Screenwriting

Prologue: Venturing Forth The PROTAGONIST. Often a simple, unassuming person at least somewhat content in their everyday life, is given a quest. A journey must be made—both physical and psychological. Leaving the familiar, they cross the threshold into a new and dangerous world, where they will be tested time and again. Allies and enemies abound. The stakes are high. Will they prevail?All fantasy is based on some form of this opening paragraph. Not coincidentally, it is also the “formula” for o...

If you read Part 1 of Breaking in with 'Break Even' by C Walley, then you took the first step of our next series post that follows a Stage 32 Screenwriter's Journey. We're following CJ Walley, an optioned screenwriter who is working with a production crew on his first feature script, 'Break Even,' which was written on assignment. Over the next month or so, we'll be taking you along on CJ's journey, starting with his flight from England to Los Angeles, to his experience on set, all the way thro...

It's the age-old question that writers, entertainers, and filmmakers ask again and again in one form or another: How do you vet a manager for representation in entertainment? In this special edition of AMA (Ask Me Anything), RB and Jason Mirch, Stage 32's new Director of Script Services, breaks down the how, the why, and the what to finding the right kind of representation. Also, learn what to do if you get a manager and it's not a good fit. Click Here For RB and Jason's Advice!    ...

When Hollywood first started making movies, everyone worked for the studios. Eventually, independent producers started making their own movies and it seems everyone with a typewriter started writing screenplays. Hollywood had to build a wall to keep all those people out they didn’t think belonged, which was just about everyone. That's when literary agents appeared on the scene. Hollywood would rely on agents to filter through all those screenplays to find one they could use. Things haven’t cha...

Happy Monday, Stage 32 Family! Let's kick off the week with another exciting Stage 32 success story! We are happy to introduce Caytha Jentis from New York, who is a woman of many talents. Caytha came to Stage 32 four years ago after having completed 3 feature films. Her first indie feature And Then Came Love was licensed to Warner Bros. and her last feature, Bad Parents is now on HBO and Hulu! But Caytha wanted to break into television with an original series. The problem was, she didn’t know...

Good morning, everyone.  Greetings again from Chicago, where we have just finished work on Week 2 of filming RAIN BEAUS END.  The cast and crew (including over a dozen Stage 32 members) continues to bring their A-game.  I'll be posting some pictures and a summary of the filming here in the near future, but for now if you'd like to see some set photos and stories, you can check them out and follow me for Week 3 on Instagram here. Now let's roll with another edition of Coffee & Content. First...

The blog post that I'm about to share is from Homicide and The Wire creator, David Simon. Simon penned an incredibly eye-opening post that included his own story of how he was taken advantage of financially by an agent from the Creative Artists Agency's literary division with a product he was never even aware existed called "Packaging." It's a big, bad, buzz word right now for writers. If you know anything about David Simon, you know he was a newspaper writer and author first. And after spen...

In our next series post that follows a Stage 32 Screenwriter's Journey, we're following CJ Walley, an optioned screenwriter who is working with a production crew on his first feature script, 'Break Even,' which was written on assignment. You may remember CJ for his outspoken, yet truthful posts, including this one: How This Rejected Writer Optioned a Goddamned Feature Script. Over the next month or so, we'll be taking you along on CJ's journey, starting with his flight from England to Los Ange...

I've had the pleasure of working with Pete Goldfinger, one of the talented scribes behind the film JIGSAW of the SAW franchise (and many, many more studio and indie feature films and TV shows)! I was talking with him recently and he's embarking on an exciting journey as the writer/creator for a CW Seed show, which is a new frontier for him as a screenwriter/creator. The best part? He wanted to share his experience with the Stage 32 community. For those who may not know, the CW has expanded int...

Getting into the movie business can plunge you down an endless drain of self-doubt and feelings of worthlessness. At some point, you begin to wonder whether you’re behind the learning curve, missing something, or just plain dumb. Then there comes the complex, then another failure, and then the invisible curse that now seems to follow you around no matter what you do. They don’t call it the Midas touch in reverse for nothing. But enough of the pity party. The one thing I have always prided myself...