Meet The Stage 32 Team Dedicated To Your Success!

Hi, Stage 32ers!

Over the last few months, Stage 32 has raised the bar to invest in YOU by expanding our incredible team with passionate and enthusiastic individuals. Each and every one of us on the Stage 32 staff believes deeply in our mission to provide global networking opportunities, world-class entertainment industry education, and a marketplace connecting content creators with decision-makers, to the members of this great community.

We want to connect with each of you to hear about your goals, interests, and hopes for the future. We want to know more about what brought you here to Stage 32 and what you’d like to see more of from our Education, Development Services, and Community teams moving forward.

As we kick off this month’s Introduce Yourself Weekend, we want to take a moment to re-introduce you to this great team. We’re all so happy to be a part of this fantastic community! - Ashley Renee Smith

ASHLEY RENEE SMITH, Community Executive and Member Liaison

Prior to joining the incredible team at Stage 32, Ashley spent nearly 7 years at a boutique development and talent management company where she was deeply involved with every development project, management client, and administrative aspect of running the company. She oversaw a rich development slate of films, ongoing series, and limited series across genres and developed projects for Amazon, Sony TV, FX, Universal TV, Paramount TV, Legendary Global, MGM, Concord Originals, and many others.

Ashley was directly involved in acquiring the rights to a global bestselling book that she helped develop as a series adaptation that was successfully pitched and sold to MGM and FX. She had the honor of developing with some of the top screenwriters and best-selling authors in the business, providing thoughtful notes to improve all documents, pitch materials, and script drafts.

In her free time, Ashley works as a script and development consultant, helping screenwriters discover their voices and polish their material.

SAM MANNETTI, Director of Development

Sam Mannetti has nearly a decade of experience in the entertainment industry in development, production, and talent agencies. Prior to Stage 32, Sam served as a Scripted Development & Production Executive for Disney+ Original Content where he was responsible for identifying and developing series, feature films, short-form content, and other high-quality entertainment formats for the platform. Sam worked alongside the SVP of Content partnering closely with Disney-owned internal content creators, including The Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney Television, Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm. Prior to joining Disney+ for nearly 4 years, Sam was with the top powerhouse agencies William Morris Endeavor (WME) and Endeavor where he worked with the executive team including CEO Ari Emanuel.Sam began his career at AMC Networks in Original Programming and Lionsgate in Motion Picture Development and Production, as well as being a casting production assistant on MY ALL AMERICAN for Michael Fisher (MONEYBALL, THE BLINDSIDE, TOP GUN: MAVERICK), produced by Paul Schiff (HOW IT ENDS (Netflix) and BET Awards Best Actress nominated PROUD MARY).

NIKI HAYES, Operations Manager

ALEXANDRA SHIELDS, Executive Liaison

Prior to Stage 32, Ali was a Creative Executive in Scripted Development and Executive Producer at the Emmy award-winning company Citizen Skull Productions, during which time she oversaw a slate of approximately 30 productions in various stages of development. Ali also represented Citizen Skull at events such as the Toronto Film Festival and Berlinale Film Market. She was responsible for identifying promising writers and projects to cultivate, creating pitch materials that would make the project stand out in the market, and packaging those projects with the talent necessary to move forward. While at Citizen Skull, Ali had the pleasure of working on projects with Lloyd and Beatriz Levin, Lionsgate, Sonia Cole, Sonya O'Hara, Gersh, and Quiver. She also collaborated on projects with international companies like Quizzical (South Africa), Goldfinch (UK), Good Time Decent (Canada).

EMILY J., Writer Liaison

Emily has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade, most recently at Imagine Entertainment where she worked for the EVP of International to develop projects under the Netflix brand. Prior to Imagine she was the Managing Editor for The Tracking Board where she was promoted through the ranks from Staff Writer to TV Editor to Managing Editor and helped grow from a small group of writers to a diverse team of over two dozen writers. She also served as Head Writer on "The Drop" and "H1Z1 Pro League" for Facebook and has worked with companies including MRC, Darren Star Productions, Corday Productions, and Rose Pictures, among others.

GIGI RAINES, Marketing and Growth Manager

As someone who knows the ups and downs of the industry, GiGi is excited to help writers, actors, and filmmakers navigate this world and achieve their career goals. And most importantly to connect with passionate people who love film and television. She previously played Tom Hanks and Catherine Keener’s daughter in the Oscar-nominated film CAPTAIN PHILLIPS directed by Paul Greengrass. She was cut out of the film entirely -- and the business side of film started to make sense. She learned to navigate the ever-evolving industry of film and found success by taking the road a little less traveled. She then worked on the major studio productions THE JUDGE starring Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall filmed by two-time Oscar-winning cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, UNFINISHED BUSINESS starring Vince Vaughn, THE FORGER starring John Travolta, Christopher Plummer, and Tye Sheridan, AMERICAN HUSTLE starring Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence in various capacities, and created genuine connections with the people around her. She has produced and acted in sketches garnering over 30 million views through social media and the short film GROW that premiered at Tribeca. She got her start in acting on the Hallmark Movie LAKE EFFECTS starring Jane Seymour produced by Sara Elizabeth Timmins of Life Out Loud Films and Stage 32 Education.

DAVID ABROOKIN, Development Services Coordinator

Before joining Stage 32, David was an IP Scout for Storied Media Group, where he identified stories for screen adaptation in The Washington Post, USA Today, NPR, Sydney Morning Herald, New Republic, and other publications for inclusion in the company's source material database. Projects Storied Media has produced or packaged include THE MULE, DEEPWATER HORIZON, and MODERN LOVE. Prior to Storied Media Group, David started his career at top-three talent agency WME, where he spent many years as a Story Analyst, reading for top agents and their clients, including Aaron Sorkin, James Mangold, and Charlize Theron.

ERICA BERRY, Development Services Team

Erica assists writers and executives with any questions or concerns regarding their development services through Stage 32, including pitch sessions, coverage, consulting, and mentorships. Prior to joining Stage 32, Erica worked in the financial industry as a personal financial representative and as a Senior Hiring Recruiter. HErica motivates members to continue working toward their goals and builds genuine relationships.

JAMES LAGRIMAS, Development Services Team

SAM SOKOLOW, Director of Education

Sam is currently Executive Producer of "GENIUS", a scripted series for National Geographic Network, which he developed from book to series. The first season of "GENIUS" depicted the life of Albert Einstein with Geoffrey Rush starring as Einstein and Ron Howard directing the pilot. "GENIUS: EINSTEIN" garnered ten 2017 Emmy nominations including a Best Limited Series nomination for Sam. The second season of "GENIUS" - "GENIUS: PICASSO" - depicted the life of Pablo Picasso with Antonio Banderas starring as Picasso and garnered seven 2018 Emmy nominations including a Best Limited Series nomination for Sam. The third season of "GENIUS" – "GENIUS: ARETHA" - depicts the life of “The Queen Of Soul” Aretha Franklin, with Cynthia Erivo portraying Aretha and Suzan-Lori Parks showrunning, and will premiere in 2021. Season 4 of "GENIUS" – "GENIUS: MLK/X" – has been ordered and will premiere on Disney+.

NICK WATERS, Education Producer

Nick is the Education Producer at Stage 32 and a working writer, director, and producer. Nick’s recent work includes directing and producing the award-winning documentary on the war in Ukraine, WHEN WE DANCE, and writing and producing the horror feature film MARGAUX for Paramount Pictures and producing the horror feature film SHELTER IN PLACE with The Komack Company.

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