Leesa Dean: Good News and Bad News

Adventures of a Web Series Newbie – Chapter 24:
by Leesa Dean

This week I’ve been so incredibly busy, I only have time for a short post. As promised, part of this week’s entry is about The Contract. And yes, that is the bad news.

As I mentioned last week, I got another contract offer. This one, from a FB “friend” who in-boxed me and asked how Chilltown was coming along. “Well,” I told her. She said, “Look, have you ever thought about publishing Chilltown as a book? I have a friend who has a small publishing company. He’s looking for writers and I thought of you. I think you’d be a good match. While he’s small, he really can make things happen.”

While I have no plans to do that for Chilltown, I am, actually working on a book. But I also have a pretty enhanced bullsh*t meter and, sadly, I felt this message not only triggered it, it was pretty close to an 11 (yeah, most things that seem too good to be true usually are.) Out of curiosity, though, I said, “While I’m not in the market right now, why don’t you send me some links. Down the line, I might be.”

And she did. Not only links to his site, but direct links to the contract he offers. It was a doozy.

He wanted money for publishing the book, which would include his fee for designing a promotional site for it (which, btw, looks amateurish and was just one page.) Without going into long boring details, it was crazy, exploitative and something I’d never sign. Ever. And, it turns out, she, of course, is involved and would get a cut.

It begs the question: Exactly what type of cojones do you have to have to actually offer something like that to someone you interact with on a fairly regular basis? I mean, you have to be wildly desperate/dumb to either sign a contract like that and incredibly desperate/sleazy to offer one. Yuck.

And now, the good news: Chilltown was selected to screen at A3C, one of the largest hip-hop festivals there is. It’s mainly a music festivals but they cherry picked a few film selections and Season One of Chilltown is among them. They haven’t made the official announcement yet so I’ll have more details soon, but wanted you guys to know first. I am THRILLED!

Author: ChilltownTV

I'm primarily a writer. Sold a few series to tv networks and production companies but never had anything get on the air. So I taught myself how to animate and completed 3 digital series, launching two. The first, Chilltown has been named one of "Five Web Series That Should Be on Your Radar" by ABCNews/Univision and a "Show to Watch" by Tubefilter. The second, Lele's Ratchet Advice Show, garnered a fanatic cult following. As a result, I now do Lele's 60 Second Wrap Up, a weekly comedic entertainment report (which I write & perform) that airs on urban radio stations Rhythm 105.9fm and the Just Wake Up Morning Show on WWRNfm. View all posts by ChilltownTV