Producing

2022 was a big year for many people, but for me, it was the year that brought me the ultimate reward I could ever dream of: Selection in the Student Academy Awards!   From the early days of my university college education, I have always been inclined to make movies that reflect both: the world and the imagination I grew up with. So I decided to pursue my career in film-making and look for opportunities where I could get my work in front of people. While I would ultimately win an award from my...

A few years back, there was a lively debate right here on Stage 32 about whether short films could make money, then shifted to if there they were even worthwhile... Actually, it's not a matter of debate or opinion; it's an etched-in-stone fact that short films can make money. I've had three short films make money. There are countless other examples of shorts that made money, quite a bit of money actually, like the short by Peter Sollet 5 Feet High & Rising, which became Raising Victor Vargas....

Many writers worry about "idea theft," allowing it to be the reason they don't tell people about their projects, won't publically post their loglines, or won't apply for contests and fellowships for this reason. But the fact is, copyright law protects the expression of an idea but not the idea itself. Lots of films and television shows have similar concepts. The entertainment industry uses these comparable projects, or "comps," to sell new projects.  But what do you do if you believe your actu...

A high school visit with my mother to Spelman College, a Historically Black College (HBCU) and part of the Atlanta University Center (AUC), was what brought me to Atlanta, Georgia, for the first time. We flew in from my hometown of Philadelphia, aka the “City of Brotherly Love,” and immediately realized we had left the old world behind. Is that a SUBWAY… in the AIRPORT? Are you kidding me?? This is awesome! I felt like an extra on Battlestar Galactica or Logan’s Run (look it up.) The campus was...

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. I know many of you just finished November Write Club and are asking yourself, "what's the next goal?" Should you move on to the next script? Get feedback and submit your project to contests? Sure! But have you thought about the possibility of producing your film yourself? To see if this is doable, you'll...

My love of wildlife and filmmaking began as a small child watching my father's homemade wildlife documentaries of Africa in the attic cinema of our London home. Neither of us could have imagined then that many decades later, indeed 17 years after my father left this mortal coil, my own wildlife documentaries would not only win awards all over the world, but they would be instrumental in helping to pass historic legislation in the United Kingdom that would mark the beginning of the end for the he...

Stage 32’s nearly million members are worldwide, so we couldn’t be more thrilled to announce that Stage 32 is now the Official Education Partner of the UK’s international trade event, FOCUS. FOCUS is the only UK trade event where nearly 3,000 attendees can meet with content makers and facilitators from over 100 countries, attracting thousands of production professionals from across the creative screen industries – including film, TV, advertising, animation, and gaming. FOCUS offers filming...

You may have heard Kipling’s refrain, “East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet!” but perhaps you are unaware of how he concludes his "Ballad of East and West"? In that conclusion, Kipling flips his opening thought on its head and leaves us with the idea of a borderless world of universal values, heroic acts, and emotions. I am often reminded of the entrenchment of the first two lines when I look at Bollywood cinema versus Western cinema, but I have reason to believe that a c...

I’m Jennifer Carriere, and I’m a script supervisor and producer in the film and television industry. Here at Stage 32, I’m a Thought Leader and Educator. I figured out an extra efficient way to script supervise, effectively creating my own custom film career. I was able to work far more film and tv jobs per year than is standard and naturally transitioned to producer along the way. As a result, I was rewarded with a life I’d never imagined for myself. Life really began for me when I became a...

“Move to Montana” is not the advice you’ll get when you tell someone you want to break into the entertainment business. Especially if, like me, you were working at one of the biggest magazines in the country owned by a parent company that also ran TV and movie studios. At that job, I interacted with boldface names and their publicists all day and, as a writer, also interviewed Grammy, Tony, Emmy, and Golden Globe winners. You’d think this would be the place to work if you were an aspiring scr...