Featured Articles

Happy Wednesday, Creative Army! If you weren't able to make it to Cannes this year, don't worry, we're bringing Cannes to you. This year marked another incredible milestone for Stage 32, as we proudly continued our role as the official Education Partner of the Marché du Film, a partnership that has now spanned more than a decade. Ten-plus years on the Croisette, and it still energizes me every single time. Over the next few weeks, we will be sharing exclusive recordings of our 2026 Cannes ex...

Have you heard this one before? “When an eternal optimist lawyer loses everything, she moves into a luxury penthouse only to find she's rooming with her best friend's arrogant older brother and her former high school tormentor. As their fiery rivalry unearths his ten-year secret obsession with her, the feuding roommates must team up to destroy her toxic ex-boss before he ruins her legal career.” What about this one? “When a wealthy popular girl makes a deal with a high school bad boy to be her...

Happy Sunday, Creative Army! I hope your weekend has been a creative one so far. Whether you have been writing, filming, editing, or sketching out the next spark of an idea, I have something today that will give you a boost. So grab your coffee, and let’s dive in. This week's featured video comes from StudioBinder, and it is all about the contained story. That is the kind of film that strips everything back. No sprawling landscapes, no globe-trotting, no giant set pieces. Just a tight space,...

Freelancing in the film industry, whatever your role, and as exciting as it can be, sometimes means navigating turbulent waters. So how do we stay put and not lose sight of our true North? I moved from Italy to Los Angeles in 2016, after a 21-year-long plan to follow my childhood dream of making music for the silver screen. Once in L.A., coming from a 9-to-5 day job, I soon realized how much I had to learn not only about Hollywood but also about how to stay healthy while freelancing. In the...

There Is No Fluency Level to Getting Bamboozled by Bots and Trolls Whether you’ve been around a while or are new to the platform, you may not realize when an account is fake or real. It’s an issue all over cyberspace, and Stage 32 is not immune. The good news is that when a nefarious character raises their head, once alerted, the powers that be behind the scenes are usually quick on the draw to carefully vet that the person is real. If they’re fake or perpetually combative, they are soon zapped...

Happy Thursday, Creative Army! There is a moment that happens at every festival, market, and summit I have ever attended. Someone leans in, lowers their voice a little, and says some version of the same thing: "We have the incentives. We have the locations. We just do not have enough trained people on the ground to crew the productions when they come." I have heard it in Los Angeles. I have heard it in Cannes. I have heard it from commissioners representing regions on nearly every continent....

Welcome to our next installment of The Filmmaker Files. My name is James Kicklighter, director of The Sound of Identity, Angel of Anywhere and the 2024 film The American Question. In this series, we’re tackling the relationship between directors and members of our filmmaking team, in the hopes of helping first-time directors have a better experience as they begin their journey.   Our guest today is editor Davide Fiore, who has worked on numerous projects, including Unzipped: An Autopsy of Amer...

In creative industries, we’re often taught to chase success with carefully mapped-out plans. Land the perfect agent. Win the right competition. Meet the right producer. Build the perfect network. But sometimes, the opportunities that change our lives come from the things we never planned at all. Recently, I asked the Stage 32 community a simple question: What have you done that resulted in unexpected success? The responses were honest, inspiring, emotional, and deeply human. What stood...

Lights, Camera, Action! Okay, technically, it would be called out as "Sound, Camera, Mark It, Set, Action." It's literally built into the DNA of every film and television production, and yet, as a genre, ACTION can be incredibly difficult to execute well. I had a chance to catch up with my friend and filmmaking mentor, Shane Stanley. He generously shared some insights during our special Produced Script Coverage Report (Mondays in the Writer's Room). We reviewed what it took to greenlight his...

Happy Sunday, Creative Army! I hope your weekend has been a creative one so far. Whether you have been writing, filming, editing, or sketching out the next spark of an idea, I have something today that will give you a boost. So grab your coffee, and let’s dive in. This week’s featured video comes from CorridorCrew- We Recreated a 47 Year Old Effect: How Hard Could It Be? If you’re a fan of practical effects, visual effects, horror, or just the magic of creative problem-solving, this one is a...