Producing

Everyone dreams about it. The glitz, the glamour, the red carpet, the afterparties, but especially the accolades. The pinnacle of success for a filmmaker, right? And it's not just the mammoth paperweight, but it's the speech you give when receiving that shiny, televised award. Have you practiced it yet? In front of the mirror, you say? Oh, dear. Then you may want to sit for this next bit. Comfortable? Good, good. "I'd like to thank…" whoa, hold that thought. Allow me to rip this particular ban...

Born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, Kendra Castleberry has always known she was destined to work in entertainment. From private song and dance concerts in her parents’ living room, to studying acting at the Youth Performing Arts School, to switching focus to directing at the University of Illinois…. creating character and story has always been tremendously important. After moving to Los Angeles in January 2001, Kendra was surprised to find a new outlet for her creative passions- a career...

Happy Thursday Creative Army! You’ve heard me say it a thousand times, no matter what your goals as a creative or an entrepreneur, you are the CEO of You Inc.Recently, I had the pleasure of being a guest of my dear friend and mega producer, Alexia Melocchi's, uplifting and enlightening podcast, The Heart of Show Business. We discussed many topics I believe will help inspire and motivate you including how you’re much more in control than you think you are, how to make your own luck, how to c...

Stage 32 is proud to continue our partnership with Raindance Film Festival and its founder Elliot Grove and Festival Producer David Martinez for the 6th year in a row! This year, Raindance has an impressive lineup of features, shorts, and documentaries from amazing filmmakers all over the world and will be honoring Sir Michael Cane with their Icon Award. In person, the festival will bring this year’s program of ground-breaking indie features to a range of new venues as Raindance partners for t...

Hello creatives! I’m digging into a topic today that’s so important to the success of your project because it creates the inner conflict we love to see in our characters. I’m talking about want (desire) and need -- the external and internal drivers of character choice. To help me explore this concept using a fresh perspective, I’m going to draw on my experience getting on the starting line as a runner and obstacle course racer. Looking at a race is a great place to study what motivates people...

Several years ago, I noticed how my older children and their friends seemed to have little interest in marriage compared to previous generations. Seeing news of marriage and birth rates dropping, and having endured the ups and downs in my own marriage, I began formulating a world which would turn into my drama pilot SPLIT DECISIONS. With feedback from fellow writers about the strong premise of the script, I entered it into a few competitions, including an entry in the final hours of Stage 32’...

Happy Sunday Creative Army! I've got my coffee in hand and your weekly dose of content coming in hot - grab your coffee of choice and let's dive right in. First up, IndieWire recently featured a great interview with WandaVision production designer Mark Worthington (Why Women Kill, American Horror Story, The Umbrella Academy). In this video, Mark illustrates how he "uses the language of the sitcom to tell this story about Wanda's trauma". Among other things, Mark talks about how he and his te...

Writing dialogue is more than just studying how other people speak. It helps to move your story forward and gives a voice to what you’ve put down on paper. Here are some tips to make this voice as strong as possible. 1.Do Your Research An upper class woman in Victorian England is going to have a very different life than a teenage boy in 2010. Know who your character is and how they navigate life based on their occupation and social status. Find out as much as you can about the career the...

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 short films can make money. I've had 3 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. In the...

Happy Thursday Stage 32 community! I hope you are having a beautiful and creative week! Recently, our fearless leader and CEO Richard "RB" Botto joined Ryan Alford as a guest on The Radcast - a top 25 Marketing Podcast in the US! The Radcast features top business leaders and creative geniuses behind some of the world's biggest brands and we are thrilled that RB was a guest with Ryan.  We all know that the entertainment industry is tribal and in this must-listen chat, RB talks about all thi...