Latest Blogs

The credits of yet another franchise movie are rolling. After two hours in a dark theater, the final title card dissolves, and something odd occurs: nothing. You experience nothing. Not a letdown, not pleasure, not the ache that a strong film leaves behind. Only nothing. Before that absence can even become a thought, the platform has already queued the trailer for the next installment.It would be simple to take that as an attack on the people behind the movie, but it is not. I have never met any...

Hey everyone, Sam Rivera here, your Dev Services Coordinator. If you've been following The Industry Pulse, you know we're all about cutting through the noise to find the real signal. And right now, the signal is loud and clear: the traditional path to making movies isn't the only path anymore. I've been watching this wave build from my seat at Stage 32, where I work with writers and filmmakers every day who are trying to find their footing in a changing industry. What's happening right now isn...

When we start writing screenplays, it’s easy to become obsessed with the destination. The meeting. The manager. The producer who loves our script. The competition placement. The option. The words: “We want to make your film.” Those things are the dream. They’re the reason many of us keep putting ourselves through the strange combination of rejection, rewrites, self-doubt and ridiculous hours that comes with trying to build a career in film. But recently, I found myself asking a different q...

Happy Monday, Creative Community! Look at what this community just did together. Through the July Filmmakers Club, we shared our work, took on weekly challenges, learned directly from executives in AMAs, and celebrated each other's wins. Then all through August, we dug into crowdsourcing: how the biggest success stories of the year came from creatives who built their crowds first, and how a crowd that believes in you becomes the engine that carries your career. Two months of the same lesso...

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: Why Some Cheap Movies Look Expensive. Every filmmaker in this community has had the thought at some point: my film would look better if I had more money. Sometimes that is true....

Why Are We Still Making Film the Old Way? Let me start with a full disclosure. I work for a company that makes some of the products I’m mentioning here. I don’t want you to take that the wrong way. I’m still a filmmaker and actively use tools like these to produce content on literally a daily basis. But I know sometimes people get fussy, think I’m just promoting a product. In this case, that is true, but for all the right reasons. The Old Ways Are Dead I’ve been in the industry for over 30...

When planning an independent production, regional film incentives are frequently discussed as a cornerstone of the financial plan. However, the language surrounding these programs often obscures how they actually operate. In an ethical filmmaking ecosystem, an incentive is not an emotional tool used to accelerate a deal or create a false sense of security. It is a strict, rule-based government mechanism designed to stimulate regional job growth. To be ethical and transparent, a production mus...

In Hollywood today, everyone loves talking about how audiences have smartphones glued into their hands. Our big discourse is all about how the minute-to-minute attention span of the average modern filmgoer is a warzone in which our creative aspirations are pitted against every meme and TikTok video a user’s algorithm can throw at them. What if I told you that shrinking attention spans aren’t the reason people are so easily distracted in the movie theater? What if I told you that the problem is e...

Hi, Everyone! I'm Laura, the Marketing Coordinator here at Stage 32 supporting Development Services, which means my job is all about connecting this incredible global community of 1.5+ million creatives with the executives, services, contests, and opportunities that can move your careers forward.Before joining the Stage 32 team, I was Content Manager at FX Networks with The Walt Disney Company, where I supported the launches of new and returning shows including SHŌGUN and THE BEAR through webs...

You’ve got a script. You’ve got funding. Now you’re ready to start selecting locations. If this is your first time taking this step, here are some helpful tips to get you started. Assess your Needs If you have your production team in place including a location manager, cinematographer and production designer, these individuals should be (and will want to be) included in this step. However, if you are starting this process prior to securing a team (or if you have limited funds and are consolid...