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RB's Stage 32 News, Notes, Discussions and Other Fun Stuff (February 26, 2016)

4th Rom Com Regular
Posted by Richard "RB" Botto

Welcome to the weekend, everyone.

Before we get started, a couple of announcements.

First, the Oscars are this Sunday and for the 5th straight year, I will be live blogging over on Twitter. If you’re up for having some fun, just give me a follow on Twitter at @RBwalkintoabar #STAGE32ROCKS – I look forward to hanging with you! More information can be found here.

Second, the February edition of On Stage With RB has been announced for this coming Tuesday (yeah, we know it’s March 1st!). If you’re new the site or aren’t familiar with On Stage With RB, it’s a FREE webcast I host every month for the community. I have on a couple of accomplished film industry guests and then hold an extensive Q&A session with the community. You can ask me about anything - Stage 32, your chosen craft, film industry or whatever else is on your mind. The LIVE webcast is available to the first 2000 who register. The broadcast is then made available On Demand.

So, to register for the February edition of On Stage With RB, click here

And to view past editions of On Stage With RB, click here

Now, on with the blog.

Under ENTERTAINMENT NEWS this week, I have 10, count em, 10 Oscar related articles including a look at a couple of Oscar ballots, more on the diversity issue, and a look at how Best Picture is really chosen.

Also in that section this week, Amazon gets in bed with Woody; HBO has some woes; the DGA gears up for contract talks, Cast & Crew acquires Final Draft; the time Harper Lee visited the To Kill a Mockingbird set; tax incentive news and much, much more.

In the VIDEOS section this week, a video essay on the 20 greatest female directed films (do you agree?), an interview with Mad Max director, George Miller and a look at an anatomy of a call sheet.

Under TIPS, I have filmmaking, producing, screenwriting, acting and cinematography 411.

And for the latest and greatest happening around the Stage 32 community, please be sure to check out STAGE 32 NEWS, STAGE 32 SUCCESS STORIES, STAGE 32 EDUCATION, STAGE 32 MEETUPS and POPULAR AND INTERESTING LOUNGE DISCUSSIONS.

That should keep you going until Sunday night. Hope to see you over on Twitter. Until then, enjoy!

Cheers!

RB

STAGE 32 NEWS

On Stage With RB (February 2016) Announced! (Tuesday, March 1, 2016 1:00pm PST) - It’s that time again! Time for the February 2016 edition of On Stage with RB! Every month our Founder & CEO, RB, in an online webinar setting brings on special guests who work in the industry, such as filmmakers and executives to offer advice to our community. Plus, he goes over the best way to use Stage 32 to help your career. Afterwards, he opens up the floor to you for a live 90 minute Q&A session about anything and everything in the industry. Best of all, this is FREE, exclusively for Stage 32 members... and it certainly is educational and entertaining! Guests will be announced soon! Each On Stage with RB has hit capacity with 2,000 members attend from all over the world! Mark your calendars for the February edition of On Stage With RB! To register: click here now!

Live Blogging The Oscars On Sunday - The Oscars have finally arrived and for the 5th straight year, I’ll be live blogging the awards over on Twitter. From nominee loves to nominee snubs to everything in between (and we all know that there's a lot of "in between"), I will be calling it like it is as I see it as it all unfolds. Let's make these 3+ hours as fun as possible, OK? To follow the action, please follow me on Twitter here.

Tragedy On Set - Remembering Sarah Jones 2 Years Later – It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog – even for my own site. In all honesty there just hasn’t been anything that compelled me to sit down and put my thoughts out there… but as I had previously written about the death of camera assistant Sarah Jones, and as two years have now passed since the incident that took her life (she was killed on February 20th, 2014), I decided to revisit my feelings on the topic and look at what has come of that loss. To read the whole story click here

STAGE 32 EDUCATION

Dilemma: Learn To Craft The Dramatic Core of Your Story (Feb 29 through March 21) To succeed as a writer in Hollywood, whether in film, TV, or new media, you need top-notch skills as a storyteller and you need serious chops as a dramatist. The ability to find the dramatic core of your story in any genre and beef up its horsepower are crucial, and yet this is notoriously elusive. However, there is a time-tested technique of putting your protagonist in a good strong dilemma, building it to a crisis, forcing decision and action, and then ultimately resolving the dilemma, one way or the other. The full and proper use of this technique is not well known, however, Jeff Kitchen has been teaching it for over twenty years. This 20-Year Advanced Screenwriting Teacher who has taught Development Executives at all of the major Hollywood Studios will provide 12 hours of advanced instruction over four weeks and you will leave this series learning how to:

  • Find a central dilemma in your story or create one
  • Amplify the dilemma’s power and the whole script gets more compelling.
  • Build that dilemma to its critical juncture and force the issue.
  • Crisis is all the worst things happening at the worst possible moment.
  • Decision and Action in the face of Crisis reveals the protagonist’s true character
  • You never know who your real friends are until you’ve been through a crisis with them
  • The crucial distinction between Decision & Action and the protagonist’s Resolution.
  • The protagonist actively resolves the dilemma.
  • The Resolution should be firmly fixed in finality so there’s no backsliding.
  • The resolution of the dilemma is also the end of the conflict.
  • The way in which the protagonist resolves the dilemma expresses the Theme of the story.
  • Live Q&A with Jeff to work through your project

To learn more about this exciting opportunity click here 

Development: Defining The Producer-Writer Relationship (March 2 and March 9) Navigating the maze of getting a screenplay read by people who can make it a reality is one thing, but moving into the realm of getting material financed and produced by those people is another game altogether. Some of the common questions asked during the development process are: where do producers look for material? How do you get someone to read your material? What are the differences between the indie film landscape and higher budget film production? Should you shoot a proof-of-concept short for your film? Learn directly from Gotham Award-winning Producer Shaun O’Banion who's worked with Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Joe Wright and Judd Apatow. In this class, you will learn Shaun's perspective what producers look for, how doing your research matters, and how collaboration with your new partner is the key to it all.

Topics include:

  • How To Write To Get Read. What hooks a producer, development exec. or reader?
  • What is “development” really and how long can it take?
  • Initial Contact: Where do producers look for material?
  • You’ve been optioned/hired... Now what?

 To obtain additional information related to these topics and register for the class, Click here

 

 STAGE 32 SUCCESS STORIES

  POPULAR AND INTERESTING LOUNGE DISCUSSIONS

STAGE 32 PLANNED AND PROPOSED MEETUPS
     ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

     VIDEOS

     TIPS

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    As always, we welcome thoughts and remarks on ANY of the content above in the Comments section below...

     

    It's Never Too Late - The Creative Leap of Faith
    On Stage With RB (February 2016) Announced!
     
     

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