Success Stories

Happy Monday Stage 32 Creative Crew! I’m sure you’ve heard our Founder and CEO Rich ‘RB” Botto talk about the Content Gold Rush that we are in the midst of right now. I’m going to put it in perspective for you right now. Last year at this time there were 188 meeting requests from industry professionals looking to connect with writers through Stage 32. That’s a phenomenal number. That’s an average of more than a meeting a day. This year, we are at 237 meeting requests as I write this. Did...

Thanks to the successes of instant classics like ZOOTOPIA, TOY STORY, THE LEGO MOVIE and SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE, and daring TV satires such as RICK AND MORTY, BOJACK HORSEMAN, BIG MOUTH, and BOB’S BURGERS, the wonderful world of animation is more exciting, diverse, and in demand than ever! There is truly something for everyone when it comes to animated features and TV series & correspondingly, it is undoubtedly more in demand than ever before! Walt Disney said, "Animation can expl...

The Dark Origins Before we get started… there’s a few downer moments in this, but rest assured it all comes up roses in the end, so stick with it. I recently optioned my first script, BlackBird to an Irish director/producer who is currently working on preproduction. BlackBird is a hugely personal story. In fact, it is an autobiographical story. It gets super, seriously, rated-R level dark, so I won’t go into those details on this upbeat “happy news” kind of blog. But here is a breakdow...

From Alex Montilla   Kheireddine El-Helou and I met while working as assistants in the editing room of 'The Muppets' in 2011 and immediately formed a bond based on a love of genre films and filmmaking, often discussing ideas for films we wanted to make. Through his award-winning short horror film, 'Drudge', Kheireddine got representation and some industry attention and was ready to make the move into features. So, in 2015, he told me his loose idea for a super low-budget movie he wanted to ma...

I’d been a “Schrödinger’s cat” member of Stage 32 for the better part of the last four years. “What does that even mean, Athina?” I hear you ask. Lucky for you, dear reader, I am here to elaborate. Get yourself a cup of tea (and one for me as well - black, with a dash of milk - please and thank you!) and let’s get crackin’. What I mean is, that “member” is a generous term. I’d been more of a passive, background, lurking in the dark Cat Woman sort of member. I had signed up for the newsl...

It’s no secret that we’re in a new Golden Age of Television. With audiences’ increasing desires for escapism and purely bingeable TV, there is perhaps no greater demand for new material than within Televised Comedies. Series like TED LASSO on Apple+, PEN15 and RAMY on Hulu, BARRY and INSECURE on HBO, ASTRONOMY CLUB on Netflix, THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL on Amazon, critics and global audiences alike can’t get enough. Not only are these shows changing the way that we watch television but, in many c...

Hello Stage 32 Community! Since the beginning of this year, our fearless leader and CEO Richard "RB" Botto has been talking a lot about the Content Gold Rush of 2021 - how development and the need for great stories and content is higher than ever. Well, this notion has been proved time and time again within the Stage 32 community since January. For starters, we have already had 160 meeting requests from entertainment executives looking to connect with screenwriters and filmmakers they have met...

My background as a writer is very simple. I started writing because I wanted to direct. More by necessity than choice. At some point I realized something. For me, writing has been the only way that I’ve found the ability to express myself. But a screenplay can’t fully express the ideas within it. It’s in the translation to screen where the material is given life. That’s where the magic happens for me. Like many others, I started out writing and directing short films. It’s an invaluable...

Screenwriting was not how I envisioned my profession; nor is it to this day, easy for me. I came to writing after years of honing my directing and acting chops in conservatories and out in the professional world of Chicago and New York. However, life throws you curve balls and one day you wake up and realize that world is not going to tell the stories that you are truly passionate about. If it’s really important to you, you have to take it upon yourself to create that vision. This is something t...

I’ve been writing since I learned to read, and I’ve always dreamed of being a professional writer. I spent my childhood writing novels: Tolkien-esque fantasy knock-offs, historical fiction, and even a quirky murder mystery. In high school, I discovered my dad’s stash of classic sci-fi novels, and I fell in love with the genre. But I still stayed in my comfort zone, studying literature in college and then graduate school--starting a family--pursuing a career in academia. But through it all, I kep...