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Acting, Advice, Cinematography, Coffee & Content, Composing, Contests, Distribution, Featured, Filmmaking, Financing, Inspirational, Networking, Producing, Screenwriting, Success Stories, Tips, Trending,Recommended Articles
Embracing Unexpected Opportunities In Your Career
7 Lessons I Learned From Film Festival Rejections
Coffee & Content: In Praise of Great Exposition & Pitching Experiences
How Did You Get That Gig?
Say, “Thank you”: Why Gratitude is Your Superpower
5 Tips For Writing Your Life Story
Celebrate the November 2024 Stage 32 Community’s Successes
Stage 32 Certification at Focus London 2024!
Coffee & Content: Traits You Need To Succeed In The Entertainment Business
Why Write About Your Experiences Through Fantastical Lenses?
Top 5 Ways I Fumbled My First Short Film
Let me start by saying that I’m very proud of my film. It’s called Rematch. It took a lot of time and elbow grease to finish, but it’s done and it’s out there. And that counts for something. That being said, I don’t have any delusions about what I made. The short film landscape is incredibly competitive. I don’t know how accurate it is, but I read that as many as 12,000 short films are produced each year. I assume the source of this number is festival …
5 Proven Ways to Unlock Your Creative Genius
We pour our hearts and souls into the scripts we write, our creative work, spending hours and hours alone looking at a keyboard and words on a screen, wondering what to write next. We start asking ourselves if our work is good enough. Then, the floodgates open. What if no one buys my project? What if I only have one script in me? Then, you think the unsayable, "I hate my script." If this is you, you are not alone, my creative friend. Rejection, writer's block, and self-doubt can really t…
Coffee & Content: It's All About The Comps!
Happy Sunday, Creative Army! Have you had a creative weekend so far? I have some content here for you that is sure to get the creative juices flowing, so grab your coffee, and let's dive in. First up, in this video essay by Elliot Roberts, he’s comparing the approach of two different feature film biopics- 'Steve Jobs' by Aaron Sorkin and Danny Boyle, starring Michael Fassbender, and ‘Jobs’ by Joshua Michael Stern and Matt Whiteley, starring Ashton Kutcher. You can lea…
Avoiding the Rabbit Hole: Story Research Tips
I’ve talked about research before, offering some general tips on how to approach the process effectively. But when I asked in the Stage 32 lounges recently what writing problem you’d solve if you could wave a magic wand, one of the responses was “going down the rabbit hole” on research. I’d break this concern down into two parts: Letting research swallow up too much time in the creative process. Getting sidetracked into very interesting but potentially…
More Pitchin’, Less Bitchin’: How I Found Representation & Partnerships Through Stage 32!
Do you partake of the opportunities to pitch Industry folks through Stage 32 Script Services or do you complain about how your manager/agent never sends you on Generals? What? You don’t have a manager? Are you worried you can’t get through to Hollywood types and others can? Would you like a manager? I recommend that you stop complaining that you never get any breaks and look into pitching with Stage 32. I got my current manager from a pitch and recently signed a shopping agr…
The Importance Of Assistant Directors On Your Productions!
Have you ever wondered how a movie or TV show set is managed throughout each day of production with all of the moving parts, all of the people, all of the action, and only so many hours in the day? Or how the production manages to always get the same information into the right people’s hands at the right time during all of the controlled chaos? Moreover, how does each day's schedule fit into the bigger schedule of shooting the entire film or show? Who is running the set to make sur…
How to Make The Director & Film Composer Collaboration Sing
So you landed a job as a composer for a Film. Congratulations! But now where do you start? I think a good point is to build a positive relationship with your Director. That could definitely contribute to the success of your gig. Like any other kind of human relationship, there are no rules to make it work and there is always room for improvement, but here you’ll find some tips and thoughts, based on my experience, that I think might be helpful. Let’s suppose you have negoti…
Coffee & Content: Are You Feeling Too Overwhelmed To Try?
Happy Sunday, Creative Army! First, congratulations to all of you who have already participated in our monthly Introduce Yourself Weekend! Thousands of connections have been made between entertainment creatives and professionals from around the globe. Whether you are a long-time member or brand new to Stage 32, take a moment to pop over to the Introduce Yourself Lounge and say hello before the end of the weekend. In this video from Corridor Crew, they’re diving into the history o…
10 Mistakes Screenwriters Make When Querying
It’s true that the writing sample is the most important part of any query letter. However, you need to spend some time making sure that the query letter is solid as well. First impressions matter, and you can rub agents the wrong way if your query letter isn’t up to snuff. Here are the 10 biggest mistakes screenwriters make when querying. 1. Using A Generic Greeting If you are submitting a query letter, address the agent properly by name in your greeting. It’s u…
How To Build Your Creative Support Network
Friends, family, project collaborators, social media connections—I’m sure your network is abundant. But in all likelihood, you’re missing out on a mastermind group—a creative support network of individuals who guide each other through professional challenges. Mastermind groups are well known in the business community, yet rarely used by filmmakers, writers, actors, and other artists. Personally, I think it’s time creatives start leveraging this idea for th…
Preparing for Auditions: 7 Guided Script Approaches That Land You The Job
There is nothing like auditioning. The range of emotions an actor feels stepping into a room full of decision-makers is considerable and often damaging to the quality of the audition itself. One way to keep those emotions and the mistakes they cause in check is to know how to work on a script in a hurry. And I will let you in on a secret: Good readers make better auditioners, whether you get the sides a week, a day, or ten minutes before the audition. So, if you don’t read alou…
How Stage 32 Helped Me Accomplish My Goals: Sometimes It Takes Years... Until It Doesn't
I wrote my first screenplay in my mid-twenties when Syd Field’s Foundations of Screenwriting was the major go-to for the craft. “Spa Wars” was a parody steeped in small-town politics and, of all things, an ongoing economic rivalry between two competing health clubs. Really tacky stuff. I requested script notes from Sam Havens, Professor Emeritus at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. Solution: rewrite the damn thing. I did what most mystified young screenwriters d…
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