Screenwriting

Hey guys. Happy Friday. Also, Happy Introduce Yourself Weekend. I wanted to share a video I found most intriguing. It's a look at the elements of suspense within Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds screenplay, most notably its 17-minute opening scene. What makes this scene so effective? Why does it work so well? I look forward to your thoughts in the Comments section below.     Like this blog post? Please share it on social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, email etc) by usi...

Last night brought us one of the most memorable moments in Oscars history when the wrong film was announced as Best Picture. Many anticipated a La La Land victory, but it was Moonlight, a film made for under $5MM, that brought home the top gold! 2016 brought on some of the most spectacular cinema we've ever seen. We want to congratulate all the creatives involved, including our 13 Stage 32ers who worked on films nominated (more on that here).  Ultimately we have 3 films that brought home the...

The Stage 32 2nd Annual Happy Writers TV Writing Contest brought in some of the best TV material we've read in a long time. Writers were curiously creative this round, and we received everything from original pilots with historical flair to supernatural underdog tales and meticulously crafted TV specs based off of some of today's greatest TV shows on air. Our writers brought their A-game!We're proud to announce the TV specs and original TV pilots that made it to the next stage in the Stage 32 2n...

Stage 32 is honored to premiere the 2nd Stage 32 Short Film Program at the 2017 Richmond Film Festival. This program was curated by the incredible industry executives(3 who won Oscars!) who judged our Annual Short Film Contest and features 6 amazing directors (from 4 countries) all with bright futures ahead. Once again, congratulations to all the filmmakers and the Stage 32 team congratulates you on the screening!  Stage 32 Short Film Program @ RIFF Wednesday, March 1, 2017 at 2:45PMByrd Thea...

THE SILENT MAJORITY I was pleased that Hollywood chose to honor The Artist - a silent movie - in such grand fashion at the Oscars. Pleased and a little vindicated, I must say. Because it reminded me of a terrific project I worked on that never happened and of my favorite studio note ever. Here comes my war story: Fox Family Films had just discovered a wonderful new talent named David Shiner, an actor comedian entertainer who had come up as a street performer. He was at the time killing on Br...

You may or may not be familiar with producer Ross Putman's Twitter feed @femscriptintros. Ross, having been in the industry for many years decided that he would call out the way that female characters are portrayed in the scripts that he's reading. He takes actual script introductions of female characters and replaces them with "JANE" to protect the writers.  For those of you who don't know Ross, he's a Stage 32 Educator, and a successful producer having recently won the Sundance NEXT Award fo...

Stage 32 and the St. Petersburg/Clearwater Film Commission are pleased to announce the grand prize winner of their Short Film Script Contest, screenwriter/director Tanya Carleton Lovrics for her screenplay DOLPHIN GIRL. Lovrics will be flown to Florida and mentored by Sundance alum writer/director, JT Mollner. Production company, Digital Caviar will manage production. A native of Niagara Falls, Canada, Lovrics is a graduate—with honors—from Sheridan's Illustration Program and has worked as an...

Taking our stories out of this world is nothing new, but it’s definitely generated some of the most prolific and biggest blockbuster films to date, and let’s not forget have brought some of the most iconic film lines ever. Stage 32 is happy to provide a brand new opportunity for our Fantasy and Sci-Fi screenwriters to get their stories out there and read by some of the top industry players. Show us what new fantastical worlds and outer depths of science fiction you've created, because we want to...

The warm sun, the sand between your toes, and a $20,000 production grant provided by St. Petersburg/Clearwater Film Commission. Stage 32 and the St. Petersburg/Clearwater Film Commission are incredibly excited to see who makes it to Florida to film their short film script. These 10 Finalists are that much closer to seeing their story come to life, and we are beyond excited on their achievement thus far! Join us as we congratulate the writers who made it to the Finalists round in the Stage 32 S...

Today is an exciting day here at Stage 32 - we want to congratulate our Stage 32 members, educators & executives who worked on 13 films (that we know of!) that are officially nominated for the 2017 Oscars!   CONGRATULATIONS TO STAGE 32 MEMBERS WHO HAVE FILM NOMINATIONS:   Toni Erdmann - Congratulations to Stage 32 member, producer Michel Merkt Elle (Best Actress) - Congratulations to Stage 32 member, producer Michel Merkt My Life as a Zucchini - Congratulations to Stage 32 members, pr...