Filmmaking

Happy Sunday Creative Army! First of all, congratulations to all of you who have already participated in our monthly Introduce Yourself Weekend! Thousands of connections have been made between entertainment creatives and professionals from every corner of the globe. Whether you are a long-time member, or brand new to Stage 32, take a moment to pop over to the Introduce Yourself Lounge and say hello before the end of the weekend. Now, grab some fresh coffee and let's dive into this week's conte...

Happy Black History Month! Or, for anyone outside the United States, happy February! One of the great accomplishments of Stage 32 is providing a safe and welcoming space for creatives all around the world, regardless of age, sex, race, or creed, to gather, network, and build relationships. Naturally, as we began celebrating Black History Month in the Stage 32 Lounges, this poignant question arose - why do we celebrate? In a word… history. In the United States, since celluloid was first used to...

“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” ~ Arthur Ashe “What happens when we go over time?” The room went quiet. The new sound operator repeated himself, “What happens when we go into overtime?” My crew smiled at me as I turned and replied, “We don’t.” I then continued answering and discussing other questions in the pre-pro meeting. Let me preface this by saying this was not a studio film. This was an indie feature, titled Caralique, that I was the director/producer of. C...

The entirety of my film experience is with indie filmmaking. To be perfectly honest, most of that experience is making 48 Hour Films. There’s just something about throwing a project together from scratch that thrills me. For years, I’ve wanted to do more. In the last year, I finally got the chance. About a year ago, I read an article about how a person rerouted money in their budget into a savings account for a quarter of a year. They then used that money to make a short film. They real...

I wanted to share my journey as a black filmmaker for Black History Month. Part 1 I started developing my Black Salt franchise over 10 years ago because I was tired of seeing how they depicted black men in TV and film. I create a black hero who was strong, disciplined and people could look up to. I loved martial arts, so I wanted my hero to have mastered Shaolin Kung Fu and be an Interpol agent, where he traveled around the world with great adventures, defeating the bad guys and standing...

I’m an Actor Care Specialist I am not a therapist. My job is not to heal but to provide a safe and containing space to guide actors in creating solid boundaries between themselves and the characters they portray. I do this by expanding their self-awareness. The vehicle is the actor’s artistic expression. Without question their personal development is wrapped up inside that. If there is personal work to be done outside the work of character creation, I set the boundary and always sign post t...

Happy “Valentimes,” Stage 32! My name is Tennyson, I’ve written more than 50 screenplays, I’ve helped produce some movies, I direct and edit, I’m a working script doctor, and I’ve been working on stage since I was 13 years old. For the last few years, I’ve been blogging for Stage 32 more or less monthly… and this week, we’re going to talk in a little more detail about why I do that. EVERYBODY NEEDS HELP Showbusiness is, and has always been, a collaborative effort. Even a one-person show ne...

Swish!  How I’m Making the Most of My Stage 32 Experience. There’s a basketball court near my house. My girlfriend and I pass it on our routine walks around the neighborhood. One day not too long ago, we walked by it and joked that we should get a basketball and play against each other. We like a bit of a competition, and we’re always looking for new games to play against each other. The holidays were approaching, so, I put a basketball under the Christmas tree for her. You might be thinking...

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 StudioBinder have a great series about the art of opening scenes. In this video, they cover six more ways to begin a film: tragedy, direct address, newsreel, crime, day in the life, and setting. You will see examples from Children of Men, Stranger than Fiction, Zodiac, Arrival,...

Becoming a screenwriter is a truly incredible process, that will challenge you, reward you, disappoint you, but never bore you. That being said, it’s important to go into this path with eyes wide open, and know the truth about being a screenwriter. These are the top 5 myths about being a screenwriter that you should know first. Myth #1 - It Doesn’t Involve Much Writing Although screenplays are short, usually from 90 to 100 pages, with a lot of empty space on the page, they can actually be muc...