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Can Someone Tell Me What Producers Even Do?

My name is Tennyson E. Stead, and I’m a showperson with thirty years of stage experience, fifteen years in film development, and more than 40 screenplays under my belt as a writer. I’ve survived fraudster film producers, I’ve survived a crippling brain injury subsequent to having an actor accidentally beat my head in with a prop sword, I’ve survived homelessness, starvation, and even employment as an Arclight Cinemas usher and concessionaire in order to make my dr…

How To Make Deals in Hollywood Without Getting Hustled

Hello, readers of Stage 32! My name is Tennyson E. Stead, I’ve been working in entertainment all my life, and I’ve written more than 50 screenplays - many of them as a ghostwriter, which means a vastly disproportionate portion of my writing is both paid and uncredited work. In fact, a huge number of my professional decisions have involved compromises that I think a lot of writers would balk at, and certainly, I’m constantly making decisions that draw rigorous, interroga…

The Dangers Of Getting Top Production Value For Zero Cost

Most of you will know me from previous blogs on this site, and most of the time those blogs tend towards contentious subject matter. If this is your first time reading me, welcome. My name is Tennyson E. Stead and I’m a writer and director who has worked in disciplines ranging from film finance to gaffing and grip. As a screenwriter, script doctor, and ghostwriter, I’ve written more than 50 screenplays and I’ve been paid for a sizable percentage of those. My directing…

How To Network Without Using People

My name is Tennyson, I’ve written more than 50 screenplays, I’ve helped produce some movies, I direct and edit, I’m a working script doctor, and I’ve been working on stage since I was 13 years old. For the last few years, I’ve been blogging for Stage 32… and this week, we’re going to talk in a little more detail about why I do that. EVERYBODY NEEDS HELP Showbusiness is, and has always been, a collaborative effort. Even a one-person show need…

Branding Yourself Without Breaking Yourself

Because every blog is someone’s first blog, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tennyson E. Stead, and I’m a regular contributor here on Stage 32. I’m a screenwriter with more than 50 screenplays under my belt, I’m a director, I’m a producer, I’m an old-school theater guy and I’m a cutting edge transmedia creator. My biggest credit to date is for writing a dark future gladiator tentpole called Atlas: Uprising for Emagine Content, and I&rsquo…

How To Process Feedback

In 2021, I wrote a pilot and a feature in my labors as a script doctor and ghostwriter… and in the final tally, I wound up writing 6 pilots and nine features by the end of that year. Only one of those films was under my own name. In 2022, my goal was to make enough headway with my own spec sales, films in development, and transmedia projects that I can charge more, work less, and focus on what I have to give the audience. I made it my focus to get my sci-fi heist feature into pr…

How To Network Without Using People

Showbusiness is and has always been a collaborative effort. Even a one-person show needs an audience to be complete, so there’s nobody in this industry - no matter how much success or power they may have - who doesn’t need support when it comes to realizing their creative and financial goals. When we’ve been undersupported in our work and our lives, it’s easy to look at the careers of more established filmmakers and creators and imagine that there comes a point wh…

How to Get Creative Control

“Let’s talk,” he said with a misleading twinkle in his eye, “about what it takes to ensure that our immaculate and undoubtedly superior artistic vision is protected from the corrupting influence of all those collaborators, executives, and audience members who all want their own little piece of the creative process.” A film grows to its fullest potential when it’s nurtured by the relationships of all the people responsible for making it. Any filmmaker …

Getting Top Production Value for Zero Cost

Most of you will know me from previous blogs on this site, and most of the time those blogs tend towards contentious subject matter. If this is your first time reading me, welcome. My name is Tennyson E. Stead and I’m a writer and director who has worked in disciplines ranging from film finance to gaffing and grip. As a screenwriter, script doctor, and ghostwriter, I’ve written more than 50 screenplays and I’ve been paid for a sizable percentage of those. My directing…

Branding Yourself Without Breaking Yourself

Because every blog is someone’s first blog, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tennyson E. Stead, and I’m a regular contributor here on Stage 32. I’m a screenwriter with more than 50 screenplays under my belt, I’m a director, I’m a producer, I’m an old-school theater guy and I’m a cutting edge transmedia creator. My biggest credit to date is for writing a dark future gladiator tentpole called Atlas: Uprising for Emagine Content, and I&rsquo…

How To Make Deals in Hollywood without Getting Hustled

Hello, readers of Stage 32! My name is Tennyson E. Stead, I’ve been working in entertainment all my life, and I’ve written more than 50 screenplays - many of them as a ghostwriter, which means a vastly disproportionate portion of my writing is both paid and uncredited work. In fact, a huge number of my professional decisions have involved compromises that I think a lot of writers would balk at, and certainly I’m constantly making decisions that draw rigorous, interrogat…

How To Network Without Using People

Happy “Valentimes,” Stage 32! My name is Tennyson, I’ve written more than 50 screenplays, I’ve helped produce some movies, I direct and edit, I’m a working script doctor, and I’ve been working on stage since I was 13 years old. For the last few years, I’ve been blogging for Stage 32 more or less monthly… and this week, we’re going to talk in a little more detail about why I do that. EVERYBODY NEEDS HELP Showbusiness is, and has a…

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