Update: Amazon Studios

I don’t know who these folks are, but this post seems like the most comprehensive critique of Amazon Studios. Here’s an excerpt:

If you’re an aspiring screenwriter you’ve more than likely heard that Amazon.com has formed a movie studio and are giving away a LOT of money and it’s FREE to enter!

Seems like a great deal, right?

Well, it’s not.

Even if you’ve read all of the other screenwriting sites on the net about the Amazon Studios, you need to read this Blog.

We’ve gone through the contest and found several problems and offer solutions below.

OPERATIONAL AND TECHNICAL PROBLEMS

Please note that these OP and TECH issues are ONLY for the contest and NOT the main site. The main Amazon site remains to be the unshakable monolith of security and stability on the internet.

That said, there are some Operational and Technical problems with the contest that need to be addressed.

1. Anyone can register and enter the contest with an unverified email address. Amazon does not even verify that email address is valid. You can register with Snoopythedog@madeupemailaddress.com and immediately start posting material and reviewing scripts.

2. The contestant user ID can BE ANYTHING, even other users exact user IDs! Furthermore, anyone is free to change their user ID at any time, an unlimited number of times.

3. These two problems mean that any user can impersonate any other user. As an example, a person hell bent on sandbagging a script with bad reviews can sign up as ANY USER ID and then leave bad reviews on other projects, and make it look like a specific user is leaving the bad feedback so that specific user will get bad reviews as retribution. Note, this does not involve hacking, or anything of the sort. As it stands right now anyone can change their user ID to anything, at any time.

4. Nothing is verified when contestants sign up. Although the user id can be changed at any time, the initial name used at sign up cannot. However, what is to stop a user from signing up as “Daffy Duck?” Amazon would then have a “contract” with Daffy Duck.

5. Screenplays do NOT have to be downloaded by a reviewer before a review can be left. There is no minimum time period allotted for reading the screenplay before a review can be left. Same goes for the movies. Reviews can be left instantly without having read, or watched the source material.

They really dig down into seemingly all aspects of Amazon Studios. So as part of your consumer protection, probably worth a read.

Comment Archive