When: Late March thru Present 2022 Two days ago, my company, Storylines Entertainment, fired Myron for non-performance and poor execution of marketing and promotional activities agreed between us. He reacted by sending out a series of emails to a wide range of studios and radio stations stating that I was a fraud. I am not a fraud. I am a writer, owner of an Irish publishing co, and a sometimes filmmaker. Ask anyone: those I know in the film production or publishing arena, or my neighbours and friends - I've always been honest in my business dealings. I’ve been in business for almost 40 years and have owned a variety of successful businesses. In all cases, and over the years, I’ve learned to under-promise and over-deliver. Myron, on the other hand, over-promises and under-delivers. It was for this reason that I finally fired him, having given him many chances to prove his value, which he never did.
On 28 April 22, Myron promised to send out a hardcopy of my book, Always Come Home (which I had given to him), together with 25 pages of a TV pilot script he said he would write (he never finished and what he wrote was terrible and unprofessional - so much so that I, as the copyright holder - rejected it) to a variety of personalities including Bill Cosby, James Earl Jones, Ron Howard and Oprah Winfrey. He stated categorically that these were personal friends. It turns out they weren't and he never submitted even the book to them. Nor did he have me interviewed on CBS Cleveland OH, or run a series of book-related commercials, or stream commercials on Hulu, as he promised.
What he did do was personally threaten me and my company (he actually wrote that he would write the US Ambassador to Ireland about me). He stated that he would hack into my website, www.tomrichards.ie, destroying it. as well as my Facebook page. He also stated that he would communicate to 1 Million people worldwide that I was a fraud as well as incompetent , sending emails to even Hollywood producers. The headline to his email reads: IN MY OPINION AUTHOR TOM RICHARDS SCAMMED ME OUT OF $14,234 AND TO ME HE IS A FRAUD. THIS EMAIL WILL BE SENT OUT TO ONE MILLION PEOPLE WORLDWIDE (Tom has a copy of the entire email on file if you require it as proof of his threat). I'm not sure if he carried out his threat in full, but I suspect he did. I also received a message from his wife, Rockie, stating that Myron had paid $20K out of his own pocket on my behalf for items she did not specify. Apparently, they want this back too. With this emotional blackmail, Myron is attempting to leverage out of me the cash he mentions above, which I don't owe him.
Myron wants me to pay an additional $14,234 for work he has never completed, nor ever will because I've fired him, as is my right due to non-performance. I've paid him some moneys, based on his original budget. With those funds, he executed a few of his recommendations we agreed on. They include only the following items:1. ML Ruscsak interview with Tom Richards $2000 2. Vivian L Sharp Interview with Tom Richards 6-05-22 ($500) 2:30 pm EST 30 minutes 3. B-Fly Facebook Live Interview with Tom Richards 6-09-22 7 pm EST ($1500) 30 minutes
4. Vivian L Sharp No 2 Interview ($1650) Total invested with Myron: $5650.00
However, I've actually paid Myron the following:
$ 811.00
3450.00
3599.00
1650.00
Total: 9510
Therefore, Myron owes me the difference between what I paid him and what he actually executed: $9510 – 5650 = $3860
A FINAL WARNING TO PEOPLE READING THIS: In short, I did not think that Myron was a fraud when I first hired him. But I refuse to engage again with his childish and dangerous behaviour, nor ever again want him to threaten me (I have a string of ranting threats from him via WhatsApp, which he continues to deliver. I've saved these to a secure file if you require them). I was warned before I hired him by a close personal friend in the entertainment business that Myron was a fraud – and I refused to believe it. However, in hindsight, I wonder if this close friend of mine was right. Myron continues to advertise his wares on his website and via Facebook and Messenger. While Myron does execute some of his agreed recommendations, he fails to mention that he charges above and beyond the actual agreed budget for additional fees and markups related to TV Pilot Script creation, the shooting of those scripts, excessive markups on Interviews, and the use of entertainment lawyers to access Film and TV producers (which he states cost an excessive amount of daily fees), which Myron always fails to mention. The above excessive charges are literally thousand and thousands of dollars, which I refused to pay.
In conclusion, I fired Myron A. Grace for his lack of performance, and poor execution for much of what he tried to deliver. That said, what he did deliver was professional and worked well to promote my books.
Desired outcome: No apology necessary. I would like the return of the cash Myron took, mentioned above. The difference between what I paid him and what he actually delivered based on agreed budgets: $3,860.00