Latest Blogs

Happy Sunday, Creative Army! I hope your weekend has been a creative one so far. Whether you have been writing, filming, editing, or sketching out the next spark of an idea, I have something today that will give you a boost. So grab your coffee, and let’s dive in. This week’s featured video comes from StudioBinder- How Back to the Future Uses Perfect Blocking to Tell the Story. If you have ever wondered why Back to the Future feels so alive, this video pulls back the curtain. It walks thr...

Animation is one of the few genres that has continued since the 2020 pandemic in a relatively unharmed way. The fact that animation can to a large extent be produced entirely remotely, put it in the spotlight of the film and television production community when the world came to a halt during the first months of the pandemic. The ability to produce animation remotely, in combination with the availability of cross-border high-quality animation and talent, production incentives, and lower costs,...

I am excited to announce a new partnership that continues Stage 32’s expansion throughout Mexico and Latin America. Stage 32 Certification has entered into a strategic collaboration with CANACINE Querétaro and La Cofradía to bring internationally recognized training and certification opportunities to the filmmaking community of Querétaro. CANACINE Queretaro is the local delegation for the state of Queretaro of Mexico’s national film chamber, while La Cofradia is Queretaro’s filmmakers’ guild...

I worked out that Cannes 2026 was my 7th Cannes. My third in a row in my role as an agent, and then a bunch of times I went 20 years ago, when the Carlton was draped in banners, when I stayed on a yacht, did the MTV party, the Soho House party in the Castle, got in the Daily Mail for ending up in the pool at a villa party (buy me a drink and I’ll give you the column inches..) and much more. Those were the splashy days of Cannes, quite literally! The festival has changed and evolved, but the e...

There is a conversation we keep having at the wrong altitude. We talk about transmedia as if the challenge is logistical: how many platforms, how tight the canon, how deep the bible. We treat it as an engineering problem. But beneath all the architecture, there is a question we almost never ask. What happens to a story when it is no longer allowed to end?   Not postponed. Not sequelized. Structurally, commercially, philosophically preve...

How I Financed, Produced, Finished, and Delivered a Feature Film to the Global Marketplace in Just 210 Days Seven months ago, Key of Bones: Curse of the Ghost Pirate existed only as a screenplay. Two hundred and ten days later, it screened in Cannes. Whenever I say that, I think it's important to explain exactly what I mean. The film was not an Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival. Those films are selected by the festival itself and compete within the festival's official program...

It’s never been more fun to be a part of the Stage 32 Writers’ Room! Our first round of CHALLENGERS took their concepts (started from Part 1) and broke story on them as part of the Coverage Report (exclusive for Writers’ Room Members). While the Coverage Report was started as a guided script exchange, for the Vertical Challenge, we made it more into a development session, just like a real Writers’ Room! If you’d like to join the next round of Writers’ Room Challengers AND enter to win a 1-on-1...

Happy Sunday, Creative Army! Let’s kick things off with a huge shoutout to everyone who has already jumped into this month’s Introduce Yourself Weekend. Thousands of creatives from around the world are connecting, sharing their stories, and building relationships that can lead to collaborations, opportunities, and lifelong friendships. If you haven’t made your introduction yet, you still have time. Head over to the Introduce Yourself Lounge before the weekend wraps. Be bold. Introduce yourse...

Documentaries have been produced since 1922. They were always considered the educational part of moviemaking; not entertainment. That has all changed. We are in the Golden Age of Documentaries. Prominent directors are using the documentary format to tell their stories. My documentary "Homecoming: Veterans, Wives, Mothers" joined the ranks for consideration for the “Outstanding Short Form Non-Fiction” Daytime Emmy Award in 2021. I need to say this format is one I use when I think a topic merits...

This year, I watched Cannes from my desk in Australia. While my colleagues were on the Croisette, I was refreshing updates, squinting at photos on someone’s Instagram story, and listening to voice notes from people who were three rosés deep on a terrace and absolutely thriving. If you have ever experienced the very specific ache of watching your entire community have the time of their lives in the South of France while you sit at home in a different time zone, you know exactly the flavour o...