Introduce Yourself : Here to Help You by Maria Baltazzi

Great to see you at Introduce Yourself Weekend, Maria Baltazzi. How's your summer going?

Hello! Maurice Vaughan ;) Summer is going well. We are starting the backside of this season. I still have projects that I aim to see complete by September 22nd, when we cross into fall. How are you? Always nice to see a post from you.

Maria...I've always wanted to visit Machu Picchu. Your bio is incredible. I spend a lot of time focused on my well-being and will definitely check out you blog...J R

Maria, I pitched to you once a while back and you gave me great notes and career advice. I would like to know more about your 1:1 happiness “coaching?”

Always nice to see your posts, Maria Baltazzi. Hope you finish your projects by September 22nd! I'm doing great. Resting today and having fun at Introduce Yourself Weekend. I'm gonna start pitching again and get back to work on a spec script after IYW.

Maria Baltazzi Hi Maria, thank you for all you do for our community. Yes, wellbeing is important to me too. Only recently I had to make a decision to start a new company and was amazed at how much that single decision brought back the heartache of the company I dissolved 8 years ago. I thought I had got over it, but was obviously carrying some baggage, or old wounds with me, even though in my mind I had moved on from those dark days.

Geoff Hall I can appreciate what you are saying. sometimes painful memories catch me off guard too. There may be some unprocessed wounds that you might want to reflect on all these years later.

What have you learned since then that will make your new company adventure different?

Consider how you acted and reacted then that did not service. What have you or will you change now, starting a new company?

I suggest not dwelling too much in the past. It done and you cannot change what happened. More importantly focus on the person you are today and how you want to move through the world. What matters most to you taking the helm of a new company?

Congratulations on your next chapter. I wish you all good things.

Maurice Vaughan Yes!!! Rest is important. The recharge is necessary, otherwise you burn out and are of no use to anyone, including yourself. Honor and protect your downtime. Good luck getting back out there pitching!!!

Lisa Harrison aw, thank you for the kind words. Wonderful to read that my advice was helpful. Happy to discuss 1:1 coaching. Please send me a private message.

J R O'Hara Machu Picchu is a special place. You can feel the energy of a past world there. Taking care of my wellbeing, or as I prefer to say, wholebeing in mind, body, and spirt, is a top priority. Fantastic that it is for you, too. Hope you find my blog helpful. It usually gets published toward the end or beginning of the month.

Maria Baltazzi thank you Maria.

What will make my new company different? I am working with an Exec that I trust and we have a great rapport and energy. The previous company, working with them was like pushing the proverbial rock up the hill and so many times it fell back down over me. I assumed, well, this must be what it’s like working in the film industry, but whilst it’s difficult it doesn’t have to be torturous! Note to self, if it feels like torture then something is radically wrong. Plus, thanks to Stage32, I’m a different person and know much more about the process.

What will change? In the new company, other than the answer above, I will be the Exec Producer and will be managing more of the process. I will also take on board a lesson learned and shared by Alan J Pakula, ‘surround yourself with excellence’. I want to set up a kind of cooperative of talent, that I can trust and take with me on the different projects.

Not dwelling on the past. Well, in truth I wasn’t, but this one event, a new company, set these hidden wheels in motion. In the end, it’s been a teaching aid and a way of assessing the knowledge and good practices that I’ve accrued in nearly nine years at Stage32.

What matters most? Well, that’s a great question. As RB has said, try to stay in control of the process, for as long as you can. It’s that sense of not waiting on some third party to green-light a project. As a writer and filmmaker, I have a view of my talents, of working from a position of social responsibility. Then, there’s building a sense of community with each project, as well as nurturing new talent from the Stage32 community, with new serialised projects. So I guess creating a parent company is essential for this?

Creatively, I am conceiving, writing and will be producing stories from ‘around the curve’ and not focused on copying what is on show in the here and now. There’s very little joy in being a copyist!

Thank you for your help and wise counselling, Maria. It is greatly appreciated.

You're right about burn out, Maria Baltazzi. Thanks. Hope you have an incredible and productive week!

Geoff Hall I am pleased for you that the questions I posed were helpful. Your reflections are thoughtful and show personal growth both personally and professionally, which is huge and to be celebrated! There is a lot of wisdom in your self-reflection. I am sure your share will help others here, too.

Seems you reflected on the past long enough to gain and organize useful knowledge to move forward. Thankfully for you that you are not stuck in old, un-serving story loops.

I agree. There is a lot to be learned and support to be had here on Stage 32.

I wish you all the best in your next chapter. Share your wins. It will motivate others and you will

continue to be supported. One thing this community is generous about and that is saying, “congratulations!”

Maria Baltazzi thank you so much, Maria. That is very encouraging. Sandra Isabel Correia is the new EP, btw and she must take a lot of the credit over the last eight months of our working together.

What I learnt from that failure was that I couldn’t do anything about it then and dwelling about it wasn’t going to serve anything, except those “un-serving story loops” that so do love negativity and self-pity.

Thanks again and yes, we’ll keep the community posted on our progress.

Hey Maria Baltazzi great to hear from you -- one of the best to ever do it!

Aw, thank you for that Pat Alexander

It's always a pleasure to see you in the community, Maria Baltazzi - you rock!!

THANK YOU Sam Sokolow ;))))

Geoff Hall if you learned something that you can take forward into a positive future, then that experience was not a failure. it was lesson to be learned for a new day. THINK: that experience happen for you not to you. Because of your previous experience, you are stronger and wiser.

Maurice Vaughan have a rockin’ week!

Lisa Harrison here is my last Stage 32 blog: https://www.stage32.com/blog/3810. It comes up under the other “blogs.” You to scroll to find it — toward the end of the month or the beginning of the next.

Thanks, Maria Baltazzi.