Advice

Good morning Stage 32 Creative Crew! I hope you had an inspired weekend full of creative endeavors and ambitious pursuits. It has been a bust month of August for the team over at Stage 32. Not only were we able to surprise Stage 32 member Martin Reese a $5,000 option agreement after his script THE EYE OF OWUO won the Microbudget Horror Screenwriting Competition, we also launch two brand new competitions - The Diverse Voices Springboard Screenwriting Contest and The Search for New Voices in Anima...

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, the folks over at Indy Mogul recently sat down with television production designer Ian Phillips (Parks and Recreation, The Good Place, Love) to talk about the role production design plays in telling a scripted story. Using examples from Ian's previous shows, he discusses multiple facets of how ch...

Like many of you, theirs been many days where I’d stare off into space wondering when I’d hear good news. I realized that I had two choices, bury my head and soak in the stress and weight of negativity or preoccupy myself by driving my kids insane, singing, dancing, or playing board games. So, I created other choices, flip a couple of houses, and redesign my entire first floor. New boxes showed up on my steps for almost three months. I was busy. I was creating. I used art, fabrics, furnishings,...

After three and a half years of being a reader in multiple casting offices in Los Angeles, and participating in more than 10,000 auditions, I'm sharing with you the knowledge and insight I've gained by being a fly-on-the-wall in the room with casting director's, directors, producers, and showrunners. So take the journey with me, and discover some insider secrets that will help you manage your fears and expectations, as well as give you an edge as soon as you walk in the audition room.   Clic...

So you landed a job as a composer for a Film. Congratulations! But now where do you start? I think a good point is to build a positive relationship with your Director. That could definitely contribute to the success of your gig. Like any other kind of human relationship, there are no rules to make it work and there is always room for improvement, but here you’ll find some tips and thoughts, based on my experience, that I think might be helpful. Let’s suppose you have negotiated the deal, th...

Dr. ScreenLaw: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Law As a screenwriter turned attorney I’ve learned how a screenplay is not just a story: it’s a minefield of intellectual property that could affect the project’s style, budget, sponsorships, and even its distribution. Through this article, you will learn my perspective on how decisions made during the writing phase of an audiovisual project can positively, or negatively impact the legal and financial aspects of a project. It will also...

Probably the most nervewracking assumption actors make when going into the audition process is that the people they will meet “on the other side of the table” somehow know everything about how the industry works and what it takes to succeed. Certainly, they must know more than you! After all, you’re the one who’s asking them for work! Let’s stop thinking of power, authority, and experience as all being the same thing. Consider, instead, that how much a person knows about success in the enterta...

Do you have a friend whom you dearly love, but who just can’t seem to tell a story that doesn’t leave you wondering what’s for dinner or what you’re going to watch on Netflix? Maybe your friend tells stories like this: “and then...and then...and then...and THEN…” -- as if just raising the pitch and volume of each subsequent “then” raises the intensity of the story? Or maybe they’re so vague you’re not sure you know what they’re talking about -- or perhaps they get bogged down in so many detai...

It’s now 21 years since the birth of Napster and widespread digital piracy of content, and people are consuming content in more unrecognizable ways than ever before. Film consumption has of course evolved wildly over the past two decades, and particularly now in a world dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Streaming services and VOD (Video-On-Demand) platforms are moving to the forefront of film consumption, and film piracy has matched those changes along the way. In this blog, I’ll try to s...

Hey, Stage32-ers! It's been great to meet so many of you, and I love the conversations we've been generating in the Lounges! Sometimes when we chat online, though, we still feel the distance between us. With so much of our social interaction being virtual now, camaraderie's uplift seems more crucial than ever. Luckily, our fearless leader RB Botto and our fantastic team are here to keep you going! As your Community Manager, I want to assure you that our members are real. No matter where we are...