inktip giving a login to everyone who asks, our model only benefits
                                us if we give logins to overqualified parties. As opposed to inktip
                                including every screenplay submission that comes off the street, we
                                have thus far included 450 screenplays out of 1575 submissions, so we
                                do feel that we offer production companies a higher quality product,
                                and as we continue to market scripts to production companies in the
                                traditional sense, we want to also offer them a service where they can
                                come to us, and browse through our better scripts, and pick ones that
                                sound interesting to them and their nitche.

                                In addition to that, we always welcome revisions and alternate
                                submissions from writers, and provide them with, more or less, and
                                endless supply of free reviews to help hone their craft and perfect
                                their screenplays.

                                As for passing on writers - we passed on representing them in the
                                tradional sense, long before we conceived the buyers login. In most
                                cases, our readers passed, we did not pass, and writers are mistaken.

                                We are running a bit behind with our programming - adding some pretty
                                radical features, but they are slowing us down a bit. Hopefully we'll
                                have the buyers logins ready to go in 3 weeks - so we'll have plenty
                                of time to give you a call and discuss before we take it live.

                                Sorry about the run-on sentences and typos - havent stopped working
                                since 6am this morning, still have 50 emails to get through this
                                evening, and dont have time to go back to proofread.

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