Meet Stage 32's New Executive Liaison, Nick Phillips!

Greetings, Stage 32 Community!

I am so incredibly pleased to introduce myself to you as the new Executive Liaison! I have already hit the ground running, and I am so excited to help our amazing staff bring even more fantastic mentors, educators, and execs to you guys, the Community! This team wakes up every day trying to provide the most positive and productive experience to each and every one of our members, and I want you to know that I share in that dedication.

New, But Not New...

I have been working with Stage 32 as an executive and educator for a decade now, starting with my first webinar back in 2014. Since then, I’ve provided services like pitch sessions, consultation calls, and more, and I have enjoyed every minute of it. I developed a great working relationship with RB and Amanda over those years, and when they asked me to join this top-notch staff as the Executive Liaison, needless to say, I jumped at the opportunity!

One of THE most exciting parts of this new job is being the host of the weekly Writers Room Webcasts. You have no idea how stoked I am! We’re going to have some fun in these coming weeks and months. We have so many excellent guests lined up, so please be ready to talk about writing, movies, TV, and all of the things we love to talk about. It’s who we are, right??

Producer By Trade

I’m a producer by trade, having worked as both a studio executive and an independent producer, while also working at times as a writer and a director. But producing is what I do, both on the creative development and physical production fronts. All in, I have been in film & television for nearly 30 years now, working in all types of genres and all kinds of budget ranges.

The first eight years were spent at Miramax/Dimension films starting in 1997, both in their New York office and beginning in 2003 in their Los Angeles offices. I became a production executive in 2000 on the Dimension Films side, working on such franchises as Halloween, Hellraiser, Scream, The Crow, Highlander, as well as appearing on Season 3 of Project Greenlight on Bravo, which documented the production of the film Feast. I even had the good fortune to work on early iterations of Dr. Strange and Werewolf By Night.

In 2005, I moved to a job at Sony Screen Gems on the Sony lot in Culver City, serving as their Senior Vice President of Production & Development. During my tenure at that company, I worked on successful sequels to Vacancy and 30 Days of Night, as well as a diverse slate of films including the remake of Straw Dogs, the Academy Award-nominated Country Strong, and the ensemble holiday comedy This Christmas.

Co-Founding Success

After the Sony era, I co-founded a fully financed independent genre label called Revolver Picture Company (named after the seminal album by The Beatles) along with my business partner at the time, Kelly Wagner Osborne. Revolver produced four films in its four-year tenure: Haunt, with Jacki Weaver and Ione Skye, the award-winning Beneath with Jeff Fahey (both released by IFC Midnight in 2014); and The Devil’s Backbone, Texas, released by Fox Digital Studios in 2015. Revolver’s last feature, entitled Pet, starred Dominic Monaghan, Ksenia Solo, and Jeannette McCurdy and premiered at the SXSW Film Festival in 2016. It was released by Samuel Goldwyn Films in 2016. The company also co-financed and co-produced three seasons of the YouTube Red Original Series Fight of the Living Dead, a horror reality game show, and yes you read that correctly.

From 2017 - 2020, I was a freelance producer and worked on two seasons of the series The Real Bros of Simi Valley for Facebook Watch, as well as season one of the short-form series Mr. Mom for MGM and VUDU.

In 2021 and 2022, I served as the Head of Production for the feature startup studio/streaming platform CreatorPlus. CreatorPlus produced, financed, and released two features: Jane, starring Madelaine Petsch, Chloe Bailey, and Melissa Leo, and Diamond in the Rough, both released in 2022. I also had the privilege of executive producing a slate of five short films as part of CreatorPlus’ Flip the Script Short Film Program.

Most recently, I worked at Yale Entertainment as their Head of Production. While there, I produced four films – Bucky F*cking Dent, written, directed by, and starring David Duchovny; All You Need is Blood, with Mena Suvari; The Fog of War with John Cusack and Mira Sorvino; and Barron’s Cove, starring Garrett Hedlund, Stephen Lang, Brittany Snow, and Hamish Linklater.

I mentioned above about having worked as a writer and a director. I had the pleasure of doing so on three short films: Primrose Lane, Jezebel, and Spectres. Primrose played at festivals such as the Seattle International Film Festival and the Telluride Horror Show and won Honorable Mention at the Nashville Film Festival. Jezebel played the Telluride Horror Show as well and won Best Actress at NYC Fright Fest and Best Short Film at the Los Angeles Thriller Film Festival. Spectres had a successful festival run including stops at the Austin Under the Stars Festival (where it won Best Editing) and the Nightmares Film Festival. Jezebel premiered on Gunpowder + Sky’s ALTER channel on YouTube to amazing feedback and has nearly 3.5 million views and climbing.

Always A Film Geek At Heart

But even after all these years, I’m not very far from that geeky kid waaaaaay back in the 1980s in suburban Maryland. My younger brother and I were just a couple of lucky dudes with a video camera, and we honed our craft creating slasher films and sci-fi epics in our backyard. Using skateboards as a dolly, keeping a boom box next to the camera mic to provide some kick-ass needle drops, we utilized all of the tricks of the trade. Now that I think about it, those movies are in my garage in a bin somewhere, might have to revisit!

Aside from my amazing children and loved ones, filmmaking is my biggest passion, my life’s work. Working with writers, directors, and so many other outstanding artisans in the process of creating provides me with so much joy, as well as a lot of stress, and at times even heartbreak. But in the end, it truly is all worth it. To work in and be a tiny, tiny footnote in this crazy business is something I take pride in. I hope to help you along in your own journey, and share some of your passion for the creative process as well. I look forward to the fun times ahead, and I hope you do as well!

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