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A Special Evening of Live Music - Celebrating Women Composers In Media!

On the 30th of October 2016 ten composers in the Film, TV and Gaming industry will be coming together to perform their music live to picture at an event in LA. What makes this event unique is that all of the composers are women. In an industry where only 1-2% of films are scored by women, these composers are forging their way, creating music - beautiful, inspirational, colourful, dramatic, individual music. They work in film, in TV and in gaming, they create concert music and they perfor…

Filmmakers - Want Your Film Scored & Seen By Industry Executives?

Today, we have an exciting opportunity for our filmmakers brought to you by 4 incredibly talented, accomplished and visionary Stage 32 composers. Drew Silverstein, Samuel Estes, Michael Hobe and Matt Kabus have been working on their revolutionary composing software, Amper, for more than 3 years and they are now ready to bring it to the public. Being the collaborators they are, they want to take some Stage 32 members along for the ride. I'll let Drew take it from here, but before I do, …

Pay It Forward: Another Stage 32 Film Premiering This Week

As filmmakers, we all try to move forward and create our films with the talent, materials and tools at our disposal. Some of these we may have in or arsenal and others we acquire through purchasing, hiring, renting, borrowing or simply putting the “arm” on colleagues. However, apart from a great story and script, some of the most important components of our productions are those resources called humans. Whether above the line or below, these critical creative team members are…

The Home Stretch of 2016 - Are You Hitting Your Goals? Creative Check In!

No weekend News and Notes blog this weekend because I'm out of town...However... As we approach the final stretch of 2016 I thought it might be a good time to reflect a little on the creative goals we set for the year. Need a refresher on the goals you set? Here is where we all checked in to start this year. How are you doing? Making progress? Lagging behind? Changing direction entirely? Let's talk about it in the Comments section below. And, of course, if there is the opportunity to a…

A Radio DJ Speaks

Often when people find out I work as a radio DJ, they put a fist in my face as if they were holding a microphone and ask me to do my 'radio voice.' Truth is, my 'radio voice' in real life doesn't even remotely sound like my voice on the radio. This is because there is so much processing and filters going on between the voice and the actual broadcast that what is poured on one side doesn't sound the same as the output. It's almost like making a soup, you might have a nice piece of chicken…

Five Pieces of Advice for Film & Media Composers

Here are five pieces of advice I wish I'd known when I was starting out as a media composer. Firstly as my disclaimer; these are by no means hard and fast rules. Think of the following as food for thought and NOT a recipe for success, but it may help you avoid cooking up a few dodgy meals. 1. Be a 'Jack of All' or a 'Master of One'  I think there is a primary decision to be made that lays the foundation of any composer's career: to be a 'jack of all', or a 'master of one'. I thi…

The Biggest Secret Film Score Composers Don't Want You To Know

I want to let you in on a secret that no accomplished composer wants you to know. So why am I telling you? Honestly, it’s because I am a teacher and it’s just in my blood to teach. The thing is, I will actually be making my life much harder by teaching you this secret because as many of you know, it is extremely competitive in the world of film score composing. It’s not because there are just soooo many unbelievably talented composers out there, it’s simply becaus…

Starting Out: Don’t Undervalue Your Work

I can’t believe I graduated college two years ago, it feels like it’s been forever. I’ve spent the bulk of my two years applying to different gigs, sending out pitches, entering competitions, and trying to make some money in the film industry (not retail). When I was applying to gigs, I began wondering what’s the right rate to charge with my experience on set. How much should I sell a script for? What should I charge a client to write a script? I had so many ques…

RB's Interview on Rolling Tape Podcast!

Hey Everyone! Today we have a GREAT interview with our CEO, RB, with Forest Day Jr, from the video podcast, Rolling Tape. Whether you are new to the site or if you've been with us forever, you will really enjoy watching RB talk about Stage 32, what the site means to him and how it can benefit members. You can view the podcast below... RB explains what Stage 32 is all about and how he came up with the idea, as well as the importance of regular connecting and networking. RB gives exam…

Cut It Out!

I’ve done it, you’ve done it, everyone’s done it: as you watch a movie or TV show you find yourself screaming “not that again!” or “he wouldn’t do that!” or “that makes no sense!” So now I’m going to list my pet peeves – those things I just can’t stand seeing over and over again in shows or movies. Or those things that just leap out as contrivances that just don’t work. I also reached out to colleagues i…

The Five Most Powerful Tools A Film Score Composer Has

The job of a film score composer is to elicit an emotional response from the audience viewing the film. Bing, Bang, Boom!!! In a nut shell that's it! That's the job description! Sometimes the score needs to terrify the audience or fill them with suspense, other times it calls for a triumphant feeling. Composers are called to make people laugh, cry and even fall in love. Each composer has their own 'voice' and their scores encompass an enormous variety of styles of music, depending on th…

RB's Stage 32 News, Notes, Discussions and Other Fun Stuff (May 20, 2016)

Greetings from sunny Cannes! Welcome to the weekend, everyone.  This will, again, be a quick intro. We’re still out here wall-to-wall with meetings and events. It’s been amazing to connect with so many Stage 32 film creatives! Over 250 attended our rooftop party and we've now learned that 33 Stage 32 members (that we know of) have films at Cannes! You can see all of our Cannes video updates on the Blog. (https://www.stage32.com/blog) One other quick point – …

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