Inspirational

Happy Thanksgiving, Creative Army! On behalf of the entire Stage 32 team, I'd like to wish everyone a happy and healthy Thanksgiving. This year, we hit a milestone of over one million members in our growing, creative community, and we are beyond honored to provide each and every one of you a safe haven to connect, be inspired, and come together to make art. We are all extremely grateful for the members of this community and for the incredible relationships and friendships that have bloomed thi...

There is a Japanese proverb that speaks simply of the heart of Perseverance. Nana korobi ya obi or “fall seven times and get up eight”. Perhaps if this were a corporate inspirational poster, we could end this blog with a simple image of someone climbing a mountain. But this isn’t the ‘90s and we’re creatives. We need to paint a picture, compose the music, and write the metaphor. First, let’s be clear: according to dictionary.com, the definition of perseverance is “steady persistence in a cours...

WARNING: Objects in mirror are closer than they appear, or is it that they may not be as close as they appear? I suppose it all depends on how they appear and how blind we’ve become to a message that’s under our noses every day; I’ll come back to this. The mission you have chosen to accept in this industry is one of delivering a perspective. Whether you are a writer, actor, director, producer, costumer, or gaffer. The projects you work on will all set out to deliver a perspective through the s...

Welcome back to TALKING BUSINESS: Insights from the Independent Film Industry, hosted by Stage 32 Thought Leader and Business Consultant, David Zannoni, from Freeway Entertainment and Zannoni Media. In TALKING BUSINESS, David brings you in-depth conversations on the behind-the-scenes of the filmmaking business with industry veterans. In today’s fourth episode, David speaks with Octavio Marin, VP of Production & Operations for Santa Fe Studios and SF Film Services, LLC. Octavio oversees Santa F...

1. The Blogger “Toxic & Elitist”, were the words circling within my head in November 2013. I’d found myself at the door of Stage 32 an artistic refugee, spiritually exhausted after a stint on screenwriting forums and a certain website that evaluates your scripts with a score. The former exposed me to trolls who’d convinced me I didn’t have what it takes to break in, while the latter had done nothing but send me in circles. While a script of mine had been selected by Amazon Studios as a “Notable...

Through 15 years of working in the entertainment industry, I’ve learned that there will be many ups and downs in a dream pursuit. There will be obstacles, and good days, and opportunities, and rejections. The High Achiever (a.k.a. you!), needs a game plan through it all. The High Achiever needs to handle all of these moments intentionally and carefully, in a way that effectively keeps them on the path to success. That’s why I developed the 10 Pillars of the High Achiever. Here are the 10 pillars...

The world keeps spinning, and so do our heads—hurricanes in Maui, earthquakes in Morocco, floods in Libya, and now the Israel-Hamas war. We are inundated with media filled with horrific and disquieting sounds and images. You want to be engaged, to keep up with world events, yet it can be paralyzing. What to do? My book about happiness came out on October 10th, which happened to be Mental Health Day. Amid all the atrocities going on right now, you may feel that this is not the best time to be...

Hi Creative Army! It’s great to meet you all! I’d like to properly introduce myself, I’m Samantha Rivera, the Development Services Coordinator at Stage 32! Some of you may have interacted with me through success@stage32.com, which is a great way for me to interact and answer any questions of any members regarding Stage 32, our services, and how we can best help you achieve your goals. However, emailing us isn't the only great way for you to closely connect with us at Stage 32. It's just one of m...

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, we've got this fantastic scene breakdown from Vanity Fair for the recently released PRISCILLA from Sofia Coppola starring Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi. It's great to see not only each of their three distinct perspectives on filming this project but also all the visual elements packed into thi...

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...