Financing

Happy Motivation Monday Stage 32! I hope you are having a beautiful and creative week so far. As many of you know, in the past 10 years we have had some pretty epic Stage 32 success stories. From Ireland-based screenwriter Ronika Merl optioning her first script to Pennsylvania-based screenwriter Joseph Downey taking his feature Chick Fight (which went on to star Malin Akerman, Bella Thorne, and Alec Baldwin) from pitch to post through Stage 32, we have celebrated some amazing wins within our...

Most people making TV and film want to know what types of shows financiers and buyers are investing in right now. Here you go... I came up with this list based on what financiers and distributors said during the Stage 32 Film Finance Summit. Note that most of them are focused on independent films, but a few people did TV and studio films. I’ve listed the biographies of each person mentioned in this article at the bottom of this article.     Types of Shows Financiers and Distributors W...

You see excitement sparking in the producer’s eyes. They tell you your concept is unique, highly marketable, and fills a void in a profitable genre… Then the big question comes - the most important question you get asked in any pitch - “why are YOU the one to tell this story?” You respond, “I chose to write this paranoid-spy-thriller as my vehicle to immerse an audience in the experience of what it’s like living with an anxiety disorder, like my own CPTSD.” They had been leaning in up til...

Happy Wednesday Creative Army! Since 2011, the Stage 32 team has been working tirelessly to help you stay connected, creative, motivated, and informed. As always, we are committed to bringing you networking opportunities, education and mentoring from top-level industry executives and professionals, and access to decision-makers around the globe all from the comfort of your own home. Recently our efforts have been noticed by the media in a big way. We are incredibly proud and honored that Sta...

Independent film projects deal with business and legal aspects all the time. Bigger production companies generally have an in-house or external business and legal affairs manager. This is however less common for small production companies. In this article we will discuss the role of business and legal affairs in independent film, and explore the areas covered by a business and legal affairs department or manager.     Business and Legal Affairs in Independent Film Business and leg...

Happy Thursday Stage 32-ers! Over the past 10 years, we here at Stage 32 have been thrilled to be recognized throughout the industry as the leaders in online film craft and business education. We are honored to be partnered with some of the most prestigious film festivals and markets in the world including the American Film Market, Cannes Film Festival and the Marché du film, and Raindance Film Festival in London, to name a few. Now, for the 6th year in a row, we are thrilled to be joining f...

Happy Wednesday Creative Army! Here's hoping you are having a creative and productive week so far. As you know, the Stage 32 community has recently been featured in news outlets like Entrepreneur, Forbes, and The Wrap (to name a few). Now, I am thrilled to present an amazing conversation I had with Dorie Clark on her Newsweek show, Better.  Dorie is one of the Top 50 Business Thinkers in the world, has graced the TEDx stage, and is a multi best selling author. In this live conversation, Do...

Controlled chaos. Calculated risks. Strategic fun. The juggle, the marathon, the tornado - whatever circulatory movement you visualize the entertainment industry to be, it entices us in and sweeps us off our feet. Our eyes bulge wide to look at it, swirling, bustling, booming with activity. But when you’re in it? It just feels like “the groove.” Athletes reference this term as being in “the zone,” which is often defined as “a state of supreme focus [that] helps athletes perform at their peak pot...

Stage 32’s Film Finance Summit rocked. The panelists were “unfiltered and unhinged,” said one of the Stage 32 moderators, Amanda Toney. Another Stage 32 moderator, Harrison Glaser called them, “unvarnished,” and personally, I loved the speaker’s honesty and transparency. With three panels on producing, finance, and distribution, the Summit took a complex and open look at the state of the film and TV industry in 2021. I’ve remixed the wisdom from all three panels together in a 3-part blog seri...

COVID-19 hit, and people stayed home. Content was consumed at a fever pitch. Platform after platform, people were running out of things to watch! And it wasn’t just movies and TV. Gaming was more popular. Just ask anybody who tried to buy a Nintendo Switch or a PS5 at the height of the pandemic. People even read more of their email than usual. And another industry that benefited from this frenzy of consumption? Podcasting. One of the key pieces of advice you hear as a writer is “Make your own...