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Good morning, everyone.  Greetings again from Chicago, where we have just finished work on Week 2 of filming RAIN BEAUS END.  The cast and crew (including over a dozen Stage 32 members) continues to bring their A-game.  I'll be posting some pictures and a summary of the filming here in the near future, but for now if you'd like to see some set photos and stories, you can check them out and follow me for Week 3 on Instagram here. Now let's roll with another edition of Coffee & Content. First...

The blog post that I'm about to share is from Homicide and The Wire creator, David Simon. Simon penned an incredibly eye-opening post that included his own story of how he was taken advantage of financially by an agent from the Creative Artists Agency's literary division with a product he was never even aware existed called "Packaging." It's a big, bad, buzz word right now for writers. If you know anything about David Simon, you know he was a newspaper writer and author first. And after spen...

I stood on the edge of a field at Houston’s George Bush Park, willing my legs to run. They refused. As best I could I scanned the short cut grass and saw no problems, but I knew I might have missed something, so I looked and looked and looked again. My wife, who drove me to the park, double checked for me. “All’s clear,” she said. “No obstacles.“ I nodded affirmation, but still couldn’t get my feet to propel me forward. In a few minutes, as we rehearsed for the commercial we would film...

In our next series post that follows a Stage 32 Screenwriter's Journey, we're following CJ Walley, an optioned screenwriter who is working with a production crew on his first feature script, 'Break Even,' which was written on assignment. You may remember CJ for his outspoken, yet truthful posts, including this one: How This Rejected Writer Optioned a Goddamned Feature Script. Over the next month or so, we'll be taking you along on CJ's journey, starting with his flight from England to Los Ange...

I've had the pleasure of working with Pete Goldfinger, one of the talented scribes behind the film JIGSAW of the SAW franchise (and many, many more studio and indie feature films and TV shows)! I was talking with him recently and he's embarking on an exciting journey as the writer/creator for a CW Seed show, which is a new frontier for him as a screenwriter/creator. The best part? He wanted to share his experience with the Stage 32 community. For those who may not know, the CW has expanded int...

Getting into the movie business can plunge you down an endless drain of self-doubt and feelings of worthlessness. At some point, you begin to wonder whether you’re behind the learning curve, missing something, or just plain dumb. Then there comes the complex, then another failure, and then the invisible curse that now seems to follow you around no matter what you do. They don’t call it the Midas touch in reverse for nothing. But enough of the pity party. The one thing I have always prided myself...

Good morning Stage 32! It’s Monday morning and time for another excited success story from one of our Stage 32 members. This week’s story comes from Danielle R. Erlich from Arizona who told us a fantastic story about how a Stage 32 pitch session with producer Miguel Valenti has the potential to turn into something much larger. “I only had 8 minutes, and he was my second professional pitch,” Danielle explained. “He was extremely friendly and just so happened to have started ASU’s film schoo...

Greetings from Chicago where we are now a third of the way through shooting Rain Beau's End, a feature film which has well over a dozen Stage 32 cast and crew in the mix.  Been a killer first week.  Hoping to share more with you soon.   But for now, let's roll with another edition of Coffee & Content. Our first video today comes from our friends at Film Courage and focuses on lessons that screenwriters should learn sooner than later. Next up, Whiplash has been lauded in indie filmmaking ci...

One of my favourite TV series is Mad Men. When Don Draper walks into a room with his ideas and visual pitches for a potential client, he does it impeccably, and with as few images and slogans as possible to sell the product. His theory has proof in the pudding: “You are the product. You feeling something, that’s what sells.” Which is precisely why we all are glued to our television screens during Super Bowl to watch the commercials that make us tear up or incite some other emotion within us....

Good morning Stage 32 Fam! Today is the big day! Birds are chirping! Bells are ringing! Someone is getting twirled in a park somewhere! And at Stage 32, we're excited to announce the winner of the Gidden Media & Stage 32 Romantic Comedy Contest!  We all love romantic comedies because they unlock the mysteries of relationships and help us settle the age old debate, "can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em." Our judges enjoyed reading the hundreds of entries from around the world. When super...