Acting

We've all had experiences on set that weren't very pretty. Hell, I remember one time a few years back tripping down an entire flight of stairs on a commercial shoot with the DP's very expensive light in my hand. Can you believe I didn't break it? I didn't even break myself. I was a little bruised up, because I used the wall and my body weight to try and keep myself from sailing down head first at warp speed. I had no hands because I was protecting that light like it was my child.   Th...

Hello, Creative Army. A few weeks back, I hosted another content packed AMA (Ask Me Anything).  The members of the Stage 32 community who attended live brought their A-game.  We went for 2 plus hours and covered about 2 dozen questions on film, television and digital related subjects.  And now the entire show is available for you to watch On Demand.   Here's just some of what we discussed: - How to raise financing for features - How to find financiers - How to find finishing funds fo...

You've seen Richard "RB" Botto's free webinar, "Ask Me Anything," right? Sometimes he handles questions on his own and sometimes he teams up with Jason Mirch, Stage 32's Director or Script Services. In this clip from his FREE webinar, RB teams up with Them That Follow film producer, Bradley Gallo. (Bradley does a monthly vlog on Stage 32 called Dear Bradley. It's a must see!) In this short video, Bradley and RB answer the question: How Do You Get Yourself Out of a Creative Rut? Click the l...

One day during the summer after I walked my dogs for 3 miles to the ice cream stand (the walking part is crucial to justify the eating of ice cream), I dragged their tired little stump legs (they're dachshunds) up the ramp and proceeded to place my order: "Baby twist with chocolate sprinkles, please," I said. The nice lady on the other side of the window drew this on the order sheet: I figured she was outright ignoring me, daydreaming of an art class or something. But I continued with m...

You love being an artist. When you create, you feel at home in your own realm of imagination, fantasy, and storytelling. It feels meaningful and it feels right. At the same time, you don’t necessarily feel happy or fully satisfied with your career. You feel that your reality doesn’t quite match your dreams, and that’s a challenging place to be.   It’s hard to feel like you aren’t getting where you want to be in your career. You keep asking yourself why you’re so stuck. Did I make the wrong ch...

As human beings we all go through different and uniquely challenging phases in our lives. We learn how to express our happiness, how to deal with our pain, and how to move on from things that make us miserable. As artists, on top of the unending list of phases that we encounter, we face two more challenges: Getting work or not getting work. If you're working so much that you worry you might not even have time to spare at all, that's great. That's what we hope for as hungry, starving artists. How...

Let's rock and roll, Creative Army. We've been well overdue to get together live. I've got just the solution. Let's hang AMA (Ask Me Anything) style.   Since the last AMA in May, I've been running all over the globe fulfilling Stage 32 partnership responsibilities, conducting business, exploring creative writing/filming/producing opportunities, and mentoring in such places as Cannes, Budapest, Majorca, Paris, Dordogne, Trinidad and Tobago, London, Munich, Hamburg and, of course, right here i...

I have a secret to tell you. About two weeks after my pilot shoot, I wanted to give up. And not just for that day. For about 45 days after that. And then forever, really. I was tired, burned out, frustrated with a crew member, and suddenly completely unsure of why I had just invested thousands of dollars to do what I did. I wanted to give up. My other half told me what I was experiencing was natural and that before long, I would be back in the saddle. Turns out what he said is true. Becaus...

Fresh off the heels of our expanding partnerships with Cannes, Raindance, Hollyshorts, and AFM (more on that shortly) and our new partnerships with the Trinidad and Tobago Film Commission and the Hamburg Film Festival, we're proud to announce that we have now joined forces with the prestigious Austin Film Festival. For starters, we'll be screening our 4th Annual Short Film Program during the festival.  So far this program has screened at Hollyshorts, Raindance and now we're excited to bring it...

Greetings from London where we just finished our sold-out screening of our 4th Annual Film Program at the Raindance Film Festival.  It was fantastic to see so many of our educators and executives in attendance, at our afterparty, and during our meetings throughout the week.  We'll be sharing more here on the blog soon. Those of you who know me have heard me stress that too many creatives focus nearly exclusively on their craft.  They don't take the time to keep on top of what's happening in th...