More than a Meeting a Day Between Industry Execs & Stage 32 Members in May!

Good morning Stage 32 Creative Crew! I hope you have had a productive week and hit your writing or creative goals! Can you believe that we are already over halfway through the year! Since we just closed out the first week of June, I wanted to take a look back at the busy month of May here at Stage 32.

There were a couple of big success stories that jumped out in the month of May. Jonathan Jordan, the winner of Stage 32 3rd Annual Feature Screenwriting Contest, let us know that he not only signed with a literary manager as a result of winning our contest, but he was also just hired for his first paid screenwriting assignment!

Stage 32 member Jonathan Jordan landed his agent, manager & first paid gig after 

winning the Stage 32 3rd Annual Feature Screenwriting Contest!

Jonathan reminded us that, “...twenty years ago, it was pretty much impossible to break into this industry without moving to LA or at the very least doing a lot of free work first and trying to fund your own projects. But the landscape has changed — for the better. The fact that there are resources like Stage 32 that can help you bring your work in front of real industry insiders, get real pitch meetings, get real agents and managers in your corner is practically miraculous.”

We also heard from Richard Bradley, a Stage 32 member from all the way “down unda”, who said that even as he is based in Sydney, he connected with Brad Wilson and Jim Young! In fact, Brad and Richard are now in regular contact with each other. Richard just reached out to let me know that he has been getting even more traction on his projects as a result of his blog post! But those are still under wraps for now, so stay tuned…

Australian screenwriter & filmmaker Richard Bradley connected

with Producer Brad Wilson through Stage 32

Screenwriter and Stage 32 member Maurice Vaughan also showed us the power of the platform, when he described how he landed not one - but three paid screenwriting jobs in 2020 - two of which came through Stage 32! Maurice boiled his awesome story into one word of advice: “If you want to receive jobs (screenwriting, filmmaking, etc.), if you want to get your scripts read, if you want to sell your scripts, if you want to get your movies watched, and if you want to collaborate with people on projects, network!”

Screenwriting Maurice Vaughan landed 2 paid writing gigs

by networking on Stage 32!

And that is why I wanted to take the time to let you know about your fellow Stage 32 members who are taking the bull by the horns and utilizing the resources Stage 32 has to offer and networking as a result! In the month of May, there were 32 meeting requests between executives and writers through Stage 32! And for those keeping score at home, that is over 213 meeting requests since the beginning of the year!

Manager and Producer Julia Verdin asked to be connected with Scott Jacobs after reading the first 10 pages of his script Marty Zipco's Ballroom. She also asked to be connected with Rosan Dieho for the project Ugly Love after a pitch session and Craig Winstead after reading his first 10 pages of Lakewood!

Meagan Culberson of Alta Global Media asked to be connected with Corr Pearce for the project Skin, Aaron Yarber for the project Narmer Jefferson vs. Planet Earth, and Quinn Morrison for the project Shadow Hunter after reading and providing feedback on their first 10 pages.

While Thomas Pemberton of Mind’s Eye Entertainment asked to be introduced to Carole Starcevic for the project Hel, The Last Saga, Reed Kowit for Dominion, Jimmy Prosser for the project Charlatans, and Donnalyn Vojta for her Television project!

UK-based agent Christina Pickworth of Imagine Talent asked to be introduced to Paul Hunt for his project Bridge by the Earthen House and Barry Duffield for his project Tandoori Apocalypse after providing a First 10 pages review.

Director and producer Rachel Paulson asked to be connected with David Hughes for his project Skindred, while producer Christian Sander asked to be introduced to Jason Farley for his project Broken Like Me and Justin Shaner for Walk of Life after a Stage 32 pitch session. Producer Chaya Masters of Rumination Road asked to be connected with Chris Ethridge for the project A New Thing, Marc Aronoff for his script, and Mark A Mckee for Posthuman.

Producer Derek Gordon - who you might recall is working on closing a distribution deal for Stage 32 member Antoine Allen after connecting through Stage 23 - also asked for introductions to Gregg DaCosta for his project Therapy, Daphne Russell for the project The Book of Abel, James Banner for Barons of Hell, Tony Pindrock for the project Sight Beyond Sight, James P. Neblett for the project Return, and Rashika Roberts for Make it Right after connecting through a Stage 32 pitch session.

Executive Chanlamar Carey of Universal Content Productions - a division of NBCUniversal - asked to meet Tim Keen after providing Premium Coverage for his script Cop School and Pablo Lopez for his script RNWY.

Terhys Persad who works with an A-List television director asked to meet Amy Theorin after connecting through a Stage 32 pitch session for the script, Kindly Metal Mother. Television executive Brandon Drea of Paper Plane Entertainment asked to be connected with Andrew Gilchrist after connecting through a pitch session for the project, End of the Territories, while another TV executive, Catherine Keithley of Briaan Graden Media asked to be introduced to Krystal Champion for her project Finding Wellness. 

And finally, Producer Brad Wilson of Higher Purpose Entertainment - who I mentioned earlier - asked to be introduced to Dawn Burges for one of her scripts, while Alexia Melocchi asked to be introduced to Bruno Amato after providing Premium Coverage on his script, The Final Act (a script with Brad Wilson also gave a coveted “Double Recommend” to).

Please join me in congratulating all of the incredibly talented members of the Stage 32 community who had success through the platform in May! As we kick off the back half of the year, I am going to bring you some awesome stories from other community members.

In the meantime, take care of yourself, each other, keep creating, keep telling stories, and keep up the good work! The world needs artists more than ever right now to inspire and energize.

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Taylor at taylor@stage32.com and let's get your post published!

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