Got a call from the same service, from someone named "Leslie Potemtium" saying she needed to talk to me personally about a program in preproduction hosted by Joan Lunden. She gave the number 561-826-0867, ext. 146.

Same story, call from (561)353-9068 xt. 128  (similar to numbers reported above).  Joan Lunden, John Francis, biographyws.com website.

Will report to www.ic3.gov.

Got same call from Bruce Bell.  Promising a biography with Joan Lunden segment.  No matter what I said to him I was still perfect for the segment   Hogh pressure sales tactics used.  Immediate time deadline. Need to make decision in five days etc. Asked for 32,900 for "preproduction " expenses. I have done TV before. Never been asked to foot the bill.very slick no performance bond in contract he immediately faxed Scam.  Scam.   Scam!

The funny thing is I was called from the same company from Boca Raton, Fl. with a different host (Hugh Downs) and I found this: http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-772-237-8518

Same scam, different host and different name of company.  It's funny too to see the first names of some of these so call producers with different last names.  Maybe they changed their personal names too!  If they were legit, why would they have to change their names, the company name, hosts, etc.!?!?  I never read anything good in all these blogs so I don't understand how they stay in business or how they are ALLOWED to stay in business.  Contact your local government agency and let them know about this new name (same old company) out of Boca Raton, Fl.

Got the same call on 29 July 2011
Also from Ethan - my office took the message
I recently opened a new medical practice in south florida
One issue - I had the same phone call about two years ago when I was practicing in Illinois
We did our due diligence and were unable to really validate any of the claims from the production company.

Got a phone call from Ethan Bock, Joan Lunden's producer for Biography.  He claimed to be producing a medical series involving a cardiac issue (atrial fibrillation) of which I am knowledgeable (I'm a Cardiac Electrophysiologist).  Same discussion about production costs (they would cover) and travel costs (mine)...$20,000.  I got off of the phone to "think about it".  The next day, it didn't feel right and I investigated...scam.  I called my local (Philadelphia) FBI field office to be a good citizen.  I was directed to www.ic3.gov (FBI site that accumulates such tips), the FTC and State Attorney General.  I posted this story on those sites.

He called today and I told him that I would be happy to participate in his show but that I would not be paying anybodys expenses..."this is public television"..."Yeah, so what?"..."its how it works.  We can fill your spot but know that you are very deserving".  I then directed him to the public relations dept at my hospital who gets a few of these/week.  He was not interested.  Finally, I told him that I Googled his project and that there are "a lot of bad reports out there"..."goodbye"...hung up.

When he called me his caller ID was "O".  The phone number he left was 561-353-9072, x240 or x640.

Hope this saves someone from being duped.

Rick

Got a call today from a Elizabeth, calling for the producer Bruce Bell. Call scheduled that I will not be taking. Number 561-353-9067 ext 219
I am so thankful to the people on this site reporting this scam, especially JJ.  mental healthcare specialist here!
STOP THESE FOLKS!

I received a call from Bruce Bell on my answersing machine telling me that he was working on an episode of Biography hosted by Joan Lunden for Public Television. He said time was critical andI should call him back right away at 561-353-9067 x143. Having recieved calls like this in the past I was skeptical and a bit of internet searching brought me here.

Looking at the website he mentioned in his message: www.biographyws.com I couldn't find any actual information on the company on the website. I also found the website had the addresses: www.biographypt.com and www.biographyps.com. I have posted this in the 561-826-0662 thread because no one has posted to 561-353-9067. I guess I will be the first.

was called the morning our new press release went out!  we are a new company-same thing, hosted by Joan London- Lisa Lewis was name of person who called me her-phone number was 561-353-9072 ext 250- RED FLAGS were: My incoming call came from "0" as the number on my caller ID-
told me to look at biographyws site, Looks ligit on my end, but my marketing girl tried to type it in and she got a log in page- hmmmm
they are due to call back today, I am going to let it go to VM, see if they try again- they also asked how quick I could move on being able to pay them 22,900-or 26,400 if they traveled to me.  
This is the second type call I have gotten since starting up the company -the first was with "The Balancing Act" don't know if that was real or not-didn't have any $ to give them-
Can't believe how many bad people are out there in the biz world!

Yeah that's a clever one - they speak quite convincingly.  I was sold, until the $$$ part. Everything you guys have said so far is spot-on.  Thank you internet and Google for protecting the folks who research.  Yeah the site they gave me was www.biographyws.com and the same username and password.
The names I was given were Carol Something and Jesse Grant.  

I guess this makes them some money since they keep the racket going.

number was 'unknown'

phone message left on voice mail july 16...Sat.  Who calls an ortho office on Sat to talk to dr?
Melissa at 561 826  0698 at ext 128 want me to call john francis about creating smiles for biography tv series with joan lunden.  thanks for saving me time and the grief of this scam.

Got the same call. Glad I researched - won't be calling back.

I received a call from a woman calling herself Carol O'neal. She was calling on behalf of Jesse Green who is the shows producer. I was told I would be on public television, and would receive 1 million views, they were partnered with Time magazine and I would have my information and "landing page" sent virally via the opt-in email list that they have. BiographyWS also stated that the show would be hosted by Joan Lunden, after visiting her personal website, it shows no affiliation with Biography WS.
The producer who I spoke with (for 40 minutes mind you) his "name" was Jesse Green. They claimed to have offices in Florida, about 1 hour from Miami. I found it odd that he wouldn't specify exactly what city or town their company was located in. I also found it quite disturbing that they called me from a private number.
Once he gave me the understanding that I would most likely be featured on the show (which was supposed to include the US dept of health and human services and several doctors), he told me I would need to provide some literature, as well as $16,900.00 to work with them. Once I heard this I almost laughed out loud. I've done a bunch of television, and radio, and I've never had to pay for a production fee for a series that runs on public television or any other station for that matter. Bottom line is, don't do it. DO NOT WORK WITH WWW.BIOGRAPHYWS.COM. I cannot validate whether or not they are scamming people, but I know that most television stations DO NOT CHARGE YOU TO PRODUCE THE SHOW!
I basically went through the same thing many of the other individuals went through, my first alarm went off when I realized they were quoting a press release sent several days before (at least I know it's working right? LOL). The phone number I was given to return the originally private call was 561-353-9068 ext 135

I received a call this morning (5:45am my time) and it went to voice mail. The call was from Randy Green on behalf of "producer" Linda Godfrey who wanted to do a piece on tourism/travel which is related to my business. The show was to be hosted by Joan Lunden. She left the number 561-353-9068 ext. 197. I am so glad I did a little research. I am so tired of scams, thank you all!

Received a voice message from Leslie Paris, claimed to be a television producer with the Biography Series hosted by Joan Lunden for public television. Person claimed to be working on a special series profiling top female CEOs and entrepreneurs across the country, wanted to obtain a commentary about the series. It is public record that the company I work for has a female CEO. Phone number given for a return call was 561-353-9068 ext 146.

Received a voicemail from Jessica Holman 561-826-0698 x111 representing Chris King for the Biography series. She said they're filming an educational program on municipal bonds and wanted to schedule a call, she also referred me to www.biographyws.com. I did not call back because 1) most pay-to-play "opportunities" are pitched like this; 2) we are not even in the business of municipal bonds!; and 3) I looked up the phone number and found this site. Thank you!

We received a call to our home number from a Tina.  Her tone was very agressive and wanted to speak with husband.  Used Joan Lunden as a hook for me to pass the message on.  The number was 561-826-0698  Ext. 295.   She refused to say who referred him.  I became suspcious based on the 8:10am call combined with her tone of voice.  I could not find anything related to this number and Tina Rodick affiliated with the Biography channel/Joan Lunden except this site.

I had the same experience as SLC.  Got a call from 'Randy', secretary to set up an appointment for a phone conversation with producer Linda Godfrey.  Got a call from Linda last night at 5:15 pm.  Talked for 20-30 min. about http://www.Biographyws.com. She guided me to a password protected information sheet  [go to the web site, click on 'Invite' link, userid: guest, password: invitation].  Then she explained about some of the videos and personalities on the site.  Claims to make videos for educational purposes with  distribution on MSNBC, PBS, WebMD, Time, Fortune, YouTube, and more.  They will send a video crew and film what we do at our work place, wanted a copy of my CV and other information.   At the last minute she mentioned that to sponsor the episodes on TV costs 210,000 which she would never ask me to pay.  However, she wanted me cover a mere $22,900 for some up front production costs and would like the money by Monday (within 4 days).  None of it made sense.  This is clearly a scam.  I'm glad that I investigated before talking further or sending any information about myself.

These folks must be really busy; I suppose they only have to hit on one or two "marks" to make a bit of money.  In our case, Randi Green left a message asking that I call Lorraine Mitchell at 561-826-0678 ext 224.  Today I received a call from Lorraine.  During our nearly 40 minute conversation, I was promised a spot on Biography hosted by Joan Lunden.  In exchange for an up-front "production fee" of $22,900 coupled with travel expenses of $3500, I would receive 3-5 minute spots for one year; a one minute "educational" commercial aired on CNBC and the History Channel; plus a "narrowcasting" promotion "laser targeted" a specific group.  All I had to do was make a decision in one week and I could look forward to a finished campaign in 90-120 days.  Whew!  She promised a lot more; but she was talking so quickly I couldn't get it all down.  I was referred to http://www.biographyws.com and given a user name and password for the Invite tab.  A little research reveals that the domain name is less than one month old.

I got a similar v-mail from "Stephanie" @ 561-826-0698.  she also referred me to www.biographyws.com.
when I tried to access the site, my company email had it blocked as potentially damaging.

lorraine mitchell, producer for a&e's "biography" series. 561-826-0662 x224
her researchers found vfp on the web (a minor miracle in itself)
she produces 3-5 minute shorts that run in the spots on pbs where a program ends before the hour and would like to work with us.
it's a $23,000 production fee.  here's some of what we'd get.  also, a $3,500 travel/expenses fee for a production team in the event they travel to us.
-- a bunch of airings on msnbc (don't remember how many, but a lot)
-- put on the front page of time.com's web site
-- email marketed to 1 million homes chosen for their likely interest
-- and a couple other things i didn't get down

she referred me to this web site: www.biographyws.com

Same as all the above. Got a call from Elizabeth Sands on behalf of producer Rob Masden for Biography. Did web search and none of the information could be confirmed or matched as indicated. Luckily , I did my homework so no money was lost. These folks are definitely involved in a scam. Beware!

What a scam...here's my call from Friday the 24th:

Melissa Richie in the research department for "Biography" called.  She said the producer of the show, Lorraine Mitchell, would like to do a phone interview with me on Monday morning at 10am.  She would like you to call her at that time, phone # 561-826-0662 ex.224.  If that time didn't work I could call and reschedule.

Our museum here received the same type of call on the answering machine yesterday when I wasn't here.  Only now the tactics have changed.  Instead of Melissa Ritchey, it's Randi Green.  And the last four digits of the number are now 0678.  I had the message written on a piece of paper and was just about ready to email it along as something important when the notion came to mind to look up the company on the internet as I hadn't caught the entire message from the machine.  Glad I did!

Just received a call from "Melissa Ritchey from the Research Dept. of a program on the Biography Channel hosted by Joan Lunden on behalf of their producer Lorraine Mitchell who would like me to call her immediately to ask some questions."  She gave the number 561-826-0662 ext. 224.  Like the reply before me, I will not be calling based on the info that others have posted.  Isn't the Internet great?  Thanks for your help!

The line goes dead as soon as I pick up.

Call from Leslie Powers, claiming to be from Biography. 561-826-0662 ext. 146.  Did not speak to her.  Went to voice mail.  Won't call back based on input above.  Thanks!

Received a phone call from Elizabeth Sands, Executive Assistant, on behalf of Rob Masden. Rob wanted to schedule a 15-20 minute "off the record" conversation for a Public Television program to be hosted by Joan Lunden.  For additional information, we were directed to the same web address as listed above:  www.biographyjl.com .  Also, Elizabeth's direct line is 561-826-0662 ext 219.

Same as above, except the call was from Carol Paul on behalf of the producer for Biography Series.  I've received numerous calls such as these over the years and they are normally "hosted" by near-dead television or political personalities, and as the first writer states, they ALWAYS want a lot of money to be on their "prime time" specials, which in my experience means early on Sunday morning cable.  Really hilarious.  Just say "no thanks, I'm not interested in Pay-per-View" and hang up!

Got a call from Stephanie Sands on behalf of Paul Dimick, the producer of the Biography Series for "Business In America."  Called to set up a 10 minute conference with CEO 'off the record about an uncoming program.'  She said for additional information, to go to www.BiographyJL.com, and her direct line was 561-826-0662 x245.