Help needed good rewards

Apparently people didn't understand what I was saying the first time....let me try this again.

I have found a commercial lender willing to lend me the funds to produce and distribute a film called "Reggie Von" ( a boxing film that took me forever to write). They typically fund from $5 million to $100
million and for my project they would be willing to fund $25 million. However there are requirements and
documentation I must have ( that I don't have) before I can proceed doing business with them, but I have already
begun the first steps.

Unfortunately as i was persuing this something happened to me that is very embarrassing and I will not
publicly say what happened ( email unionfilms14@gmail.com) and now not only am I trying to get this deal done I am also trying to get my personal life out of the toilet.

I have decided to crowdfund via kickstarter $8,000 which would fix all of my problems and get me the documents i need. However yet again...another problem. Amazon payments keeps telling me they can't verify me even though the info i give them is correct and I am beyond frustrated.

I have been at this for 2 months now.

the only good news is that the commercial lender will wait for me. Edmund james commercial lending( a loan broker firm) is the firm. If anyone has a valid amazon payments account and would like to partner up
and help me get this deal done I will offer you a good box office royalty.

I'll give you all the neccessary links and proof of me doing business if you email me. note: to prevent being scammed I need some reassurance. Every day counts so don't send me an alternative solution that takes months.
 
Apparently people didn't understand what I was saying the first time....let me try this again.

I have found a commercial lender willing to lend me the funds to produce and distribute a film called "Reggie Von" ( a boxing film that took me forever to write). They typically fund from $5 million to $100
million and for my project they would be willing to fund $25 million. However there are requirements and
documentation I must have ( that I don't have) before I can proceed doing business with them, but I have already
begun the first steps.

Unfortunately as i was persuing this something happened to me that is very embarrassing and I will not
publicly say what happened ( email unionfilms14@gmail.com) and now not only am I trying to get this deal done I am also trying to get my personal life out of the toilet.

I have decided to crowdfund via kickstarter $8,000 which would fix all of my problems and get me the documents i need. However yet again...another problem. Amazon payments keeps telling me they can't verify me even though the info i give them is correct and I am beyond frustrated.

I have been at this for 2 months now.

the only good news is that the commercial lender will wait for me. Edmund james commercial lending( a loan broker firm) is the firm. If anyone has a valid amazon payments account and would like to partner up
and help me get this deal done I will offer you a good box office royalty.

I'll give you all the neccessary links and proof of me doing business if you email me. note: to prevent being scammed I need some reassurance. Every day counts so don't send me an alternative solution that takes months.
This is much more clear. You are taking out a loan and you need
a co-signer. I have a valid Amazon Payments account. But I'm not
willing to allow a complete stranger to use it. Sorry but what you're
asking is unreasonable. At least now I see why you need $8,000.
Qualifying for a business loan is very different than finding investors.

I'm not going to send you an alternative solution (even though there
are several) so you can stop reading the rest of this post:

I suspect you are not going to find anyone to co-sign a $25 million
loan to make a movie. Offering "a good box office royalty" is not a good
reward. Most movies made never make any money. It is the inspired,
hopeful, inexperienced filmmaker who offers a percentage of the box
office. You are asking complete strangers to take a financial risk with
you. I'm not saying you will never find anyone to take that risk with
you; I'm saying a public message board may not be the right place to
find people willing to take that risk. People who know you and believe
in you are far more likely to help you.

You're clearly passionate about this and you've been working hard. I
wish you the best of luck with the project.
 
Putting yourself, and anyone naive enough to cosign with you, on the hook for repaying a TWENTY FIVE MILLION DOLLAR LOAN probably isn't a great step in that direction.

Exactly, as I just posted in one of the many other threads on this the cost of servicing a loan of that scale is likely to run over $200,000 per month...
 
For fun lets deconstruct the scam...

The bit about the movie, the loan, the kickstarter are all just interesting story... the meat of the scam is in this sentence: "If anyone has a valid amazon payments account and would like to partner up.."

"Partner up" means you let the scammer make a deposit of $8000 (or sends you a valid looking check etc), into your payments account. This all look legit, heck amazon will probably accept it as a deposit. The scamer then has you send a cashiers check (or transfer or whatever) some of the $8000 as an escrow check to "the financial institution" you of course get to keep what left, very generous of Dashawn dont you think?

Now, the first deposit you got from the scammer was a fraud. Amazon wont figure it out for a while, but, heres the key, The withdrawal you made, cashiers check or wire transfer was valid. So when the bank "reverses" the deposit you will be accountable for covering the cashiers check you sent to the "financial institution"

Of course there is no "financial instituion" the money just goes into Dashawns pocket.


EDIT: An interesting twist might be that the scammer will have you create a "fake" product to sell him, which is not legal. Thereby preventing you from going to the police when you find you been scammed.

EDIT: Another twist might be that the 8000 comes from a valid but STOLEN credit card, thereby causing you to participate in a money laundering scheme. The CC company might not figure it out for MUCH longer.. a year or more.. of course then you will still have to pay it back, get sued etc..

EDIT: ok additional thoughts...your amazon account is linked to the Kickstarter campaign. The 8000 comes from seveal stolen credit cards all contributing to the Kickstarter .... you get the 8000, you send cashiers check, the stolen\bad cc'a are discovered ... you have to pay them back. Dashawn keeps the cash
 
Last edited:
I really don't believe this is a scam. I believe Dashawn is new to
movie financing and has misunderstood what a lending company
does. In his enthusiasm he posted what he understood to be the
situation. The eight large is most likely what believes he needs to
set up a business and he believes that once he has a business set
up this loan company will loan him the 25 million to make his movie.

So many threads on this subject it's difficult keeping everything
straight. This is why it's better to post ONE thread not several.
 
Wheat's final edit is actually a pretty good scam. If you've got access to say a 100 stolen credit card numbers (relatively easy to get online), using them to contribute to a kickstarter campaign could be a good way to translate them into real cash - but you do have to have a way to disassociate yourself from the amazon payments account they're processed through.

But I'm on the fence with this one. On the one hand, I'm with Rik, willing to give Deshawn the benefit of the doubt and consider he may be the one being scammed. Needing to come up with a 'small' amount in order to complete the 'paperwork' etc to unlock a huge amount is a really common scam structure. If someone is telling him they need this much to set up a business structure for him he could be being taken for a ride.

On the other hand, the various details he's added in different threads add up to an odd situation. For instance, he said he needs to get an office, which isn't really a valid requirement for setting up a business entity, and certainly adds quite a bit of expense. Now he's added the note in this thread about some mysterious personal struggles, which is actually a really common element in scams - those struggles can be used later to stall when things appear to be going wrong with a deal and answers aren't forthcoming. He's also talking about setting up an indiegogo campaign (apparently in addition to kickstarter?) which wouldn't require an amazon payments account, but his laptop is too slow to use their site. The whole picture is a bit scattered.

Finally, the idea of crowdfunding $8k to get things rolling on this is laughable to anyone who's been around this site for any amount of time and watched how people struggle with their crowdfunding campaigns. It's not something that you just decide to do and the money starts rolling in - successful crowdfunding takes quite a bit of prep and a network of supporters, fans, family, etc. The idea that it's the solution to his current needs could go either way. It could indicate a simple naiveté about the whole process - which would support either that he's being scammed or simply misunderstanding the situation he's in. Or, it could indicate that his crowdfunding plan isn't a typical one, and could in fact be some sort of scam.

Whatever the situation, it doesn't look like a good one for anyone who gets involved...
 
Last edited:
That's the way I'm seeing it, Evan. He “found” this lending company.
They told him that in order to quality for a loan he needs certain things
– business license, incorporation, etc. Someone may have told him
an office is needed to have a legit company. So in his enthusiasm and
inexperience he ran some numbers and came up with eight large for
all those things. Maybe even a new laptop. So he wants to crowdfund
that money.

You're right; we all know crowdfunding won't work for something like
this and we all know he will not qualify for a $25 million business loan.
He'll figure this out sooner or later. But there are elements of a standard
scam here too. I just think it's lack of knowledge.

I'm hoping we can all help him find his way rather than accuse him of
anything underhanded. He may not listen - he sees $25 million only a few
legal steps away and that's damn powerful.
 
I got curious, and did a little more digging. Starting with this:

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/dashawn-thomas/90/b01/267

which links to this site:

http://representativesglobal.webs.com/

Which has a little more information on the project. Here he says he needs $300,000 for the production of the film, and then $30 million for distribution. He has a brief logline of the film there as well.

His linkedin profile also associates him with New Horizon Entertainment, which eventually leads here:

http://www.turbasapie.com/management.html

Where he is listed as Chairman & CFO of the company. New Horizon is a startup in "participatory filmmaking" which looks like it's been trying to get off the ground since 2007 (original site here: http://www.makeafilm.net/) and is currently seeking... $25 million in funding. They have some investor information there and what I would consider seriously optimistic projections in terms of growth, profits and market for what they're trying to do.

Also found a few other sites:
https://www.crowdfunder.com/user/78323
http://www.juntoboxfilms.com/projects/reggie-von
http://gogetfunding.com/project/reggie-von-film
https://angel.co/representatives-entertainment

So from what I see here I don't think it's a scam. I think he's seriously trying to put a project together (a bunch of projects in fact), and is just somewhat optimistic/naive about how that happens.
 
I think it'd be easier to get a temp job and just work 60 hour weeks until you have the money you need
 
still a scam.. all you have is noise.. and self generated pages...

this is exactly how the scam works.... lots of "smoke" look over here, look over there.. but in the end he will ask to use someones bank account to make a deposit.. which is the scam. Perhaps a CC laundering ring..
 
Wheat's final edit is actually a pretty good scam. If you've got access to say a 100 stolen credit card numbers (relatively easy to get online), using them to contribute to a kickstarter campaign could be a good way to translate them into real cash - but you do have to have a way to disassociate yourself from the amazon payments account they're processed through...

Exactly, the scam is getting someone else to "volunteer" for pass through..
 
still a scam.. all you have is noise.. and self generated pages...

Fair enough.

I still think he's just an enthusiastic, passionate guy with big plans
who doesn't understand how to raise money. I do not think he's trying
to scam anyone.
 
still a scam.. all you have is noise.. and self generated pages...

this is exactly how the scam works.... lots of "smoke" look over here, look over there..

You certainly could be right. To me there's just not enough smoke and mirrors there to indicate that - I could put a far more sophisticated trail together in an afternoon. It doesn't come across as any kind of organized attempt to create an illusion of legitimacy - in fact, it really conveys the opposite to me.
 
In the Nigerian scam, the very obviousness of the setup acts as a sorta "filter" for those who would eventually figure it out anyway... The few folks that make it past the filter are pre-screened for gullibility and a desire to be trusting, with a pinch of "easy money greed" thrown in for flavor :)

The big numbers in this particular scam throw red flags up for those who have a decent "BS" sensor, thereby filtering themselves OUT of the possible respondents.. Anybody who contacts him after considering the big numbers is more likely to take the bait.
 
Something along the lines of The Last Shot maybe.

The crowdfunding scam goes unexpectedly well because people get really excited about the film, and it gets a ton of press as one of the largest crowdfunding successes ever. Suddenly the scammer gets sucked into having to produce a film, teamed up with the naive, bumbling, and completely inexperienced young filmmaker who fell for the scam in the first place. Hijinks ensue. Things seem like somehow they actually might work out, but then it all falls apart when the truth of the original scam is revealed by a young, beautiful investigative reporter. Just when it seems all is lost, the crazy guy they hired as an editor accidentally leaks a cut online and it becomes an overnight sensation. The scammer ends up in jail, but he's now a hollywood power broker making deals from his cell, and the young filmmaker's career is launched as he's hailed as the next Tarantino. And he gets the girl. Fade to black.

Title: Crowded. I smell Oscar...
 
Last edited:
In any case, thank you for the helpful investigation, Evan. It sheds more light on the thing. I even read through that NHE profile page. Still even less sure than you guys what to make of it. But it's interesting, I guess.

Bruce Campbell has said that dentists are good sources of film funding. Maybe try asking your dentist.
 
Something along the lines of The Last Shot maybe.

The crowdfunding scam goes unexpectedly well because people get really excited about the film, and it gets a ton of press as one of the largest crowdfunding successes ever. Suddenly the scammer gets sucked into having to produce a film, teamed up with the naive, bumbling, and completely inexperienced young filmmaker who fell for the scam in the first place. Hijinks ensue. Things seem like somehow they actually might work out, but then it all falls apart when the truth of the original scam is revealed by a young, beautiful investigative reporter. Just when it seems all is lost, the crazy guy they hired as an editor accidentally leaks a cut online and it becomes an overnight sensation. The scammer ends up in jail, but he's now a hollywood power broker making deals from his cell, and the young filmmaker's career is launched as he's hailed as the next Tarantino. And he gets the girl. Fade to black.

I smell Oscar...

Would watch :)
 
Back
Top