Advice

Wow, so it’s definitely really weird for me to be writing one of these. For years, I’ve seen these blogs pop up in my inbox and read the stories of other writers having their breaks and successes and felt pretty detached from their experiences. Even though writing professionally was always my goal, every year that passed made it feel less likely that I would gain any traction. I’ve done a good chunk of the things that you’re supposed to do as an aspiring writer: wrote sketches in college and a...

Happy Saturday Stage 32! I hope you all had a beautiful and creative week. I was catching up on the trades this week (following the very sage wisdom of our founder and CEO Richard "RB" Botto: Always read the trades and know what is going on in the business of entertainment!) and I came across an article from Deadline Hollywood about Sofia Coppola's most recent movie On the Rocks.  17 years after her Oscar-nomination for Best Original Screenplay for Lost in Translation, Sofia Coppola joined f...

What are 17 actors (average age 62) supposed to do during a worldwide pandemic when staying at home is required or advised and film/TV production shuts down and then only partially resumes? Create their own content. Several years ago, Sandy Gulliver established a Facebook group for members to support each other and arrange social get-togethers by sharing information about their shows/films/events or those they wanted to attend. In the summer of 2020, Sandy arranged Zoom meetings so people cou...

Creatives are one group of people that make cities interesting. It’s their work output that generates interest and emotions and makes a place stand out from the rest. But which are the best locations for them? There are currently more than 4 million creative workers in the US, from artists, musicians and actors to architects, writers, and marketers, according to data from the US Census. A recent study from STORAGECafé, looked at the country’s top 100 biggest metros to identify the places where...

How to Create a Home VO Studio on a Budget - Sound like a professional in your first audition! In 2021 you Need a Voiceover Studio in Your Home Many voice actors I work with have been working from their homes for most if not their entire careers. However, there are a large number of actors in the major markets who didn’t need to take that step due to the nature of their work or their locations. Thanks to a pandemic that’s forced us all to stay home, a new normal is forming for ALL forms of vo...

It must be the storyteller in me, but I love endings and beginnings. December and January are my two favorite months of the year, in part because of the way they invite us to pause and reflect on where we’ve been and where we’re headed. I’m a planner and a goal-setter by nature and by practice, and I thought I’d share with you how I design my creative year by approaching it like a story. As I’m sure you’ve all discovered, there’s a long-standing divide in the writing world between those who wr...

The night before the winner of the 5th Annual Comedy Writing Contest was announced, I turned to my husband and said: “Do you think I’ll win?” He took a deep breath, looked at me with all the love in the world and said: “No.” Boy, did he feel like a jerk when I got the email. Like a lot of writers, it was a bit of a circuitous path for me to get here. I think it was 7th grade that I started to write my first novel. It was about a plucky thirteen-year-old girl who was pretty, but didn’t know it,...

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, Netflix recently released a video about the making of The Queen's Gambit. Since its release, The Queen's Gambit has been viewed by over 62 million people. Chess set sales have gone up 90% in the US with chess books sales rising a staggering 600% according to Variety since The Queen's Gambit came...

Happiest of New Years, Stage 32-ers! I hope you all are taking it easy after the holiday excitement, but I also hope you’ve set your sights on conquering your creative journey! Crawling. Striding. Dancing. However you find yourself in the New Year, I hope you’ve had quality time with loved ones, time to reflect on the past year, and found inspiration for how to move forward this year. Wait… how DO we move forward? The creative journey and the professional journey are not too dissimilar -...

Long-time Stage 32 member, blog contributor, webinar teacher, and international film & distribution aficionado, David Zannoni has series of exclusive Stage 32 blogs and vlogs to keep you up-to-date on the business of film across the globe. Today, David gives an overview of the entertainment business in 2020, and lets you know what you expect in 2021 in his exclusive Stage 32 vlog. You will learn about: How theaters and studios are dealing with pandemic movie theater closures The massive a...