Reading material

Posted by Victoria Strauss

https://writerbeware.blog/2026/03/20/the-two-faces-of-woodside-motion-co/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-two-faces-of-woodside-motion-co

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Last spring, I began hearing from writers who’d received the email below. (Note the phrase I’ve highlighted; you will see it again.)

Judging by the number of reports I received, as well as this lengthy Facebook discussion thread (which includes responses from Woodside), a lot of these emails were going out.

Emails received later in the summer looked a bit different. References to “proof of concept” and “visual representation” were gone, and, contrary to the first email’s caution that “this isn’t a submission to studios just yet”, Woodside now indicated that its interest was in finding books to present to “our network of producers and investors.”

In this one, received in November, the pitch is more elaborate, but also more vague, with the possibility of presentation to “real decision-makers” hedged about with disclaimers. Other than the non-obligatory review mentioned in paragraph four, it’s not really clear what’s actually on offer here.

What’s the deal? the writers who shared these emails with me wondered. Who was Woodside Motion? What kind of service or partnership, exactly, was it extending? And why?

Who is Woodside Motion?

Operating out of a residential building in Queens, New York, Woodside Motion is a relatively new venture, with a New York business registration filed on March 31, 2025. Here’s how it described itself when I contacted it with a list of questions.

Woodside Motion is a development-stage production company based in New York that focuses on visual storytelling initiatives, including short-form narrative projects and early-stage exploration of literary properties that may have adaptation potential. As a newer studio, we place a strong emphasis on maintaining transparent practices and clearly communicating the scope of our work with authors, collaborators, and industry professionals.

Woodside’s short-form videos, most of which focus on personal life stories or accomplishments, can be viewed on its YouTube channel. I’ve watched several of them, and they are professionally filmed and produced. You can also view many behind-the-scenes images and videos from photoshoots on Woodside’s social media channels and on the visual portfolio on its website.

Woodside’s website also offers photos and short bios of some of its team members (multiple others, whose names I’ve seen on emails like the ones above, are not included). Given how often the companies I investigate feature fake or AI-created staff, I always do reverse image and other searches. But I was able to verify the reality of most of the pictured staff, and the credentials of the videographers seem to be appropriate to their titles.

In other words, Woodside Motion appears to be a genuine video production business that employs qualified videographers and produces a professional product (though no doubt at considerable cost). How does that relate to the extensive book-to-film solicitation campaign described above, given that video services don’t seem to be on offer?

Or are they?

A Different Kind of Video: Apex Media Global

Writers who respond to Woodside Motion’s emails are asked to share information about their books, after which some are offered shopping agreements (I say “some” because I’ve heard from one writer whose application was rejected). A shopping agreement allows a producer to represent a project to production companies or other potential buyers for a limited period of time, with the goal of selling or optioning it; unlike the more traditional option agreement, the producer doesn’t pay a fee but also doesn’t acquire any rights in the project.

What are Woodside’s credentials for providing such a service? It isn’t clear. The Woodside website provides no success stories or client list, and the brief staff bios are vague about industry connections. For example, Executive Producer Scott Moseley’s bio offers no specifics about his producing history; the bulk of it is devoted to his real estate and business experience, and though I did find a profile for a Scott Moseley on IMDb, he’s described as a composer, not a producer. Similarly, screenwriter Maria Daniela Schleiwet’s bio doesn’t mention any films she’s written for. I found no IMDb listing for her, and the only internet references to her come from the Woodside website.

When I asked about credentials and track record, Woodside indicated that several properties were currently under review but couldn’t be revealed due to confidentiality concerns–which seems fair–but didn’t respond to my question about what qualifies the company to do this kind of work.

Woodside’s shopping agreement (an example can be seen here) is good for one year, and does not require any upfront costs or fees from the author. There’s a helpful roadmap to lay out the shopping process, which extends over four quarters and begins “by reviewing your submitted materials: writer’s resume, manuscript/screenplay, and Proof of Concept (POC).”

Remember I said you’d see that term again?

What’s a Proof of Concept? In the movie business, it’s a short film or video that showcases the concept or story or tone of the project, with the goal of demonstrating to producers and investors what a film might look like and why it’s worth making.

Most writers, of course, are not going to have one of these just lying around–a fact acknowledged by one of Woodside’s Content Managers in correspondence with a prospective client. Not to worry, though: “In situations like this, we typically refer authors to a trusted creative team that specializes in producing cinematic teasers and visual presentations specifically tailored for book-to-film adaptations.” This referral is carefully framed as optional: only if the writer wants or needs it. But the POC itself is presented as an essential component of the process…and not only will most authors not have one to hand, they won’t have any idea where to go to get one. Woodside may lose potential clients at this point. But many others will sign on.

The “trusted creative team” turns out to be a company called Apex Media Global, which describes itself as “a production studio that combines creativity with corporate polish to bring your ideas to life.” Although it has a New York City address, Apex’s X account is posting from the Phlippines:

Here’s one of Apex’s POC service agreements; the author who signed it paid $3,000. A comment from another author suggests that costs could be higher (the comment can be seen at the very bottom of this article):

The author below seems to have been quoted a even higher figure (this is from the Facebook discussion thread mentioned above). Again, the author’s understanding is that they could supply their own POC–but that option comes with a caveat: whatever they turned in wouldn’t necessarily meet Woodside’s standards.

More than a hundred Proof of Concept videos are available on Apex’s YouTube channel. Most are for novels, but there are also a number for books that are unlikely film prospects (memoirs, self-help, children’s picture books).

I’ve watched a bunch of them (the things I do for Writer Beware!) and unlike the life story films produced by Woodside Motion, they are…not good. All seem to follow the same basic template (a flat re-hash of the plot or premise broken into segments by portentous “What if…?” or or “How can…? or “What happens when…?” questions rendered in text on static screens, like the title cards in silent films) and appear to heavily rely on gen AI (the voiceover narration seems to be entirely artificial, as are many of the images). There’s not always careful attention to continuity (protagonists represented by non-matching visuals, for example), the plot summaries don’t always make total sense (wait, who’s that character mentioned for the first time three-quarters of the way through?), and I found several instances where images were used in more than one video.

Most of the videos are under three minutes but feel much longer. They are, in a word, boring. Assuming these things actually get in front of producers, I can’t imagine them being impressed by such mediocre efforts. Which raises a question: why has Woodside chosen Apex to provide this service?

Here’s what Woodside replied when I asked about its relationship to Apex.

Regarding your inquiry on Apex Media Global, it is an independent media company separate from Woodside Motion. You may reach out to them directly. Authors who wish to develop optional materials, such as proof-of-concept videos, may work with any media company of their choosing. Woodside Motion does not require authors to use any vendor, and adaptation discussions are not conditioned on purchasing services.

As I was able to confirm, all of this is literally true. However, it leaves out some essential information.

Per a declaration made last month as part of a lawsuit, Woodside Motion is owned by Gabriel Ruiz of Cebu City, Philppines. Ruiz also owns a company called The Creative Portal LLC.

Woodside Motion and Creative Portal are separately registered businesses in the state of New York, with separate addresses and tax IDs. Creative Portal was initially registered on March 31, 2023, but on June 24, 2025, just three months after the establishment of Woodside Motion, it registered an assumed business name (an assumed business name is a name used by a company in lieu of its legal name, aka a dba). Guess what that name is?

In other words, Woodside Motion is referring writers for expensive videos to a company that, while indeed a separate entity in business and tax terms, is under common ownership. And it does not necessarily disclose that relationship to the writers it sends Apex’s way…an omission that doesn’t seem accidental, given that it also didn’t disclose it to me when I asked. At the very least, this isn’t a good fit with Woodside’s claimed commitment to transparent practices.

Woodside isn’t just recommending Apex for video creation, either. I’ve gotten reports of referrals there for the creation of screenplays, at a cost of as much as $15,000. Apex also does author interviews, which I doubt are free of charge; multiple authors who purchased Apex POC videos also have Apex interview videos (I was able to confirm that one of those authors is a Woodside client, and I suspect the others are as well).

The Last Word

So for all the writers who’ve gotten emails from Woodside Motion and have been wondering what’s going on…that’s what’s going on. Yet another iteration of the Hollywood pipe dream, peddled by two apparently independent companies that are in fact connected by a single owner and a network of referrals. And money made along the way.

I do appreciate Woodside’s willingness to answer most of my questions, so I thought I’d close with its final comment to me, which begins with a compliment and ends with…well, you be the judge.

We respect the work of Writer Beware in promoting transparency and trust that the same professionalism and fairness will be applied when discussing development-stage companies such as Woodside Motion. As a legitimate production company, we expect any published information to reflect accurate context and avoid statements that could be misleading or damaging to the company’s reputation. Woodside Motion maintains legal counsel and reserves the right to respond appropriately to any inaccurate or defamatory statements.

The post The Two Faces of Woodside Motion Co. appeared first on Writer Beware.

https://writerbeware.blog/2026/03/20/the-two-faces-of-woodside-motion-co/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-two-faces-of-woodside-motion-co

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