Producing

“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” - W.C. Fields When I read that, I think of the word perseverance. As in, do not give up. It’s easy to think that once you reach a goal, it’s all smooth sailing from there. That as long as you “try, try again” you will achieve the thing and that’s the end of it. However, in reality, that theme has been repeated at every step of my 20-year post-production career. It applies each and every day in the smallest of moments and will likely apply ev...

Happy Sunday Creative Army! First of all, congratulations to all of you who have already participated in our monthly Introduce Yourself Weekend! Thousands of connections have been made between entertainment creatives and professionals from every corner of the globe. Whether you are a long-time member, or brand new to Stage 32, take a moment to pop over to the Introduce Yourself Lounge and say hello before the end of the weekend. First up, Film Riot shares an interesting video featuring 5 cre...

Since my appointment as delegate of the Mexican National Chamber of the Film Industry (CANACINE) for the State of Quintana Roo, also known as the Mexican Caribbean, I have become familiar with the phenomenon screen tourism. In fact, screen tourism is becoming one of the key elements in policy making for the audiovisual industry in Quintana Roo, which includes what nowadays can be considered Mexico’s most important beach tourist areas. In this article I will explain what screen tourism is, ho...

THE PROBLEM Starting in 2002, for the past 20 years to the present, during the evenings and weekends, I have been feverishly writing, adapting, and pitching a number of feature picture screenplays with no success in getting the projects greenlit or optioned neither by buyers, agents nor producers. Meanwhile, all this time my day job has been in relatively non-creative realm of high-tech. Does this story sound familiar? Every writer/filmmaker I've run into experiences a closed and ineffic...

Most readers purchase novels by their favorite authors for the new and exciting plot. They want to follow their favorite policeman / CIA agent in their latest attempt to thwart the villain and save humanity. They marvel at the intricate twists and turns of the plot. In a mystery, the readers attempt to catch the clues that the author planted along the way. They want to be surprised at how the story concludes but also satisfaction in that they discovered the clues only to be revealed and explaine...

"Power is a place as well as a verb. It is inside the information tent.” -Lynda Obst The quote above is from the book Hello, He Lied, a must-read book on producing.The book is written by a trailblazer who did it all and saw it all, Lynda Obst. Being a female producer in Hollywood isn't easy. When I decided to expand my horizons and became a film producer, I felt I was ahead of the game because I knew what it took to finance a movie as worldwide sales agent and distributors’ rep. How hard cou...

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, the Stranger Things official YouTube channel recently released an awesome behind the scenes look at season four of Netflix's Stranger Things. This videos follows cast members Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, and more around on a "day in the life" look at a typical day on the se...

If you’ve been pursuing your Hollywood dreams longer than 60 seconds, then you probably know all about rejection. It’s part of the path. It’s something completely unavoidable as long as you’re taking risks and putting yourself out there. Some rejections aren’t so bad. Others totally suck. When a rejection hits deep, it’s common to retreat and hold yourself back from trying again. Whether you get dropped by an agent, your script is rejected from every festival, or you haven’t booked a job i...

In an industry where gatekeepers run the show, finding creative ways to get your work out there is not only a necessity, but a glorious way to take control of your career. No matter what hat(s) you were in the entertainment industry, launching your own YouTube channel is a fantastic way to flex your creative muscles - without needing permission from anyone. Sick of waiting to get cast in your dream role? Launch your own YouTube channel where you perform monologues weekly. Tired of not g...

We flock to the entertainment industry for feelings. Whether we're creating it or consuming it, emotions drive us there. We are full of creativity and expression - and I love it. Feelings are our fuel. Call it passion, a need to inspire others, a desire to uplift, a yearning to connect, or even to receive validation. We are following or looking for a feeling when we act, write, direct, or go to the movies. And we rely heavily on our gut. It can dictate how to react in a scene, which word to w...