Producing

Welcome To The Family. How to cast a winning team for your film. Casting isn't just about finding great actors, it's about recruiting a team who will deliver your vision. Here are some key ideas to help you recruit your ensemble.   Actress Sian Youngerman as ‘Amelia’ in a still from my 2017 experimental indie feature ‘The Madness of Tellaralette Seville’.   Read Between the Lines Ensemble casting is a magical part of filmmaking. No other medium seals the chemistry of a group of p...

I have been a member of Stage 32 for some time. I didn’t do anything at first. I read all the emails Stage 32 sent me and enjoyed reading the blogs and videos. And looking across at the slate of producers and agents Stage 32 had in partnership for project development. I was also busy finalizing a series of 25 individual stories with a common theme under the canopy of TRAVELERS TALES.  TRAVELERS TALES is a total of 25 feature film scripts all with a common theme. This is a journey against the o...

Over the years, film production has been attributed to creativity and this is something that has been identified by film producers, historians, and even critics. For instance, Jean-Paul Furstenberg who was a director at the American Film Institute about 2 decades ago noted that it was the producers and the creative people that really founded the industry. As a matter of fact, if people like Adolph Zukor, Louis B.Mayer, Carl Laemmle, Ole Olsen, Leon Gaumont, Charles Pathe, or the Warner brothers...

CHYRON: 18 MONTHS EARLIER We’re focused on a computer screen. An email is opened. It’s Stage 32. It says, BLOG UPDATE: 5 Lessons Learned From an Aspiring Screenwriter. By Keith Hannigan. INT. LIVING ROOM – DAY The one reading it is KEITH HANNIGAN. His face red, his mouth agape. He looks like what would happen if the Sun were turned on by a Full Moon. In this case, the Full Moon is his blog. He instantly shares it anywhere it can be shared. When he’s done, he pauses. Closes his computer...

This article’s a little different than my previous ones. And, in some ways, it’s the most important. It’s less structured and more conversational. I’m not using headings, because it’s all of a piece. It’s an open letter, fully from the heart, to an amazing community with so much to give. I appreciate the opportunity given to me by Taylor and the amazing leaders at Stage 32 to share my thoughts in this way during these Times of Crisis. These Unprecedented Times. Times that don’t exist in a...

A bit of Background…I’m of the belief that if I can make my own opportunities I should. As an actor and a writer, I shouldn’t be waiting on someone else’s approval to gauge my fulfillment. So, I make a lot of my own content, which has been helpful in building my body of work. I wrote this goofy little six-page costume drama that I wanted to produce. One set, 4 actors, and not a big deal, right? Well, it’s a big deal where my available budget is concerned. From what my research showed, getting...

Happy Sunday Creative Army.  Here's hoping you had a happy, healthy, and creative week! I hope you've got your coffee ready because this week's serving of content is coming in hot.  First up, Wired sits down with dialect coach Erik Singer to break down 17 actors playing real people. This video dives into different aspects of accents and performance from speaking while wearing mouth and/or face prosthetics, to how using different parts of the tongue affect your ability to make an "s" sound ju...

Until my brain injury in 2013, I lived my life as a cis-gendered white male. Apart from my experience with disability, which I admit was eye-opening, I’m about as diversity-challenged as a human being can get. I went to boarding school, for crying out loud. Nevertheless, my approach to writing characters has earned me a reputation as someone who provides fantastic performance opportunities to underrepresented people. Mastering these techniques has taken me more than a decade of practice, but i...

Happy Friday Stage 32! As you all know, Stage 32 Screenings has taken the industry by storm. Our initiative has been covered by Deadline, Variety, CNN, and more. We are currently screening over 100 features, shorts, and episodic pilots from SXSW, Tribeca, and Telluride Mountainfilm Documentary Festival to our network of producers, financiers, development executives, distributors, and more. We are ecstatic to report that two feature films from our Stage 32 Screenings initiative have already bee...

Happy Wednesday Stage 32! With everything going on in the world right now it is easy to find yourself lacking motivation and drowning in a seemingly endless stream of negativity on the news (first Coronavirus and now "Murder Hornets", c'mon 2020 get it together). While there is certainly a lot of negativity swirling around out there, here at Stage 32 we are continuously honored to bring you inspiration, motivation, education, and community all 100% online - we are proud to be putting the "soci...