A Stage 32 Success Story: How I Networked, Sold My Short Script, & Watched It Come To Life!

About a year and a half ago, I wrote a blog for Stage 32 to share that my short horror script, “Bad Clown” was in pre-production, thanks to a connection I made here on Stage 32 (you can read it HERE).

To quickly recap, I met Christine Jansen, owner of Beautiful Darkness Productions through a Stage 32 Lounge Post. She then messaged me and requested to read my short script. I was excited and grateful, but like always, didn’t count on anything major happening. 

She read my first short horror script, and really liked it, but couldn’t film it for a year or so due to the special effects involved. Keeping this in mind, I tried to come up with something new with one or two locations, two or three characters, and no special effects. After six months, I finished a polished draft of my second short horror script about an evil clown doll that torments a young teen, “Bad Clown”.

I reached back out to Christine over email, politely reminding her of our initial discussion six months prior. In my email, I included the logline and asked if she might be interested in reading the script. She said yes, and, within the same day, she got back to me, saying that she loved the script and wanted to buy it! Her current project was stalled due to a location issue, so she purchased my script and went directly into pre-production.

It was such a wonderful experience from beginning to end!

As the producer/director, Christine was so professional, kind, and extremely detail-oriented. She invited me to the table reading, which I never expected, but greatly appreciated. To hear the actors say my words was so surreal. That was the moment when I thought, oh my God, this is really happening!

Christine also invited me to a day of filming. Unfortunately, I had a prior commitment I couldn’t break, but she sent photos of the day’s scenes and the cast/crew. I loved this!

Several months later, Christine sent the final draft of the film to the entire team for review. Again, I never expected this. Talk about professionalism!

A few weeks later, the team received the final version of the film. As a newbie, this was truly an amazing moment for me. To see my story come to life with the actors, music, sound effects, etc. was beyond words. It made me realize that no matter how great a script is, it’s truly a collaboration.

Christine wasted no time submitting “Bad Clown” to various film festivals and kept the team updated on the wins, official selections, and new submissions.

Because of the talents of everyone on Christine’s team, here are some of the awards won during 2024:

• Best Short Screenplay – Frida Film Festival
• Best Horror, Best Indie Short Film, Best Director – Paris Film Awards
• Best Micro Short – Stockholm Short Festival
• Best Actress – Phantasmagoria Film Fest
• Official Selection – NJ Horror Con and Film Festival
• Best Short Thriller – Jersey Shore Film Festival
• Best Micro Short – Jersey City Horror Film Festival

“Bad Clown” is now available to the public via YouTube and Vimeo!

Being part of this project has been one of the best experiences of my life, and it all began with a connection on Stage 32. Thank you, Richard RB Botto and Stage 32!

If you want your script to be produced, whether it’s a short or feature, you have to be willing to put in the hard work. Unless of course, you can produce it yourself.

It took me years and years of writing and trying to make connections. There were lots of small successes and lots of failures. Sure, there’s a little bit of timing and good luck involved, but you really have to work at it.

For me, it was totally worth it. And I finally got an IMDB credit!

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

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