Advice

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, the...

So you’re working on your first action-packed short, feature, or pilot with martial arts, bullet hits, and smashed walls? Or maybe it’s a horror with gory falls and feints? Or it’s a car crash in a serious drama? Or maybe your actor is simply just pushed by a passing pedestrian and stumbles to the ground? For my last project, “I Miss Us,” I entered the domain of stunts and I was equally excited and terrified. My previous productions had mostly been room dramas, sci-fi, or projects heavily dea...

I’ve seen a few narratives about “making it” and the feelings that will presumably accompany the magic moment when we have crossed over into the elusive place that we have been striving towards for so long. I truly don’t mean that as a belittlement or to say that we should not work hard towards it or have goals. On the contrary, we should absolutely work towards our goals. But in recent years, I’ve come to realize the importance of the condition that my heart is in during that journey. “How”...

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, in this video from Nerstalgic, we're taking a look at visual effects from a different angle. It's pretty commonplace today for big studio films to be filmed largely on a soundstage with almost nothing but actors and green screens (or blue screens). The film SIN CITY is almost 20 years old, but...

Fragile, resilient. Perceptive, narrow-minded. Reclusive, convivial. As writers, we are all these things and more. We are the canaries in the coal mine, the watchers against the dark, the mirrors of society. But if we are empaths and mirrors, what do we do when society has a really bad day? Or a really bad week? Or months? Or a year? If you were fortunate enough to listen to Rebecca Day’s session at the London Screenwriters Festival Online in 2021, "Where's your head at? Mastering creative un...

My fellow filmmakers, my name is Tim Ogletree and I’ve been chasing this thing since January 2009, just on the heels of the last WGA strike. After graduating from The University of Texas at Austin with a Radio-TV-Film degree, I made the official move out to LA with a pretty killer short film and a truck full of clothes, books, and DVDs. The short caught some eyes, landed my writing partner and me a manager, and catapulted us into meetings and pitches that led to our first feature script. Two wee...

Hi, Stage 32ers! While you may have missed out on getting to attend Cannes in person, you certainly won’t miss out on the incredible insights that were shared there! At this year’s Cannes 2023, Stage 32 hosted an insightful expert panel about finding the right material, putting together the right package, finding financing, and navigating a film’s release. With the Great Content Gold Rush that has occurred from streamers vying for original content, a producer’s job has become increasingly...

My name is James Kicklighter, and I am a Stage 32 Thought Leader and a multi-award-winning Film Director and Producer. I have been fortunate to direct documentaries (The Sound of Identity), narrative films (Angel of Anywhere), and advertising across the country and around the world.   I hope that you enjoyed Part I of my discussion with my collaborator and friend, Emmy-nominated Director of Photography, Jonathan Pope (The Social Dilemma). Because we had so much to talk about, we thought it bes...

Hi, Stage 32-ers!   Over the last few months, we’ve welcomed tens of thousands of new members and, of course, welcomed our 1 millionth member which was featured in Variety. Every day, I hear from creatives and executives who are through with broad-based social media platforms. They’re tired of the negativity, the toxicity, and the toll it’s taking on their mental health. They want to be surrounded by positive, like-minded people who share similar interests and goals. I know you can relate...

When I wrote my first book, it was an adventure. Not only was it my first major project, it was the moment I realized just how little I knew about the craft of writing. I was two years into my professional writing career when I shifted from short stories to my first book. Sure, I’d written “books” before. But trust me, those will NEVER see the light of day. That already made this one different. I was not writing it for fun or because writing is my passion (though both of those statements are...