Networking

A special thanks goes out to Stage 32 member Dave Bullis, who had RB on his popular filmmaking podcast. On the podcast, RB and Dave discuss a wide variety of topics including RB's experiences at this year's Sundance Film Festival, how to market yourself, the state of the film industry and were they think it's headed, RB's latest screenplay and then closed the discussion with RB going into depth about his new book on crowdsourcing. There is a lot of information to learn, so get your pen and...

Registrations for the January 2015 On Stage With RB were in high demand, smashing all previous records. As you know, we normally open registration to the first 1000 members. We almost always hit capacity, but this time we were well above. As a result, many Stage 32'ers were shut out from the broadcast.  We apologize for this inconvenience! In an effort to make things right, we've taken the following steps: 1 - We've converted the video at record speed and it is now available by clicking be...

I have a secret. I write screenplays. There, I said it. It feels good to get that out in the open.   If you live across the pond in the States, that sentiment might seem strange. After all, coffee shops are chock full of people hammering away at their latest screenplay. Even the barista and unbeknownst to him his cat Twinkles are all working on the next spec to crack Hollywood.   Over here in Ireland, it’s a little different. Divulging that you write screenplays in not something you do in po...

Running this site has afforded me the opportunity to speak in front of creatives from all over the world about the power of networking, particularly online networking.  Often, questions I'm asked during these teaching moments inform some of the blogs, resources, and classes we feature here on Stage 32.  There's one question I'm asked most often which sparked some changes and new features we're introducing today.   That question is:  What's the biggest mistake creatives make when it co...

"When it comes to art, you're either in, or not in. If you're half in, you're not in." -- Richard "RB" Botto Our thanks to Duane Barnhart from The Door Post Project for having our Founder and CEO, Richard "RB" Botto, on his highly popular podcast featuring entrepreneurs in the entertainment industry. For an hour Duane and RB discussed RB's background from New York to LA, how he got into the entertainment business, and the evolution of Stage 32.  They went over breaking into the busines...

Today is August 5, 2014. My name is David Rountree and I am ranked 5th on the Top 10 Up-and-Coming Directors under 40 on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb).    With two films of completely different genres receiving theatrical releases this year, and winning the Best Film and Best Director award at the 2014 Independent Film and Television Festival, I was recently interviewed about how I became an overnight success as a writer/producer/director. The irony is that my journey in achieving moder...

Part of what makes our Stage 32 network so inspiring is the overwhelming sense of community.  There are any number of metrics that we can point at to support this claim - a record number of threads and posts almost daily, for example - but one that truly stands out is the increase in Stage 32 Meetups occurring across the globe.   Below are some pictures of recent Stage 32 Meetups where members of this terrific community took their networking to the streets.  We're happy and proud to report...

When I was asked to write a blog for Stage 32 I was extremely honored, but worried that I, as a writer/actor, would have NOTHING to say. Nothing that hasn’t been said before. Nothing unique, fresh or original, but I remembered that so much of what I teach to actors is: WALK THROUGH THE DOOR! My entire career has been based on the “YES” principle. Yes, I’ll take that role, yes, I’ll commit to the path, yes, I’ll write the blog. Yes, Yes, YES. Actress Ruth Gordon got booted out of The Acad...

INT. ANDY’S HOUSE – MORNING. CAPTION: Saturday 19th April 7:00am. I picked up the final item - the camera bag and drove down to the cricket club field. The sky was part cloudy. It looked like it might be a good day. Once at the pavilion I unpacked the essentials. The batteries in the biscuit tin were replaced with biscuits. By 8:30am all the crew were there and things were looking busy. The first scene’s details were written onto the clapperboard. The actors appeared around 9:00a...

FADE IN: INT. ANDY’S HOUSE – MORNING. CAPTION: Saturday 19th April 6:30am. It’s all a bit messy… I’ve never had quite so much stuff in such an assortment of bags as when Saturday the 19th of April 2014 rolled around. The GoPro, Nikon D610 and lenses were in there somewhere, along with their various memory cards.  I was putting spare batteries into a biscuit tin when I realized… things were getting out of hand. All this because I was about to cut my teeth directing a short fil...