Financing

Sales projections are essential for an independent production. It gives an indication as to the commercial value of the project and eventually, the revenue expectations, which is important for financiers. Sales projections may start at development level. Once at production stage or when there is a finished film and a sales agent is engaged, the production will have a more precise indication. The sales agent typically issues formal high to low sales estimates. In this weeks vlog, I talk more...

In the late 1990’s, I was asked to be involved with a film that was to be funded via a Private Placement Memorandum/an LLC. My company was to be the worldwide sales agent for the film, which was budgeted at about $1.2 million. I read the script and also reviewed the film package (writer/director/actors/producers etc) and the production budget. I did my due diligence on the film project. I liked the project, the genre and pace of the script etc., so I was happy to provide revenue estimates fo...

Happy Wednesday Creative Army! Stage 32's continued mission is to democratize the entertainment business and the industry is taking notice in a big way. We are incredibly proud and honored that Stage 32 has been featured recently in Forbes Magazine, Business Insider, Inc. Magazine, and more. Recently, I had the pleasure of chatting with Voyage LA about how and why Stage 32 was born over ten years ago.  Specifically, I spoke with them about my journey in the industry, how Stage 32 came ab...

The Chaos (Katakata) Continues It has been nine (9) months since director Newton Barabara of NBS Studios yelled “Cut” on the set of ‘KATAKATA,’ his first international collaboration. After the film wrapped, he immediately placed a video call to his collaborators in the United States. His exact words were “We did it!” recalls Stage 32-members, Art Thomas of Main Man Films LLC™ and Kevin Shand of Pedras Productions™. The ‘it’ Barabara referred to is the impressive impact and meaningful convers...

It must be the storyteller in me, but I love endings and beginnings. December and January are my two favorite months of the year, in part because of the way they invite us to pause and reflect on where we’ve been and where we’re headed. I’m a planner and a goal-setter by nature and by practice, and I thought I’d share with you how I design my creative year by approaching it like a story. As I’m sure you’ve all discovered, there’s a long-standing divide in the writing world between those who wr...

Looking back on 2021, it's easy to see loss, confusion, and pain. If you look for it, however, I think you'll find the beauty and abundance you crave. For me, I see healing, growth, and productive friction. I can only see the many contributions of our nearly one million global members, the insightful posts of our Community Leaders, and the productive conversations with everyone in between. The Stage 32 community was built on the values that Hollywood all too often takes for granted - positivity,...

“Move to Montana” is not the advice you’ll get when you tell someone you want to break into the entertainment business. Especially, if like me, you were working at one of the biggest magazines in the country owned by a parent company that also ran TV and movie studios. At that job, I interacted with bold face names and their publicists all day and as writer also interviewed Grammy, Tony, Emmy and Golden Globe winners. You’d think this would be the place to work if you were an aspiring screenw...

On behalf of the entire Stage 32 family, I'd like to wish you all a happy, healthy, and loving Christmas and remainder of the holiday season. While the holidays are a time of celebration, I hope everyone will take a moment to reflect on the many blessings life has offered and afforded all of us. We personally feel blessed to have had so many of you enter and enrich our lives. The Stage 32 community has grown to over 800,000 members from around the globe, and we are beyond honored to provide ea...

A few years ago,  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 b...

Happy Wednesday Creative Army! Stage 32's continued mission is to democratize the entertainment business and the industry is taking notice in a big way. We are incredibly proud and honored that Stage 32 has been featured recently in Forbes Magazine, Business Insider, Inc. Magazine, and now, for the second time, Hackernoon.  As many of you have likely heard, we are partnering with Netflix (again!) to bring even more education to entertainment creatives and professionals from around the globe...