Let’s be honest, LENA BANKS (who willingly addresses herself as “the ### with the red pen”) is a scam artist. That is her real website too. She is a lady on a mission, a mission for money. But you can’t really blame her for that alone. What she claims to be able to do is take you from basic writing skills (screen plays) to a Great script writer.
Before I send one of my screenplays to a big wig in Hollywood, I wanted to make sure that it all made sense to an outsider. I came across her ad one day and said why not. I called her up and first thing she did was start her sales pitch. Clearly should have been the cue to bow out gracefully.
She had such a pleasantness about her (voice) and was reassuring she could definitely help me. The name dropping she did was perfectly spaced about her sales script. She couldn’t wait to read my script and have it approved to go to a big studio. Guaranteed to inspect every inch of my writing to make sure it was Hollywood ready. Any changes would be made with both of us on the same page.
Like a fool I sent my screenplay and my money ($150). Was told it would be about 2 weeks before a edited version would be seen. After 3 weeks, I finally got my response. I should say I got my lack of response back. The only thing she did was correct some technical issues and formatting. Best part is that she missed majority of my typos. Guess the fine toothed comb she promised to use was more of a baby brush.
Come to find out from another script consultant, that all of her technical and formatting issues she “fixed” needed to be fixed back into working order again. Her service was a total waste of time and money. She took my money and basically took that lovely red pen of her’s to my script to doodle on.
She even tried to convince me to send it sooner than later because she had “limited” amount of scripts she could take on at once. Her sales pitch worked. Don’t get sucked into her limited amount crap. Salesmen are all the same, want the money and only the money.
Lena Banks is a complete scam. Basically, she's a failed actress who's only done background work. She claims to have been mentored by Aaron Spelling, but that's just another one of her lies.She may have worked for him briefly, 20 years ago or so, but according to someone I spoke with who actually was mentored by Spelling, she was never one of his rising stars. She now runs her scam script consulting service which just serves to feed her ego and pay her rent. She's not an approved reader for every studio in town. She doesn't have high-level connections all over town. She's running a meetup group called Think Tank Ink which is also just some crazy ego booster for her. She tells people that she's going to teach them how to write and what to write so a studio will buy your work.Then she tells people that she's their manager. Then she says she's their writing partner. All of that is unethical. You can't be accepting money from someone you're allegedly training, and also serving as their manager, and at the same time declaring yourself their writing partner. It's just a money grab on her part. She's a hack and a fraud and a liar. Stay Away! Unless you're a self-destructive person who wants to spin their wheels and waste time.
I wanted to address the concerns the person cited, but since they didn't put their name its not possible. Why didn't they leave their name? They didn't leave their name because what they wrote is just nonsense. I'm Lena Banks - and surely as I do with all my writing clients if they had concerns, like a professional and serious writer would do, they certainly should have come to me to discuss it - I would have gladly given like I always do, more than they paid for. I always over deliver. I'm neither a hack, nor a fraud, or a liar. If you were to inquire, by simply contacting me you'd find that out for yourself. Don't let someone else ruin your chances of getting the help you need in your dream of becoming a professional scriptwriter. Don't let someone like the person who made up the nonsense above, someone who would rather blame someone else for their own shortcomings, convince you of some wrong doing. I give more free mentoring hours than anyone else in Hollywood and offer private mentoring at a very reasonable cost. I have years in Hollywood and I've learned and adapted and put in hard work. Do you think the person who wrote this is a professional? Someone who has years in Hollywood? Someone who has a reputation? Someone who will ever sell a screenplay? Nope, they won't. A professional would never write such nonsense. Why would you listen to someone like that? I over deliver and help more people than I can count. Don't give up your dream. Keep writing, get better and better - wishing you great success, Lena Banks