Tips

Happy Sunday, Creative Army! First, 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 around 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, in this video from Variety, you'll learn from Oscar-winning Directory...

My name is Tennyson, I’ve written more than 50 screenplays, I’ve helped produce some movies, I direct and edit, I’m a working script doctor, and I’ve been working on stage since I was 13 years old. For the last few years, I’ve been blogging for Stage 32… and this week, we’re going to talk in a little more detail about why I do that. EVERYBODY NEEDS HELP Showbusiness is, and has always been, a collaborative effort. Even a one-person show needs an audience to be complete, so there’s nobody i...

One of the strategies that helps me to stay positive is keeping a record of the good things that happen in my writing journey and life in general. I make mental notes or, at times, even document these moments. Reflecting on these in my heart and mind is a great way to return me to a place of gratitude. Reinvention When my wife, daughter, and I moved to Nashville, we did so to plant new roots and essentially, restart our family tree. We had no family or friends to depend on. Except for a few b...

Welcome back to TALKING BUSINESS: Insights from the Independent Film Industry, hosted by Stage 32 Thought Leader and Business Consultant, David Zannoni, from Freeway Entertainment and Zannoni Media. In TALKING BUSINESS, David brings you in-depth conversations on the behind-the-scenes of the filmmaking business with industry veterans. In today’s fourth episode, David speaks with Octavio Marin, VP of Production & Operations for Santa Fe Studios and SF Film Services, LLC. Octavio oversees Santa F...

Brooklynn Fields and I, the co-hosts of Stage 32’s Writer’s Room Pitch Practice Tank Sessions, put our thoughts and opinions together in writing this blog for our community. Writing is sometimes made a solitary pursuit, but writers don’t have to go it alone. Accountability and support are key components of success for writers. Let’s talk about the concept of writer accountability and the various forms of support that can help writers achieve their goals during November Write Club and beyond....

Hey, Creative Army! For the 8th year in a row, Stage 32 continued as the official Networking and Education partner of the American Film Market! It was a whirlwind few days, but we all had an absolute blast! We had the pleasure of catching up with so many of our members, educators, executives, and Thought Leaders who were present. This year was history in the making as Stage 32 was proud to coordinate the film market's first-ever Television panel, and to say it was a hit would be an understat...

1. The Blogger “Toxic & Elitist”, were the words circling within my head in November 2013. I’d found myself at the door of Stage 32 an artistic refugee, spiritually exhausted after a stint on screenwriting forums and a certain website that evaluates your scripts with a score. The former exposed me to trolls who’d convinced me I didn’t have what it takes to break in, while the latter had done nothing but send me in circles. While a script of mine had been selected by Amazon Studios as a “Notable...

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. This week we're talking all things lighting! So first, in this great video from In Depth Cine, you'll look at the differences between 'cinematic lighting' and 'natural lighting.' Often what we think of as 'natural' is anything but. However, there are plenty of films that do manage to use natural lighting...

Through 15 years of working in the entertainment industry, I’ve learned that there will be many ups and downs in a dream pursuit. There will be obstacles, and good days, and opportunities, and rejections. The High Achiever (a.k.a. you!), needs a game plan through it all. The High Achiever needs to handle all of these moments intentionally and carefully, in a way that effectively keeps them on the path to success. That’s why I developed the 10 Pillars of the High Achiever. Here are the 10 pillars...

When you decide to write music for Film and Television as a full-time job, you’ll soon realize that from that moment on it is not just about your music, but about the music business. There is so much to know and to learn about the process of negotiating a deal. I am going to share some of the experiences I have had so far, hoping that it will help you with your negotiations a little bit. When And Why: Signing An Agreement When you are offered a composer job, your first instinct is probably to...