I am a screenplay reader and thoughtleader here at Stage 32. I have written a few blogs, taught a few classes, led a few AMA's, and read a whole lotta screenplays. Doing those things has allowed me to see the passion and creativity you all bring to this community, and "community" is the right word. Stage 32 is filled with people who support each other, advocate for each other, and teach each other. This is a unique community that I feel lucky to be a part of.
My own work varies. I spent 25 years working primarily in the animation industry at places like Disney, DreamWorks, WB, Sony, Netflix, and Lightstorm Entertainment. I was also a screenplay reader for a long time at various production companies around LA. I have written a few screenplays, and I have self-published two YA novels on Amazon. I have a website, monumentscripts.com, where I blog about moves and provide screenplay coverage services. A little over a year ago, my eldest daughter (also a film school graduate) and I started a podcast called GenXvZ: A Movie Podcast, where we discuss and dissect current releases and classic films. It's available wherever you find your podcasts.
Another thing I enjoy about these weekends is discovering what YOU all are up to. I can't wait to hear about all the amazing projects, scripts, films, animations, etc that you people are creating.
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Woow, that sounds awesome :) you’re experiences are really inspiring :) Welcome in this amazing community :)
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Hi, Brian Smith. Hope you had a great week. I'm rewriting two feature scripts, outlining a 3-page script, and working on some other projects here and there. What are you working on?
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Hi Maurice Vaughan ! I'm working on book 3 of my YA series, The Salem Witches. I also just came up with an idea for a post-apocalyptic science fiction series that I will start writing once I'm done with SW. I already have a polished screenplay based on the Salem Witches Book 1 and a rough draft of Salem Witches 2 screenplay. The goal is to have all 3 novels and all 3 screenplays as a package.
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Congratulations on the progress, Brian Smith! I think packaging your novels and scripts will give you an advantage when you pitch. Are your SW scripts live-action or animated?
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Always great to see you, Brian Smith!
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Thank you Richard "RB" Botto ! Always great to hear from you!
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Thank you, Maurice Vaughan ! I'm writing them to be live action with lots of CGI VFX.
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I'm looking forward to your book, Brian Smith ! My great grandfather x7 was Giles Corey!
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Hi Brian Smith nice to meet you. I'm a guys who wants to make movies from a small little country called Slovenia, you might have heard of it, one of our basketball players just moved to LA recently. Right now I'm directing a commercial, but what I'm really trying to do is maybe make a no budget feature comedy during the summer and I'm working on a sci fi feature that I hope I'll get to make some time.
But what I'm interested in is what does a screenplay reader and consultant do? What does it look like? :)
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You're welcome, Brian Smith. Sounds exciting. Do you have producers and companies in mind to pitch to?
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Hi Brian! I'm a new reader and your website gives me hope there is indeed a market for the services I hope to offer. And hopefully once I get my official Reader badge I'll be able to tag people here in replies!
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Maurice Vaughan Not at the moment. But I have been taking advantage of the Stage 32 consult services, so I'm getting execs' and producers' eyes on it. I've also gotten some great feedback.
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Diane Fluin that would be wonderful! I'm glad you found inspiration in the site. Best of luck to you!
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Jerry Robbins That's amazing. Unfortunately, as I'm sure you know, Giles Corey suffered an excruciatingly painful death.
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Vital Butinar a script reader/consultant reads screenplays and provides notes on story structure, character development, dialogue, overall writing quality, and marketability, among other things. I have read for LA-based studios, and I've read for Stage 32, plus I have my own service. The notes can be different, depending on who you're writing coverage for. For example, if a writer sent me a script, I would provide him or her with notes on what works or doesn't in the script with suggestions on how to improve it. If I'm writing coverage for a studio, I'm critiquing the script in a way that describes whether or not it will be successful as a feature film.
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Great, Brian Smith. I'm planning on doing another Stage 32 Feature Script Read/30-minute Talk with Executive for a script once I finish rewriting it. The last Read/Talk I did really helped me get my script into better shape. Hope producers or companies scoop up your package and your Post-apocalyptic Sci-Fi series!
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Brian Smith okay thank you, that's really interesting. Just in the last couple of months I've been dealing with some interesting situations regarding exactly feedback and I've been thinking about the type of feedback that you get.
Hope I get to learn more about this aspect of the industry because it's a part that I don't know a lot about, but it seems that it's good to have more knowledge. Lets say not only for me as a director and writer about what works and why something would work, but I'm also interested in why and how assessments are made, which I find particularly interesting because you also get tuned automatically to know what works and what doesn't before investing months or years in developing a screenplay.
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Brian Smith Indeed I do. When I was in grade school we went on a field trip to the Salem Witch Museum, and there was great grandpa - getting crushed 24/7 as a wax figure!
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Hi Brian - just catching up. I am a cast member for life! I was a staff creative at ABC for a gazillion years. Nice to meet you.
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Brenda Lee Lau nice to meet you as well! I was at Feature Animation from 1999-2005. It feels like a million years ago.
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I'm transitioning from the trailer/promo world to full time writer/director features and TV. I have a feeature doc and a couple of award winning shorts. In current development on feature based on one of my shorts and polishing up a few other projects too.
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Brian Smith Nice to meet you! I like your work history and obvious passion for what you do. I'd love to hear more about your time spent at Disney, DreamWorks, WB, Sony, Netflix, and Lightstorm Entertainment. I write music and books. A one-woman band running my own music label, production, and publishing company, and have self-published five books, three novels, and two self-help. I also help other authors start/finish their books to get them out there. My daughter and son compose now too, and my son is getting into filmmaking and editing, so I think pretty soon we'll have an empire hahahaha.