Byword Smith Stand-Up Comedy

A comedy routine by Byword Smith. Lots of laughs, never vulgar.

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deandrevidale.com
DC Area filmmaker, DeAndre’ Vidale wrote a blog post about Hopes and Schemes.
http://deandrevidale.com/2010/04/hopes-and-schemes-trailer-poster/

IMDB
The IMDB page for Hopes and Schemes.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1654737/

Open Indie
Request a screening of Hopes and Schemes!
http://openindie.com/films/hopes-and-schemes

Hopes And Schemes Trailer

Ever wanted to be something in life? A man gets caught up in a unique “business” opportunity that he hopes will help him reach his dream but ends up taking him further away.

Hopes and Schemes is a hilarious comedy about a bunch of misfits trying to amass great wealth through network marketing. Think Oceans Eleven meets Office Space. Think Seinfeld meets Superfly.

Hopes and Schemes is an episodic comedy web series. It’s first 3 episodes will appear as a short feature (17 minutes) at various film festivals and on various cable stations, to be determined.

This comedy is inspired by real life! Read about Byword’s involvement with a well-known network marketing company:

I recognize that I walk a fine line when I talk about PYRAMERICA because I have so many friends who are involved in it. I don’t want to lose friends but I hate to see them being taken advantage of. And I hate to see people who I’ve labeled “friend” steal and lie to others I know. That said, I do not minimize how PYRAMERICA has helped “some” people. I personally know someone that it has helped but given all of the evidence on the other side of the coin, I think that’s the least it should do for all the harm that it’s network marketing arm has done and continues to do to my community.

The fact is that the overwhelming majority of people do not need it, and do not use it. Almost 100% of the few people that do get it, cancel it shortly there after. The fact is that many of the people inside of the network marketing arm know this. The fact is, I’ve been in a room where a man, who has pro-ported himself to be a Christian, and who is currently lifted up in PYRAMERICA like a savior, has referred to the people who he is trying to bring into the business as “bastards”.

The fact is, PYRAMERICA asks for all of your time, energy, credit card numbers, and total devotion in exchange for a feeling of “hope”.

I was involved for 12 months. I’ve spent so much money traveling, going to seminars, buying books, tapes, dvds, business cards, flip charts, etc…one month I worked to “expose” (contact) 100 people about PYRAMERICA. After 12 months of rock-solid involvement, traveling across the country and trainings every week, I sold approximately 5 memberships (between $75 to $150) and recruited 4 people to join my “business”.

In the end, I probably earned around $500, of which were “advanced commissions”, meaning they are loans from the company to be paid back if a membership canceled.

This is a short summary of what I spent on PYRAMERICA over the course of 12 months.

• $249 Associate fee (1 time)
• $204 Membership fee ($17 x 12 months)
• $108 Identity theft shield ($9 x 12 months)
• $240 E-services package ($20 x 12 months)
• TOTAL: $759 (yearly minimum total for being “active”)

This is not including the cost of local and regional trainings (brainwashing sessions) that can range anywhere between $5 to $100, which would run about another $300.

• $300 for meetings (over 12 months)

Add in plane tickets ($600 total) and hotel fees ($600 total) to Nevada and Oklahoma for national “conferences” (called “big events”, $200 total), rental cars ($10 split among a group), gas (can’t even do the math this was so much from driving around people without cars), etc. and that was probably another $1500 right there.

• $1500 for conferences and travel (over 12 months)

Add in marketing supplies like tapes, books (propaganda) like “Help Me Help You ” and the “PYRAMERICA Story”, dvds, flip charts and business cards to pass to out and that’s another $100.

• $100 (over 12 months)

If you were really “serious” like me, you also signed up for the dvd auto-ship program that was “debuted”, which was $50 a month.

• $150 ($50 x 3 months)

Which leads me to an end of year cashflow statement of:

• $2809 (expenses)
• $500 (income)
• TOTAL: -$2309

That is the approximate amount of money I lost after 12 months with PYRAMERICA.

Yet that is not all I lost. I lost much of my self-respect and integrity while I was being trained to manipulate people into buying a service that they more than likely didn’t need. I sacrificed my dignity as I tried to get people to think that they were hopeless, and PYRAMERICA was the vehicle for their dreams. I also lost the respect of some friends because I called them for no other reason than to get them to “see the light” and buy into this scheme.

To top it off, here is the list of people I recruited to go into this enterprise of “unlimited income potential”:

• a young single mother
• a kid who just graduated high school
• a single father with 8 kids
• a neighborhood grandmother

I thought that since I had a college degree with a valuable skill-set, and was doing fairly well for myself, people “like me” would join, yet the majority of people that were attracted to the PYRAMERICA “opportunity” were in far far worse situations than myself.

With that said, I apologize for allowing the system of PYRAMERICA to use me to be so predatory. My intent with this message is to shed light on a problem that I believe to be prevalent in our community, and that problem is pyramid schemes.

My hope is that my experience can be used as a tool to help another person break-free from the mind manipulation and fraud that so abounds in the network marketing (mlm) community.

I have a comedy coming out called Hopes and Schemes, which is based upon the world of pyramid schemes, and my experience. Please let people know about it. Since the failure rate of pyramid schemes like network and multi-level-marketing companies such as PYRAMERICA, is an overwhelming 99% (which can be corroborated here, my assumption is that 99% of the people who’ve been involved with network marketing will, on some level, be able to relate to the Hopes and Schemes message.

• Hopes and Schemes

My experience was painful, and it has taken me years to get to the point of being able to talk about it but I hope that my transparency inspires others who can also relate to be just as transparent with their experiences, and then, ultimately help others walk away from the manipulation of network marketers, to a life more focused and appreciative on the “here and now”, then chasing after an imaginary “unlimited income” just over the horizon.

Cast

Crew

Hopes and Schemes Trailer

Ever wanted to be something in life? A man gets caught up in a unique “business” opportunity that he hopes will help him reach his dream but ends up taking him further away.

Going The Distance

Nothing has ever come easy for me. Not even being funny. Seriously. It’s hard. Crafting jokes is more work than talent! I go through this routine every time I put a bit together. Ironically, it always snows, even in the summer. Go figure.

The Network

Ever wonder why your calls keep dropping? It’s the Network!