Advice

Happy Sunday Creative Army! 2020 is just around the corner, and we could not be more excited for the New Year. 2019 was full of some amazing content and community here at Stage 32, and 2020 promises to be even better. Now, are you ready for the final edition of Coffee and Content 2019? Grab your coffee and get ready for some piping hot content.  Our first piece of content comes from the folks over at Variety. If you are unfamiliar, Variety curates an amazing series called Actors on Actors. T...

In the world of filmmaking, cinematography is the bread and butter of this incredibly visual medium. However, being a cinematographer requires a lot more than an eye for composing interesting shots that help tell a story.  From making shot lists in pre-production to technical lighting techniques on set - Studio Binder has put together an impressive and thorough guide for cinematographers at any level. No matter how many films you work on, no two sets are ever exactly quite alike - and this gui...

My first experience of walking a labyrinth was in the late fall. I was living in Hollywood and I was a member of a women’s therapy group. When a church in the valley acquired a labyrinth printed on canvas for use over the holiday season, all of us went to walk it, because the Chartres labyrinth (the design often acquired by churches and other organizations that want to provide a meditative experience to their members) is associated with Goddess energy/the Divine Feminine (which exists in people...

Trying to make it as a screenwriter is a tough choice to begin with. It's a long, drawn-out process that takes a long time before any significant results can be achieved. Sure, there are exceptions. Every once in awhile we hear about the “overnight success”, or the first-time writer who scores a sale or sees their script already set up for production. But for the rest of us, we slave and toil away. It continues to remain a marathon, not a sprint. And that also means there's going to be A L...

Last year, I had the devastating privilege of teaching television and film production to teenagers. Yes, oxymoron intended. Two things became clear early on: these students had no respect for the equipment because they were issued cameras like pacifiers, nor did they understand the value of their human resources due to the emphasis put squarely on technology above all. Guess what we did for the first week? We learned about networking. Man, were they mad. Then again, that could have been because...

With the Oscar nominations coming in hot at the top of 2020 - we are all thinking back on our favorite performances of 2019. Naturally, it is easy to pick out some long-time beloved A-list actors. After all, there was some stellar talent displayed from our Hollywood favs this year.  However, what about some of the unexpected names, faces, and performances to come out of 2019 films? Our friends over at IndieWire put together a list of some of the most note-worthy breakthrough performances of 20...

To IMDb or Not to IMDb? Indeed, that is the question, lately… here on Stage 32. Many experienced players on this site – myself included – are surprised that this is even a debate. How can having your credits listed on the actual, “Internet Movie Data Base,” be harmful to your career? Moreover, if it even helps you a little bit, in such a competitive business, how can you resist doing so? Obviously, there is a little sarcasm in the above paragraph. IMDb allows prospective investors, name a...

Roll Tape… And… Action! There’s no doubt about it—self-tape auditions are all the rage and certainly here to stay. And, with pilot season fast upon us, the timing is perfect for talking about what makes a self-audition submission likely to succeed. A quick Internet search will yield an abundance of self-tape how-to articles and videos, which is great, and I encourage you to watch and read them. But they mostly focus on the technical aspects of the process (cameras, lighting, sound, setup) and...

Stage 32 CEO Richard "RB" Botto offers a free webinar called 'Ask me Anything'. Quite often - a question that comes up, in one form or another, is "should I get an agent"? As entertainment professionals, our careers are built upon our teams. From agents and managers, to writing partners and cast mates - this industry is built on relationships.  In this week's episode of "Ask Me Anything", RB is going to answer a more specific version of this query. "If I have a producer for my project, should...

If you’ve been following my blogs here on Stage 32, you’ve probably figured out by now that I’m someone with a more or less severe personality type. For me, the holidays are a time when everyone else finally leaves Los Angeles and I can work without being surrounded by distraction or noise. Typically, my colleagues come back from vacation to find that I’ve finished one more screenplay and gotten myself caught up on a mountain of work besides. MATTERS OF THE HEART, SPIRIT, AND MEMORY While my...