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  • Report:  #731721

Complaint Review: Thia Montroy

Scams writers. Charges $150/hour, attaches herself to writers' work, promising to show scripts to producers, then drops writers once she has been paid. Los Angeles, California

  • Reported By:
    MK — Beverly Hills California United States of America
  • Submitted:
    Sat, May 21, 2011
  • Updated:
    Sun, August 16, 2015

Thia Montroy used to be at the top of her game as a film executive years ago.  She then dropped out of the industry after a tempestuous relationship with a drug addicted screenwriter.  She has now reentered the industry as a "script doctor/script consultant" whereby she scams young writers out of thousands of dollars and never follows through on her promises.  Her M.O. for getting a writer to work with her is to tell them that she usually only works with A list writers, but that they are so talented, so she will take them on.  She attaches herself to writers' work as a producer (even though she has no produced credits-- look her up on imdb), then charges $150/hour (asking to be paid upfront for X number of sessions) as she name drops and promises to get your work seen.  Once she has been paid, she starts canceling meeting, not returning phone calls, and being available only sporadically via email.  She is becoming known within the Hollywood community as a scammer of young wanna-be writers.  You can hear stories like this one throughout Los Angeles.  People who can barely afford her services have been conned out of thousands of dollars, and then left in the dust.

5 Updates & Rebuttals


Thia Montroy Osterberg

California,
USA

You, sir or madam, are a criminal.

#6REBUTTAL Individual responds

Sun, August 16, 2015

You, sir or madam, are a criminal.

Here are the reasons why:

In order to have the authority and knowledge to make the claims you have, you would have to be all of the following:

An experienced human resources professional with an expertise in the entertainment field.  One who has reviewed my employment history, my client list, and interviewed my clients.

An experienced mental health professional with an expertise in relationships within a professional setting.  One who has interviewed me. 

An experienced law enforcement professional with an expertise in determining M.O.’s. One who has interviewed my clients.

An experienced legal professional with expertise in the entertainment field who has researched attachment agreements on file with the appropriate guilds and determined whether there are any involving me.

An experienced anthropologist with an expertise in Hollywood, who regularly canvasses that ground, specifically researching writers who seek out consultants.  One who has interviewed my clients.

An experienced forensic accountant with an expertise in the entertainment field, who has reviewed my client list, interviewed my clients, and examined my financial records.

You are none of these.   You are a criminal.  You have committed crimes in this post, including making private information public and portraying me in a false light.

You are not an experienced human resources professional with an expertise in the entertainment field.  You are not qualified to evaluate careers.  As a private citizen making these claims, you make them without having reviewed my employment history.

You are not an experienced mental health professional with expertise in relationships in a professional setting.  As a private citizen making these statements, you make them without having interviewed me about my relationships, or their correlation with my professional life. 

You are not an experienced law enforcement professional.  You have no training or qualifications to determine or state whether a person has committed crimes or can be said to have an M.O.  As a private citizen making these claims, you make them without having interviewed my clients, and without personal knowledge of what has been said to my clients. 

You are not a legal professional with expertise in the entertainment field.  You are not qualified to make statements about attachments.  As a private citizen making these claims, you have not provided evidence.  Attachment is a legal relationship, and paperwork is required to be signed and then filed with the appropriate guilds.  You have not provided evidence of this paperwork, because I have not been attached to any clients’ work.  

You are not an experienced anthropologist.  You have no standing to define a community of writers.  You have not regularly, systematically, and professionally canvassed the community you reference. 

You are not a forensic accountant who can say whether or not people have been scammed out of any amount of money.  As a private citizen making these claims, you make them without having examined my financial records.

You have no personal knowledge of my availability to my clients.  As a private citizen making these claims, you make them without having interviewed my clients.

To summarize:

You have not interviewed me, or my clients.  You have not examined my financial records.  You have not determined what attachment paperwork exists that concerns me.  You have not defined or canvassed a Hollywood community of writers.   You have no personal knowledge of me or my business dealings.

You are a criminal who has engaged in a 100% false smear campaign, who has violated my rights, my well-being, my peace, and my right to privacy. 

Elsewhere on the internet you have accused me of additional criminal behavior, including drug abuse, and theft.  You have said that I trade sexual favors for career advancement, and have poor money management habits.   You are not in a position to make these claims.  You are not an experienced drug rehabilitation specialist, you are not an experienced law enforcement professional, you are not a sexual harassment lawyer, you are not a money management expert.   Your claims lack evidence, and are false.

If you want to hire any of the professionals listed above, I will make available all information necessary for them to evaluate your claims. 

A John Doe lawsuit was filed in 2012 to protect against the statute of limitations in defamation cases.

Your IP address was located.

Your identity is known.

A lawsuit against you has been filed.


NewYorkFilm

New York,
New York,
United States of America

This Complaint is Malicious and Dead Wrong

#6Consumer Comment

Mon, November 05, 2012

This complaint against Thia Montroy is a terrible injustice. I am a WGA writer and a DGA director, with 3 film credits and over 20 Best Film and other awards including a shortlist for the Oscars. I'm still early in my career, but have worked with Thia for over 5 years and have found her to be one of the most talented and professional people in the film industry. She is honest (painfully so at times), hard working and contrary to the idiotic complaint filed here, the best thing that could ever happen to a young writer that doesn't know what he is doing. The problem for the complainant is, he's obviously an unsuccessful writer who wants to blame someone else for his frustration. He isn't the first failed writer to try to blame the studios or producers or industry for his own inability to crack the code of screenwriting. It's a very very challenging craft. The TRUTH is, Thia is known to major studio producers as someone who has studied story down to the DNA of narrative structure and understands what is right and wrong in a script. She has spent years studying the craft in a way that only top writers have. I have recommended Thia to young working writers and producers in the industry and they have all been delighted with what they have learned with Thia. This complaint is a total injustice and an act of cowardly assassination against one of the most professional people I have met in Hollywood.


NewYork48

Granada Hills,
California,
United States of America

I Strongly Disagree with this Complaint- Thia is great.

#6Consumer Comment

Sun, January 29, 2012

I have had a completely opposite experience with Thia. I have personally worked with her several times. She is extremely talented and works hard with writers to improve their scripts and make them worthy of showing. Sometimes she has to work with them more than they may expect. She is also honest about what writers can hope for and what is unrealistic. Stubborn big-headed people need not bother. It is true that she is not as cheap as some broke writers would prefer, but if you pay in peanuts, you usually attract monkeys. She knows the science of script-writing better than most and has a very unique strategy and work process. Producers listen to her if she is in a room. I wouldn't be surprised if I saw her on Ted Talks one day.

The truth is, most writers are bad and their egos get bruised when their work is beyond repair and lash out, ie: post slime all over the web and place blame where it is not justified. Thia never guarantees the sale of a script... If you have a complaint about Thia, I would look in the mirror first, and decide whether you are being honest with yourself about the reality of your talent as a writer before you make such a huge effort to insult and criticize her. Slander is a crime, by the way.

Making sweeping statements and spreading rumors about her so-called dating life is totally tacky and completely disgusting. I can tell you, I know that your claims about why she dates certain men, is pretty much a guess. And a wrong one at that.

Enjoy your career as a halfway writer, and hopefully you can figure out a way to get your script made into an audio podcast or something. It's not very hard. Assuming you have all the right tools, of course. Like a Mac for starters.


Alex

United States of America

A huge misrepresentation- I had the complete opposite experience.

#6Consumer Comment

Wed, September 28, 2011

Hi. I'm Alex and I'm going to try and clear things up a little. I had worked with Thia in the past in a very intimate capacity when I was starting my writing career, and I couldn't have a more opposing view! While innocently attempting to secretly google Thia's name to see if I could harvest any information about what she might be up to these days, I came across this unfortunate and obviously emotional account of someone's experience. And, in sharing my own experience here, I'm happy to sacrifice that little piece of dignity that one loses when they are discovered googling someone. To that charge, I plead no contest.

I met Thia when I was writing my first 2 TV pilots in 2007- one a half hour comedy about a baseball team, and one a one hour episodic about a very young man being forced into being a single father. Thia was one of the first people I ever trusted to read what I wrote and to offer her advice, and I'm glad I did; while she had many notes/suggestions/edits on my Freshman efforts, she also inspired me like no one else had. Not just in the conventional way (I always had my mother to tell me how wonderful I was), but in a way that was more valuable- she helped identify specifically what was good about my writing and what I needed work on, and offered a unique perspective on my work that I could not have cultivated even in my most witty and feminine parts. Additionally, I found that the 6-8 months I worked with Thia gave me more Hollywood experience than watching all 28 seasons of Entourage- the only difference was that the Bentley-driving, assistant-firing characters in Thia's life were the ones that the show was actually based on. I'm no expert on Thia's career, but I know that she has worked in the offices of multiple heavy hitting H'wood producers, the head of the TV department for a major studio, and has been part of a writing team that put out some overwhelmingly successful films. Experience is something this woman is not short on.

Toward the end of our time working together, after months of hard work, Thia helped me secure a pitch meeting no pun intended for my baseball pilot with one of the producers of the movie, Fever Pitch. Something I would be incredibly nervous about doing now but, for some reason, felt perfectly prepared and excited for at the time. Thia's calm, cool guidance empowered me and made me feel like I belonged in that meeting, like I could really make something happen. It lasted around 45 minutes, went really well, but my pilot idea was ultimately passed on for one reason or another. Didn't matter to me though- for a young writer with big dreams and very little in the experience department, I was very lucky to have that one. Thanks, Thia.


Thia Montroy

United States of America

Happy to resolve your issue.

#6REBUTTAL Individual responds

Wed, July 20, 2011

Thank you for your review.  I understand youre upset; Im sorry your script didnt sell.  Please call me, I am happy to resolve this to your satisfaction.  Warm regards, Thia

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