Distribution

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...

At the end of 2018, I started preparing, as Tommy Kail had so simply put it, to finish our movie. There was to be a one-month run of Freestyle Love Supreme at the Greenwich House Theatre in the West Village. We would capture as many shows as we could, interview the cast and creative team, and in following the journey of their Off-Broadway run, attempt to look back and contextualize the importance of this group on the individuals who are a part of it.     I decided almost immediately tha...

Happy Friday Creative Army! As you know, back in March, we announced and launched Stage 32 Screenings to help filmmakers who were impacted by the cancellation of their live screenings at film festivals all over the world. Stage 32 Screenings is a unique platform that allows filmmakers to get their films seen to a concentrated audience including thousands of distributors, sales agents, producers, financiers, development execs, and more decision-makers here on Stage 32. We are currently screenin...

Producing a video for Father’s Day that would be both special and memorable was something I had set out to do…in just two weeks! Here’s how I managed to accomplish it and how it all came about.     The Challenges Yes, there were some challenges straight out of the gate. These included: So many things beyond my control because of Shelter in Place Casting Quality of videos submitted Remote directing Tight timeline The Idea I had produced a video for Mother's Day, and another...

Artificial intelligence is radically changing the world and it will RADICALLY change screenwriting. Elon Musk predicts that over half the cars sold in 2030 will be autonomous. This requires artificial intelligence capable of observing and reacting like a driver does today— only better. Musk says that by 2040 cars with steering wheels will be like people riding horses today. It will be for those who enjoy something historical. As a screenwriter, you need to realize your world is being transfo...

We can all agree that it’s nigh impossible for a finished film to be even 90% close to the original screenplay. Budget and logistic constraints can be very limiting for the filmmaker and often the creative vision changes according to the ebbs and flow of the production. Locations are changed, dialogues are added, and sometimes even characters are edited out. As a result, when the filmmaker has finished post and is busy procuring deliverable material required by film festivals or the distributo...

There are probably thousands of film festivals held every year. The number of actual film markets is a lot less. Under the current COVID-19 crisis, many of these film festivals and markets have introduced online editions, to either (temporarily) replace the physical versions or to run alongside the physical versions of these may happen after all if and when the COVID-19 crisis is over or at least significantly reduced. What is the difference between a film festival and a film market? And what...

Happy Wednesday Stage 32 Community! Last week, our fearless leader Richard "RB" Botto hosted one of his signature "Ask Me Anything" webinars focusing on the "new normal" that is the entertainment industry during COVID-19. We were beyond jazzed to virtually host thousands of Stage 32 members tuning in from every corner of the world, culminating in an invigorating two hours of inspirational and no-bs shop talk from RB.   In this Ask Me Anything, RB answered questions from Stage 32 members, bot...

Stage 32 hosts online forums, called Lounges to encourage like-minded professionals to communicate and collaborate. As I've become more familiar with these lounges as the new Stage32 Community Manager, the more I liken them to V.I.P. Filmmakers' Lounges hosted at film festivals. These are the exclusive rooms where creators can step away from the pomp and press to find other professionals… and a stiff drink. These are the "networking opportunities" that so many in the industry scramble to attain....

Happy Friday Creative Army! As you all know, Stage 32 Screenings has taken the entertainment industry by storm. Our initiative has been covered by Deadline, Variety, CNN, and dozens more. We are currently screening over 100 features, shorts, and episodic pilots from SXSW, Tribeca, BFI: Flare London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival, and Telluride Mountainfilm Documentary Festival to our network of over 6,000 invited sales agents, distributors, managers, agents, producers, development execs, financiers and...