Estephan Talent Agency (Joseph Estephan)

Positive experience with Mr. Estephan

Earnestly, I must admit I was a bit alarmed when I saw this profile. After sending out multitudes of query letters, Mr. Estephan was the only agent who showed any interest in myself and my work. After talking, I was given the proposal of submitting my screenplays for a fee of $100 each. I submitted $600 (six screenplays). I decided to do some research before committing to a contract (I hadn’t signed one yet), and soon discovered this site. Concerned and in search of the truth, I mailed print outs of the feedback from this forum to Mr. Estephan, who patiently explained and answered all of my questions. Mr. Estephan was soon going to attend the American Film Market (AFM) festival in LA, in hopes of promoting myself and my work.

As luck would have it, two other agencies in California contacted me, with slightly better offers and opportunities. Wanting my career to take the most optimal path possible, I decided to sign on with another agency (which was NOT an easy decision to make). I was given periodic updates by way of phone and emails, had all of my questions answered, was given a partial refund of my money, and severed ties in an equitable, polite and professional manner. I was also promised to have all material that I had submitted disposed of (I threatened with extensive legal action). If you are in search of representation that will provide an advantage in the ever-competitive film-making industry, Mr. Estephan and the Estephan agency would be a good place to start.

Mixed Messages

I got this message from Mr. Estephan. He told me he is now offering his services free of charge --

"I will look at projects from writers(especially those who are
not so happy about my services to them at this point) at no charge and have 1 or 2 movie projects in the works right now. Certain acting talent interested in a project will generate a commitment from a distributor and hence financing to make a movie. Any person who is dissatisfied with my services to this point can simply submit a list of script synopsis/loglines(1-2 sentences) to me thru email and let me see what the acting talent wants to do(they have all kinds of certain ideas/preferences). Then simply be ready to provide some sort of justificationthrough a qualified script reviewer as to the professional quality of a script requested as it is too expensive for me to do "script doctoring" for individual projects and I have more to lose by submitting a bad script(developing the contact network is the culmination of over 20 years in the biz), as the script may not be totally right for the talent, but if it is unprofessional, I can burn a bridge. I do have legitimate access to the talent through contcts. I do not however have the time and energy to spend more than a few minutes simply forwarding the email. The writer must do the mailing/follow up. The writer must also be very patient as many times I work through normal vacation time to do the work instead of taking normal time off and work efficiently while others would normally just be watching TV or football.

Thanks,

Joe "

Infamous Mr. Estephan

Any recent (past year) reports about or experiences with Joseph Estephan and his Estephan Talent Agency? He has contacted me recently and after doing my research on him I am inclined to not even respond. Just wondering if there is any evidence he has turned over a new leaf or has become legit.

amergina said:

From a Google search, Jeremiah Plummer does seem to be the president of Pavenet, which seems to have existed for a while.



You got me. That's an odd thread. Why would an ISP bother to sue someone on behalf of a client?

Click to expand...

Yep; he's on the WhoIS records for Pavenet, and responds to all the Contact requests.

I note that that email came in via the WhoIs record for AW; he never even checked the site.