Financing

Stage 32 is proud to continue our partnership with Raindance Film Festival and its founder Elliot Grove and Festival Producer David Martinez for the 6th year in a row! This year, Raindance has an impressive lineup of features, shorts, and documentaries from amazing filmmakers all over the world and will be honoring Sir Michael Cane with their Icon Award. In person, the festival will bring this year’s program of ground-breaking indie features to a range of new venues as Raindance partners for t...

Several years ago, I noticed how my older children and their friends seemed to have little interest in marriage compared to previous generations. Seeing news of marriage and birth rates dropping, and having endured the ups and downs in my own marriage, I began formulating a world which would turn into my drama pilot SPLIT DECISIONS. With feedback from fellow writers about the strong premise of the script, I entered it into a few competitions, including an entry in the final hours of Stage 32’...

A few years back there was a lively debate right here on Stage 32 about whether short films could make money, then shifted to if there they were even worthwhile.... Actually, it's not a matter of debate or opinion, it's an etched- in- stone- fact short films can make money. I've had 3 short films make money. There are countless other examples of shorts that made money, quite a bit of money actually, like the short by Peter Sollet 5 Feet High & Rising which became Raising Victor Vargas. In the...

Happy Thursday Stage 32 community! I hope you are having a beautiful and creative week! Recently, our fearless leader and CEO Richard "RB" Botto joined Ryan Alford as a guest on The Radcast - a top 25 Marketing Podcast in the US! The Radcast features top business leaders and creative geniuses behind some of the world's biggest brands and we are thrilled that RB was a guest with Ryan.  We all know that the entertainment industry is tribal and in this must-listen chat, RB talks about all thi...

I am a Distributor turned Filmmaker. I have a finance degree and a law degree and I spent the first 22 years of my film career in Distribution. Then I got the bug to become creative. I have since made and successfully self distributed 7 feature films, 3 of which are presently airing on Netflix worldwide (FULL OUT / FULL OUT 2 - YOU GOT THIS! / KISS & CRY). In my first Stage 32 blog, I talked about the importance of “creating awareness” for your indie movie. If people don’t know about your f...

I wanted to share some of my experiences that can hopefully help other indie filmmakers in the Transmedia world. While I was developing my project entitled “Black Salt”.     #1 The Comic Book When I started the project through my company Ratti Entertainment LLC, my goal was to do the Black Salt comic book first and then leverage one transmedia product line to help me get to the next piece. The franchise includes, but is not limited to, the following: Black Salt collectible items, al...

I'm thrilled to announce today that for the 6th straight year, Stage 32 and the American Film Market have joined forces to bring new opportunities and access to attendees of America's largest film market.   Stage 32 is proud to continue to be the official Networking and Education partner of the AFM and this year is extra special. For the second year in a row, the AFM has gone virtual.   So what does that mean for you?   More access and opportunity at the AFM no matter where you live in t...

When should you first start talking to distributors to sell your film? Unless you’re an industry veteran, I bet you’ll be surprised to find out the answer. In this article, I’m covering Stage 32’s Film Finance Summit 2021 - the distribution portion. In the first portion of this article, we go over where distributors look for films, when to talk to them, and what’s in demand. In the second portion, I share wisdom from the panelists about backing into your budget, what films are going to theate...

Happy Wednesday Stage 32! I hope you are having a beautiful and creative week! Recently, our fearless leader and CEO Richard "RB" Botto joined John Abbas on his podcast "Mentor Nation" to speak about networking, mindset, and building relationships. No matter what hat you wear in the entertainment industry, whether you are in front of or behind the camera, networking is an essential tool in the entertainment industry. In this podcast, RB shares how to find, nurture, and cultivate lasting re...

Will blockchain technology create a paradigm shift in the business practices of the film industry? The film industry on many occasions been fundamentally changed by technology over the years.………. from film; to video; to broadcast; to cable; VHS; DVD; broadband, streaming etc. Will blockchain and the distributed ledger technology be that next force for significant change? Is blockchain is a total paradigm shift? Blockchain technology can provide innovative opportunities to address issues...