Talk:Linda Seger

Sources

Seger is interviewed in the Journal of Screenwriting. Looks like a reliable source, but so far I haven't been able to view the article. Russ Woodroofe (talk) 14:35, 21 December 2019 (UTC)

• Another article, discussing New Zealand's efforts to expand its film industry, which apparently Seger played a role in. I can't view this one either. Russ Woodroofe (talk) 18:14, 21 December 2019 (UTC)

References

Value concerns

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_overkill#Notability_bomb

Sources, supposed to confirm her false claims, "works as a script consultant", "has a doctorate degree", effectively do the opposite.

A newspaper advertorial for her spiritual seminar contains: "a job she claims", "She also professes to have a ThD".

If the Journal of Screenwriting is considered a reliable source (it shouldn't be), then it can be used as a reference for an article "How self-proclaimed Hollywood gurus scammed the NZ government". From Wiki: A cargo cult is a belief system among members of a relatively undeveloped society in which adherents practice superstitious rituals hoping to bring modern goods supplied by a more technologically advanced society.

It's a historical outlook of NZFC falling prey to American scammers, by hiring McKee and Seger to teach a new breed of script editors in seminars. Socialist countries didn't have such scams, and lots of American scammers flocked there, when the curtain fell. Religious gurus, weight loss supplements sellers, and a few screenwriting gurus.

The interview by Batty disproves her claims, for which it is referenced as a proof:

- "The Th.D. was a more professional degree... I had this relationship with both my seminary and a professional theatre".

- "a job in the United States called a reader... When I read for HBO, if I recommended a script it would then go to the next person up, who was often called the story editor".

- "I put an ad in the Hollywood Reporter... I realized I was an entrepreneur".

- "One of my most famous clients was Peter Jackson, and I worked with him". "Braindead... In my notes..." "I met him but we never worked together".

- "I wanted to talk to the Writer's Guild about credit but they were not happy about anyone getting a script consultant credit".

- Batty: "I hope that this interview will therefore be useful for those researching the history and practice of script development and 'the script guru'".

Batty fooled Seger into confessing, what a scam she is. She never had a "script consultant" job, and such job doesn't even exist in Hollywood. She doesn't have a real doctorate degree. She didn't work with Peter Jackson. Funny, how in the interview she first claimed that she worked with him, and later that she didn't.

IMDB is a weak source for WGA credits, which Seger has none.

Not a single reliable source for the claims she and her Wikipedia article make to provide credibility for her scams. Ideaorigin (talk) 01:28, 30 December 2019 (UTC)

Ideaorigin, between here and the AfD, I'm concerned that you're tending towards WP:BLUDGEON. I don't completely disagree with your assessment that Seger's service has limited value. But the current statement from the article, "she also works as a script consultant, and has consulted on more than 80 produced films and television episodes", makes no such assessment of value. (Any such assessment would need to balance WP:RS and WP:DUE.) The citations certainly substantively talk about her and support the statements in the article. Russ Woodroofe (talk) 07:47, 30 December 2019 (UTC)

Sources prove these statements wrong, not support them.

• Source: I had a job called a reader.
• WP: works as a script consultant.

• Source: calls her work in a seminary and a small theatre a "ThD".
• WP: She went on to receive... Th.D in Drama and Theology.

• Advertorial source: 80 credits.
• IMDB source: 0 credits. Only WGA credits can be referenced: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_IMDb
• Seger's interview: companies don't give me credit, only individuals, because "sometimes there are political reasons, any number of reasons, why they may not be comfortable or able to give me a credit". WGA (that enforces writers credits) wouldn't support me, so I didn't even try. = 0 credits.

Ideaorigin (talk) 23:39, 31 December 2019 (UTC)

You're misreading the sources here: Seger had a job as a reader early in her career. That's not inconsistent with having a different job later on, which is well-supported by the Batty and other sources. Her ThD is supported by a publication from the institution under which she got the ThD (technically the ThD was issued by an affiliate umbrella organization).

For her number of produced scripts: the Colorado Springs Gazette is a Pulitzer prize-winning newspaper in a mid-sized town, and a reliable source (though WP:RS observes that human interest stories, possibly including this one, are subject to less rigorous fact-checking than some of the harder news). You dismiss the Gazette piece as an advertorial, but I see no signs of that; I do see some signs of fact-checking in it ("Seger claims"). IMDB supports a number on the same general order of magnitude, though not reliably. If you have constructive and shortly-expressed ideas for better supporting Seger's number of produced scripts, then I (and perhaps others) would listen with interest. Russ Woodroofe (talk) 12:12, 1 January 2020 (UTC)

At what company is her script consultant job? Sources say that at none. She is sitting at her Colorodo home, far away from LA, claiming to be a Hollywood script consultant. Batty writes: "you not only set up your own script consultancy business, but defined the term 'script consultant'". This means: she only claims to have this job, the term was coined by herself. Maybe you should read the article, before claiming that it states something, and that I lie? WP doesn't allow posting copyrighted content, but I can email you a scan.

"News reporting from less-established outlets is generally considered less reliable for statements of fact." "Editorial commentary, analysis and opinion pieces, whether written by the editors of the publication (editorials) or outside authors (op-eds) are reliable primary sources for statements attributed to that editor or author, but are rarely reliable for statements of fact."

And it is clearly an advertorial. Signs of such editing ("She claims") hints that an ad was edited. Number of credits could be non-edited, because the local newspaper has no policies about them, but WP is clear about it: only WGA credits count. Which makes sense, because Indie credits prove nothing. WGA is the only source for such credits. IMDB can be used as a source that lists them. To put it short: Seger has 0 "script consultant" credits.

Seger's credits are even listed in not the appropriate category: "The script department only includes production jobs - script related jobs for members of the screenwriting staff (like story editors) still belong to the writers list". Maybe this category is not moderated. Moderation of Indie submissions at all is non-existant. E.g., I can't remove my producer credit for a film that I cancelled myself. They don't even look at the reason for the edit - just decline. Adding to IMDB is easy, removing is not. Will probably have to pay an IMDB moderator - not a practice I'd like to support. On the other hand, I (or anybody else) could easily add myself any number of different credits. Or list $10m budgets for my films. Or for films that don't exist. For Indie titles IMDB checks nothing, at least for foreign. Ideaorigin (talk) 01:09, 2 January 2020 (UTC)

I found and read the Batty article (and also the NZ article), eventually. A consultant is usually a self-employed expert (or professed expert) that people can hire for advice or tasks. So, if Seger says she's a consultant on scripts, then she's a consultant on scripts. Saying she invented the category is probably slight puffery, and a good reason not to have that claim in the WP article (which it isn't); sources support notability of her script consultant practice. I'm comfortable with the sourcing of the article at this point, and concerns of experienced editors at the AfD have been addressed. Russ Woodroofe (talk) 10:46, 2 January 2020 (UTC)

What she does is called a script reader. She calls herself a script consultant (profession that doesn't exist) to fool people into paying 10 times the market rate. Some are outraged (expected some magic) and request refunds. Batty interview is clear about this. Yet you use it as a proof that she has a job of a script consultant. Plus fake doctorate degree and film credits. That source proves the opposite: 1. No script consultant job, ever. 2. No doctorate degree. 3. No WGA credits.

The only thing in the WP article, supported by the sources, is that she is an author of some books. Books that have zero mention in newspapers and magazines. Ideaorigin (talk) 22:36, 4 January 2020 (UTC)