Inspirational

I’ve always told myself to never give up, keep writing and reaching out to producers, etc. If you work hard at it, one day something great will happen. Well, it’s taken many years to get to this moment, but I’ve finally sold a script - a short horror film that is currently in pre-production. And it’s all because of a connection that I made on Stage 32. About seven months ago, I was reading through the various posts on Stage 32 and saw that a producer from NJ was looking to collaborate with oth...

Want to stand out and make connections fast on Stage 32? Introduce Yourself Weekend is one of the greatest ways to do that. On the third weekend of every month, all weekend long, members of Stage 32 are looking to connect with one another. Considering that Stage 32 is the largest online networking platform for Film and TV creatives and professionals—that’s pretty epic. Whether you’re looking to connect with industry executives, make industry friends, or simply practice getting your work out i...

Hi Creative Army, We need your help! Our Stage 32 SXSW panel has been selected to move on to Panel Picker! This is the stage where the public gets to vote for what panels you'd like to see programmed at SXSW (South by Southwest), which is one of the largest conferences that brings together film, tech and music in Austin, TX!  Now, our amazing Stage 32 community, we need to enlist your help. Please take 30 seconds to make a profile below and VOTE for Stage 32's panel!  Click HERE to VOTE fo...

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're looking at taking your project's visuals to the next level with framing in this video from In Depth Cine. There are certain framing styles that everyone is taught, and then there are the ones you mimic as you emulate the filmmakers you love and are trying to find your own style. But frami...

I’ve seen a few narratives about “making it” and the feelings that will presumably accompany the magic moment when we have crossed over into the elusive place that we have been striving towards for so long. I truly don’t mean that as a belittlement or to say that we should not work hard towards it or have goals. On the contrary, we should absolutely work towards our goals. But in recent years, I’ve come to realize the importance of the condition that my heart is in during that journey. “How”...

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, in this video from Nerstalgic, we're taking a look at visual effects from a different angle. It's pretty commonplace today for big studio films to be filmed largely on a soundstage with almost nothing but actors and green screens (or blue screens). The film SIN CITY is almost 20 years old, but...

Fragile, resilient. Perceptive, narrow-minded. Reclusive, convivial. As writers, we are all these things and more. We are the canaries in the coal mine, the watchers against the dark, the mirrors of society. But if we are empaths and mirrors, what do we do when society has a really bad day? Or a really bad week? Or months? Or a year? If you were fortunate enough to listen to Rebecca Day’s session at the London Screenwriters Festival Online in 2021, "Where's your head at? Mastering creative un...

My fellow filmmakers, my name is Tim Ogletree and I’ve been chasing this thing since January 2009, just on the heels of the last WGA strike. After graduating from The University of Texas at Austin with a Radio-TV-Film degree, I made the official move out to LA with a pretty killer short film and a truck full of clothes, books, and DVDs. The short caught some eyes, landed my writing partner and me a manager, and catapulted us into meetings and pitches that led to our first feature script. Two wee...

My name is James Kicklighter, and I am a Stage 32 Thought Leader and a multi-award-winning Film Director and Producer. I have been fortunate to direct documentaries (The Sound of Identity), narrative films (Angel of Anywhere), and advertising across the country and around the world.   I hope that you enjoyed Part I of my discussion with my collaborator and friend, Emmy-nominated Director of Photography, Jonathan Pope (The Social Dilemma). Because we had so much to talk about, we thought it bes...

When I wrote my first book, it was an adventure. Not only was it my first major project, it was the moment I realized just how little I knew about the craft of writing. I was two years into my professional writing career when I shifted from short stories to my first book. Sure, I’d written “books” before. But trust me, those will NEVER see the light of day. That already made this one different. I was not writing it for fun or because writing is my passion (though both of those statements are...