Advice

Happy Sunday Creative Army! First of all, congratulations to all of you who have already participated in our monthly Introduce Yourself Weekend! Thousands of connections have been made between entertainment creatives and professionals from every corner of the globe. Whether you are a long-time member, or brand new to Stage 32, take a moment to pop over to the Introduce Yourself Lounge and say hello before the end of the weekend. Now, grab some fresh coffee and let's dive into this week's conte...

Well, hello, there! My name is Karen Ross, but please, call me Kay. I wanted to formally introduce myself: I am an actress, writer, producer, director, and all-around free spirit. I currently host a weekly event on Clubhouse called "The Victory Round" to help creatives build their confidence by celebrating their achievements, big or small. Among other many things, I love martial arts, instrumental film soundtracks, the Bard, tea time, and am deeply obsessed with trying new restaurants. I can’t w...

There is no Business like Show Business. And possibly that is true, as there is no place, other than politics, that a good or bad reputation can travel faster than a supersonic jet. You have to treat your reputation as your most prized possession in Hollywood. There seems to be a misunderstanding about what reputation truly means. A solid reputation is built on professionalism but even more so on how good a human being you are on a solid ground of authenticity and I, for one, quote more than...

Happy Thursday Stage 32! Our fearless leader and CEO, Richard "RB" Botto recently had the pleasure of being a guest on the Be Customer Led Podcast. In this exclusive podcast interview RB discusses How to Build a Community and Member Experience. Specifically, RB talks about his personal journey and experience founding Stage 32 and growing the community to over 800,000 members worldwide. Here is a sneak peek: “You have to inspire yourself every day. Even if you had a massively bad day be...

Hello, readers of Stage 32! My name is Tennyson E. Stead, I’ve been working in entertainment all my life, and I’ve written more than 50 screenplays - many of them as a ghostwriter, which means a vastly disproportionate portion of my writing is both paid and uncredited work. In fact, a huge number of my professional decisions have involved compromises that I think a lot of writers would balk at, and certainly I’m constantly making decisions that draw rigorous, interrogative concern from my collea...

Many writers want to know how long their scripts should be. And the answer is almost always, “Shorter than you think.” This is especially true, dear creatives, as we start out our careers. The other day on Instagram, writer/actor Shawn Parikh laid to rest the excuse “but Aaron Sorkin gets to do it” – namely, write massively long scripts – by reminding us, gently, that we are not Aaron Sorkin. For us mere mortals, 90-110 pages will do just fine. But why is this the case? Why can’t we push to...

Happy Sunday Creative Army! Have you had a creative weekend so far? I have some content here for you that is sure to get the creative juices flowing, so grab your coffee and let's dive in. First up, Stream Wars has put together a great behind the scenes look at the making of Paramount's new film The Lost City. This video features interviews with stars Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe and filmmakers Aaron & Adam Nee.  Next up, Lessons from a Screenplay takes a dive into the...

No matter where you are based as an actor, given the state of the industry the past two years you have undoubtedly submitted a self tape audition (or 1,000). If you're based in LA or NYC, before COVID you may have only occasionally been required to self-tape, and when that happened, perhaps you used your cell phone or went to a buddy’s house to have them tape you. I, on the other hand, am based in Atlanta. And in addition to being a full-time actor for almost 20 years, I have co-owned a taping...

For the last few years, I have been working on my screenplay, THE POSTCARD. It is based on the true story of my Great Grandparents and all I wanted to do was write a little thing about their story, that wouldn't take too long, I thought around a 20/30 minute short... Two years later, I'm still writing it.   The postcard my Great Grandfather Harry sent to my Great Grandmother Rebecca from the Titanic in 1912.   I was doing okay, but as I was writing it, I found that if I was going to...

We prep. We plan. We come up with moments before, inner dialogue, the character back history and emotional ties. We’re off book, the pitch deck is set, and then…wait, what!? Plot twist. Something interesting happens the moment we step into the audition room, or the camera hits record. Any of our prep or scene-work often times goes out the window and fear sets in. Instead of letting anxiety get the best of the opportunity at hand, or what could happen into the future — which is the cause of anx...