Networking
Networking Stage 32 Blogs
What Are Some Tips to Using Social Media When Crowdsourcing?
Our next video in the CrowsSOURCING series is important, as it talks about using social media when crowdsourcing. And if you’re looking to create a buzz about your film, TV, or digital project, social media is going to be one of your most powerful tools. In his book, Crowdsourcing For Filmmakers, Indie Film and the Power of the Crowd, Stage 32 CEO Richard “RB” Botto shares case studies of projects that used social media to attract massive attention. But just how they did it is key. In the vi...


Stage 32 Member Writes Blog Post, Lands Contract in Scotland
One Stage 32 blog post.Two hours to write.Three opportunities as a result. (And one of them is in Scotland!)When Stage 32 member Joey Madia wrote his first Escape Room narratives for an organization, it was in 2017. He wrote them for two 5-star escape rooms on the Crystal Coast of North Carolina. Those rooms are still active today. Not long afterwards, he wrote and published a blog post right here on Stage 32 called Seven Steps for Writing Escape Room Narratives (And How to Find Opportunities...


The Best Icebreaker Ever - "Tell Me About Yourself"
I couldn't pass this one up, people. Especially because we have to talk to others. I mean, you can try like hell to go through life making a living and not having conversations, but I feel like that really wouldn't work. I mean, have you ever tried to go through an entire day without saying a word to anyone? Okay, okay, you probably you have. Hell, that's me today. (It's a quiet day as I write this and the only living things around me are my two dogs, dead exhausted from the walk I took them...


How Do I Use Crowdsourcing to Build an Audience for My Film, TV or Digital Project?
For the past few weeks we’ve been featuring videos in our crowdSOURCING series hosted by Stage 32 CEO, Richard “RB” Botto. RB authored his best-selling book, Crowdsourcing For Filmmakers, Indie Film and the Power of the Crowd to light the way for indie filmmakers and other creatives looking to make their mark with independent projects. In the new video below, he talks about how to use crowdsourcing to build an audience. “Boots on the ground,” as he says, are needed to carry the message of your...


Is There a Permanent Fix for Vocal Burnout?
Julie Andrews. Lionel Richie. Michael Bublé. Keith Urban. Meghan Trainor. Celine Dion. Adele. What do these artists have in common? Each and every one has had vocal cord microsurgery, a procedure that attempts to fix vocal burnout and other serious vocal chord injuries. This kind of vocal damage isn't unusual. As a matter of fact, it's said to be an epidemic in the performing arts. Philipp Schmidli/Getty Images But is there a cure that doesn't require surgery? Some experts say there i...


3 Ways Writers Can Get Noticed by Helping Others
Is your writing on the money? But there is no money in your pocket to pay for contest fees or pitching time? Do you want to get noticed? Score your first screenwriting credit? Then keep reading. I've been writing for six years. Entered my screenplays into contests. I even traveled to a pitching festival in Los Angeles. (I live in Holland.) But all of this costs money, money this screenwriter, working a part time job, did not always have. So how was I going to get noticed, then? I had to sit...


Should I Query Production Companies or a Rep With My Script? (by Richard Botto & Jason Mirch)
Is the trend to query production companies instead of reps with a script? It's a question that many Stage 32 members have asked in the past in our lounges right here on the platform. Now Richard Botto and Jason Mirch handle the question for a writer during the free "Ask Me Anything" webinar hosted by both gentlemen. A hint on how they responded? Query letters are tough. And if you have attachments to your film, maybe a letter can help. But don't dive in with a blind letter. Click below to hear...


How Crowdsourcing Helped a Feature Documentary Become a Film Festival, Netflix & iTunes Success
Welcome back to our ongoing crowdSOURCING series. In today’s video, join Stage 32’s very own Richard “RB” Botto as he talks about how the team of the feature documentary film, Mile…Mile and a Half, used crowdsourcing to help fund their film AND create an army of support that led to selling out film festival screenings and debuting at #2 on iTunes, right behind Jiro Dreams of Sushi (with all sorts of incredible successes in between). And they’re still crowdsourcing their audience today! Prepa...


How NOT To Mess Up Auditions When You Have an Accent
Have you heard the story about the girl who lived in a very small town across America and had dreams so big that she decided to pack her bags and move to the Big Apple to build a career as a working actress, just like the other thousands of people who make the same decision every year? Yeah, you got it. I am "that" girl. Except I didn't move from another state. I moved all the way from Turkey, Istanbul, and was undoubtedly determined to make it as a foreign actress. Living in New York an...


How Harnessing Energy, Feeding Livestock, & Chopping Wood Prepped Me For Hollywood
It all started at a prep school. Yes, I attended one, and while I could have gone to a number of different schools that were considered prestigious, my mind was sent on one that many considered a joke: Midland. Learning this sometimes surprises people. While others were packing their children off to Thatcher, Tate, Ojai, Villanova, Laguna Blanca, or Robert Louis Stevenson, I was drawn to something completely out of the ordinary. Midland is fairly unordinary in that it is nearly devoid o...

