"Vera from Paramount," it seems, played me good.  She contacted me a couple of weeks ago to let me know "someone at Paramount read WORLD-MART, liked it, and passed it on to someone else to read."  I have talked to Vera a couple of times since then, and it has become very clear that 1) she thought she might try to plagiarize my work, or 2) she and the "friend" who put us in contact had nothing better to do than mess with me, for whatever reason.

Another producer, although small-time compared to Paramount, expressed interest in an exclusive read.  When I approached Vera about the names of the individuals at Paramount who had read my script, she refused to give me names.  Finally, she said "George" read it ... but shortly later referred to the person as "James."  When I asked her which it was (George or James?) she replied: "Both; they're gay lovers."  When I asked her to level with me, she hung up on me ... and then proceeded to call back a few minutes later, to tell me that "they," whoever "they" are have erased my work from their hard drives.  When I told her that I only sent her a hard copy of my script, she had the audacity to reply: "No, you didn't."

"Yes, I did."

"No, you didn't."

"YES, I DID."

She then proceeded to tell me she would send me back my script ... but could I give her my address?  I informed her that the address was on the script.  Is it just me, or does it seem as though this woman removed my cover page (which contains my contact information) and replaced it with a page of her own?  I had to wonder why my "friend" wanted to know so much about copyright and the Library of Congress ... little did he or Vera know that I copyrighted the original draft under the name The Last Great Minds of 2084....

At least I can take solace in the fact that people generally do not attempt to plagiarize bad works.  Still ... what a waste of time.  I knew I should have listened to my gut.

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