[Agency] EKP Productions (Eddie Kritzer)

Hi Everyone,

My wife just wrote a book and had it copywrited. Now she is in search of an agent, and someone named Eddi Kritzer asked for her manuscript on an exclusive basis.

First does anyone know anything about this person, and second, what is exclusive basis, is this normal?

Thanks for your herlp!

[smallthunder]

I found this all very interesting, especially what 'spywriter' had to say, regarding exclusivity.

As I posted elsewhere, I had a pretty big NYC agent respond to my query by writing that he wanted to read several chapters on an 'exclusive' basis. At that point, I already had several agents reading chapters -- so, what could I do? Ask those earlier respondents to STOP reading my work -- STOP considering my novel -- so that I could give this guy the exclusive arrangement he requested?

Does any agent -- even the biggest, most-self-important -- realistically expect that?

I hope not, because I sent this chap my chapters with a letter explaining that I could not give him retro-active exclusivity, but if he were still willing to consider my work, I could promise not to send my manuscript to any additional agents.

I didn't mention any time limit on this possible future exclusivity arrangement -- was this a mistake? -- but I did say I would wait to hear from him if this was agreeable (before instituting this new "exclusivity" arrangement).

Should I have handled things differently? Please advise.

[clara bow]

http://www.eddiekritzer.com/

If you take a look at the layout, 'nuff said. My husband didn't even say anything when he saw it. He just started laughing.

His IMDB listing has very few credits. Sounds like your wife should proceed with caution.

"SOLD! Live Ten Year Longer written by 92 year old Dr. Clarence Agrees Ten Speed Press."

wha...?

[zizban]

Originally Posted by clara bow

http://www.eddiekritzer.com/

If you take a look at the layout, 'nuff said. My husband didn't even say anything when he saw it. He just started laughing.

His IMDB listing has very few credits. Sounds like your wife should proceed with caution.

"SOLD! Live Ten Year Longer written by 92 year old Dr. Clarence Agrees Ten Speed Press."

wha...?

I hope the good doctor lives those ten extra years or book sales will really suck.

[yeyeman9]

Hello, I sent a query to Eddi Kritzer Productions and today they accepted my request. They want to review my script but I just want to know if they are reliable? Are they to be trusted?

[dpaterso]

A Google search on Eddie Kritzer produced several links including this message thread on this very board:

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/...read.php?t=718

You have to make your own mind up.

And I know this is probably a stupid question, forgive me, but if you hadn't already checked this person or company was reliable, why'd you send a query?

-Derek
My Web Page - naked women, bestial sex, and whopping big lies.
They fight like tigers. There hasn't been a battle like this since Errol Flynn took on Basil Rathbone in Nottingham Castle.

[yeyeman9]

Originally Posted by dpaterso

A Google search on Eddie Kritzer produced several links including this message thread on this very board:

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/...read.php?t=718

You have to make your own mind up.

And I know this is probably a stupid question, forgive me, but if you hadn't already checked this person or company was reliable, why'd you send a query?

-Derek
My Web Page - naked women, bestial sex, and whopping big lies.
They fight like tigers. There hasn't been a battle like this since Errol Flynn took on Basil Rathbone in Nottingham Castle.

Thats a good question. But now that I queried I wanted to make sure they were reliable and from what I have seen, they really are.

Thanks a lot to both of you.

[yeyeman9]

I kept reading and apparently they aren't reliable at all...

[victoriastrauss]

Eddie Kritzer used to refer people to scam editing service Edit Ink. Later, he hooked up with scam agent/vanity publisher Martha Ivery. From what I can determine, he's a small-time TV and radio producer; he also does infomercials. I'm not aware he has any significant record of script sales, and I've never been able to find that he's sold a book manuscript.

- Victoria

[clockwork]

No idea.

But I found the same thread as dpat,

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/...read.php?t=718

and a homepage...

http://www.eddiekritzer.com/

His website ain't exactly flooring but that may not be fair. The previous AW thread is less promising though. Having said that, who knows? Hopefully someone else on the board will have better information for you.

Like an alien with a yokel, you're gonna have to do some probing...

[Isadoredog]

I had a very recent experience with Eddie Kritzer that left me stupefied.

After reading Eddie's website where he is actively soliciting TV scripts and without doing any research at all, (I have changed that for the better) I sent him two separate queries; one for each of my TV pilots. I mailed them USPS with SASES included.

Sunday night of the same week I sent the queries my cell phone rang at 7:30 p.m. It was a terrible connection but eventually I understood that it was Eddie Kritzer on the line. He called me on that Sunday night on my cell phone to lambaste my query letter! Huh? He told me a number of times that my query didn't "grab" him and although the show had a "cute little name" that wasn't worth anything.

He was so far afield with his comments about my query that I seriously wondered if he had read it. He ended the conversation, none too soon for me, by saying "We see things differently". He is right. We do.

He left a highly unprofessional taste in my mouth. However, he was the catalyst I needed to seriously research agencies and agents and that was Eddie's gift to me.

[victoriastrauss]

I've recently gotten several reports from writers who say that Eddit Kritzer called them and asked for an upfront fee to represent their book manuscripts.

His website lists projects he has supposedly sold--but two of the publishers he lists, Seven Locks Press and Blue Dolphin Press, are vanity publishers. Other references can't be checked out, or are very old. He touts his involvement in a project with Christina Aguilera, but the only references to him that can be found in connection with either her or the projects are at his website.

- Victoria

[BarbJ]

Originally Posted by Isadoredog

He left a highly unprofessional taste in my mouth. However, he was the catalyst I needed to seriously research agencies and agents and that was Eddie's gift to me.

Why would he call if was simply a pass? Sounds like a strange one and, I would suspect, an unprofitable one. However, in his own weird way, he's a do-gooder!

And welcome!

I received a call from Mr. Eddie Kritzer today stating that he was very interested in one of my scripts. He says he'll read it and if he does indeed like it he will take it on. He also says that if it sells he will of course get 15% of what the total is, which is all good. I would then be sent a contract to sign and return with a payment of six-hundred dollars... That's not good!! I checked him out and he is a ligitimate producer, and has been in the industry for some time. However, this really bugs me that he would ask for money up-front. Everyone knows you don't pay any monies up-front. I am torn because he does have some credentials. Should I just pass on this one since I do have other people who are interested in this script?

[Mac H.]

Originally Posted by dj68

I checked him out and he is a ligitimate producer, and has been in the industry for some time. However, this really bugs me that he would ask for money up-front. Everyone knows you don't pay any monies up-front. I am torn because he does have some credentials. Should I just pass on this one since I do have other people who are interested in this script?

Why are you torn?

He's been doing this for years.

1. He used to get kickbacks for referring people to the scam editing service 'EditInk'.

In 1998 the New York State Supreme Court ordered Edit Ink to pay an estimated $6 million in restitution to more than 3,600 authors, plus $500 for each deceptive act, plus $2 million in civil penalties, plus costs. They shut down.

That was the kind of service you would have gotten off him in 1998.

2. After that, he switched to getting kickbacks for referring people to Martha Ivery. You want proof that Martha was dodgy?
In November 2006, Martha Ivery was sentenced to 65 months in Federal prison for her scams !

That was the kind of service you would have gotten off him 5 years ago.

3. And now he's asking for $500 to read your script, while looking for a cheap room to live.
(Ref: http://207.5.19.9/boards/showpost.ph...23&postcount=2 )

What credentials does he have? He hasn't produced anything according to IMDB .. the closest was being an executive producer for 'Kids say the Darndest Things' almost a decade ago. Does that indicate the fire power required to get a new series or film off the ground?

Mac

[James D. Macdonald]

For more on Edit Ink, see Writer Beware.

Oh, I should have checked here before I queried him. Listen up folks! This man is NOT legit. Not only does he demand $600 upfront in reading fees by check and FedEx only, but he doesn't even read the material submitted with the query! He claims to be a "big time" TV producer, but he hasn't done anything notable since 1998. I contacted him on a whim, and he called me every day four days in a row over New Years weekend demanding his money, saying sexually innapropriate things over the phone to me, and every day we repeated the exact same conversation, he had no recollection of having called the previous day! I did some research, he was linked to Edit Ink and Martha Avery, which he did not deny, and I contacted someone he used to represent, who strongly recommended that I not get involved with him. He "sells" books to self publishing companies and vanity publishers and charges a lot for it. SKIP HIM! PLEASE!

Cody

[justintoxicated]

I just had a run with the guy and I fear a friend of mine has already been ripped by him. He talked fast but asked for $600 and 15% his stuff looks legit if you give the benefit of the doubt, so I called the writer's guild and they told me there was many complaints about the guy and seemed to know a bit about him. And honestly would the guy who produced Kids Say The Darndest Things legitimately be interested vile blue humor laden with jokes about mean things you can do to prostitutes? He was a very fast talker and claimed to have gone to Boston university and kept saying he was like me, and he seemed to know the area. I'm usually very skeptical but I knew optimism in this case was a bad idea.

[martian]

I sent Mr. Kritzer a brief overview of one of my screenplays. He replied, asked me for $600 and wasn't really concerned about the marketability of the script. If I was an agent, I wouldn't try to peddle a script to my mother unless it was tight and right. Mine are but, he doesn't know that. Proceed with caution when ANYBODY wants money and doesn't care about the quality of your work.

[robinsgd]

[quote=martian;2385255]I sent Mr. Kritzer a brief overview of one of my screenplays. He replied, asked me for $600.

Just a few minutes ago, I had an an informative experience with Eddie Kritzer. I sent him an email query on my novel Death Scourge plus the first five pages. Three minutes later, the phone rang. It was Eddie. "You've got a great idea here. I like it."

Needless to say, I was amazed. A lot of agents don't even reply to an equery or return a form rejection in your SASE, so why was he calling me? Red caution lights flashed.

He wanted $600 up front plus 15% if he put together a deal for it. "I'm not interested in paying $600 up front."

"You want me to work for free? Even Bill Cosby paid me up front."

"Literary agents don't charge fees up front."

"I'm not an agent. I just try to put together deals."

It went on like this for a bit. He dropped more names including Harrison Ford. I thought if he knows Harrison Ford, why's he interested in me.

The last thing he said was to try all the agents like ICM and Maass, then I could call him back.

Yeah, I will--just as soon as I want to throw away 600 bucks.

[raiboy]

I found this website after I looked up Eddie Kritzer. I sent him an e-query and he responded in less then two hours. So far that is the fastest response EVER. Then he called me and said he will send a contract and requested 15% (normal) and $600 in advance (WHAT!). P.S. Did I mention all he’s read was a query… My script and concept are good, but not good enough for anyone to want to work with me without reading it first. Plus, I will not pay for anyone to read my work unless they are proofing.

[hwdynamo]

I had my Eddie Kritzer experience earlier today. It was awful.

First off, his attitude varied between rude and just plain mean. He did not bother to remember my name, he didn't even introduce himself... I had to guess at who he was by the references he made to his "accomplishments," which I recognized from his website (Don't worry, I'm sure it was him, he responds to "Mr. Kritzer"). He actively insulted me, calling me "nobody" and saying that, without him, I was sure to fail in the film business. He simultaneously berated me for not believing enough in my script (I'm not sure how he reached that conclusion) and assured me that no one would care to read it anyway. When I asked why then he wanted to read it, he said that he didn't, and that he considered reading scripts a waste of time! Why, then, did he call me in the first place? More on that in a minute.

His sales pitch is smoke and mirrors at best. He relies mostly on throwing out impressive-sounding names that mean virtually nothing in regards to what you're trying to sell. I don't care if you know Magic Johnson. I don't care what Tom Cruise and Adam Sandler are doing (two names that he repeated ad nauseum despite the fact that he doesn't even claim to have contact with them... I'm still not sure what effect he wanted that particular name-dropping to have). Especially not with other peoples' scripts! What about my script? Again, a complete lack of concern... He didn't even remember which script query was mine, I had to quote the logline for him twice, and even then he dismissed it out of hand.

As if that were not enough, he demands a $600 advance against a 15% commission to sell my work. Even as a Hollywood neophyte I know enough to recognize shady deals when I see it. I pointed out to him that a cash advance from a writer to an agent is very atypical, and he insisted time and again that he was not an agent, rather that he just sold scripts. Correct me if I'm wrong, but a writer allowing another person to sell a script on their behalf in return for a percentage of the price paid for the script... That sounds like an agent to me. It is my belief that no matter what my script was, good or bad, he was interested only in that $600 and nothing else. For shame.

BEWARE: Eddie Kritzer is a fast-talking bully of a scam artist who tries to hook young and inexperienced writers through intimidation and confusion. Make no mistake, this is a predator of a very bad kind, and no one that you want to be involved with.

On the plus side, it did feel good to put on my no-nonsense face and slap the wrist of a minor Hollywood bad guy. So I guess that's a point in one win column, if not another.

[triceretops]

Just wow. Ruthless scumbags. After your heart and your coin.

Tri

[Rmerager]

I am aspiring writer and i have dealings with Eddie Kritzer. I have paid the commission money and he now is representing me with some of my work. All I can say at this point is I have no complaints about his abilities and attention to the project.

As with all new writers and others that seek representation, it is very difficult to get a rep in the first place and for a rep to outline his business with non standard applications is fine with me as long as the represented material gets to the intended parties.

With regards to my projects, he has done just that. The work he is representing got to all the intended people within two days and if the material is quality, it will speak for itself, then there will most likely be a sale.

Randy Merager

[victoriastrauss]

Randy, please check back in six months or so and let us know your feelings then.

- Victoria