Good morning Stage 32 Community! Welcome to the final week of 2021! We’re going to close out this year with a blast and kickstart 2022 with the Top Stage 32 Success Stories of the year!

This is the third year I have had the pleasure of writing this blog. It’s really one of the highlights of my year because your success is our success. When members of the Stage 32 community land options, secure representation, go into production, sell scripts, or help others achieve their goals it is a win for us all.

Obviously with nearly a million members in our community it would be impossible to to recap every success story across the site. Thousands of members have made connections through Stage 32 which have advanced their careers - and changed their lives. In fact, you can see some of these success stories in last week’s blog highlighting the Top Stage 32 Scripts as chosen by Industry Professionals by clicking here. Even those are just a fraction of the successes that resulted from Stage 32 in 2021.

So here we go….the Top Success Stories in 2021.

We kicked off 2021 with a January success story from Jeffrey Thompson - the winner of the competition 1st Annual Diversity Springboard Screenwriting Contest**.** This writing competition was over 18 months in the making and Jeffrey met with Industry Pros from NBCUniversal, Disney/ABC Television Group, CBSViacom, Lee Daniels Entertainment, MetaMorphic Entertainment (Amazon Studios), Artists First Entertainment (CRAZY RICH ASIANS, BLACK-ISH, MIXED-ISH), Alta Global Media (BLACKKKLANSMAN), Energy Entertainment, First Friday Entertainment and more. One of those meetings was with the Development team at Sony Pictures Animation who met with Jeffrey. During the meeting they told Jeffrey that they would like to develop a series based on the Sony Music Catalogue. Only weeks again, Jeffrey went back into Sony and pitched his series based on their concept! How’s that for kickstarting a career?

Stage 32 Member Jeffrey Thompson

In February, we brought you the story of Mark McKee of Perrysburg, Ohio who is in development with Chayah Masters - a veteran Producer and the now Head of Motion Picture & TV Literary at Aligned Stars Agency. Mark pitched Chayah his script POST HUMAN for feedback through a Stage 32. Chayah read the script and passed, but encouraged him to keep writing and let him know that if he had a project in the future, he was welcome to email her a logline for consideration in reading. Mark got back in contact with Chayah with his thriller, TRENDING. She loved the logline and read the script. Chayah worked with Mark and gave him in depth notes to address. An Emmy-winner is now attached to direct the project!

In March we were hit with two Billion Dollar stories!

The first came from Zach Tirone, a writer based in Los Angeles who signed with Billion Dollar Literary Manager Andrew Wilson of Wonder Street Entertainment. What is a “Billion Dollar Literary Manager” you ask? Great question! He represents some of the most exciting writers and directors in the industry, and whose clients’ collective worldwide film grosses have reached over a billion dollars. Andrew's company - Wonder Street - most released the project, THE MAURITANIAN for STX Entertainment, which stars Jodie Foster, Benedict Cumberbatch, Zachary Levi, and Shailene Woodley.

Andrew was a judge in our "That's a Movie" Logline Contest - in which he picked Zach’s logline as his favorite for that week. That led to a Script Read & Consultation Call between Andrew and Zach. After reading Zach’s material, Andrew signed Zach to management! You never know where the wins will come from!

Stage 32 Member Zach Tirone

The second Billion Dollar story came when Mandalay Pictures optioned a project from Donald Gordon Hobbie & Samantha Grace Miller. You see, Donnie booked a Script Read & Consultation Call with the Creative Executive of Mandalay, Will Raynor.

In case you are not familiar with Mandalay, they have been a force in the entertainment industry for over thirty years. Films CEO of Mandalay personally produced or executive produced, include RAIN MAN, BATMAN, THE COLOR PURPLE, MIDNIGHT EXPRESS, THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK, MISSING and FLASHDANCE, which have earned over three billion dollars worldwide and garnered more than 50 Academy Award nominations.

Will has contributed to the development of critical and commercially successful feature films, including Sundance darling NINE DAYS with Sony Pictures Classics, UNCORKED and OTHERHOOD for Netflix starring Angela Bassett, Patricia Arquette, and Felicity Huffman, and Emmy-nominated THE TALE for HBO.

Donnie started writing because he wanted to Direct. He and Samantha wrote a script called 99 DREAMS NEON. He decided to send his script to Will through Stage 32 for a consultation. His hope was that he would appreciate some of the same cinematic qualities present in his script, to that of NINE DAYS and who knows, maybe he’d want to produce Donnie’s movie too. And after a few months of back and forth Will and Donnie made it official. Mandalay is taking on the project!

In April we brought you the story of Enniskerry, Ireland-based screenwriter and Stage 32 member Ronika Merl. Ronika recently connected with a fellow Irish filmmaker through Stage 32 who has since optioned her screenplay Blackbird! Ronika originally shared this thrilling news in the Stage 32 Success Stories lounge.

As Ronika writes, “as Covid burned through Ireland, as spring sprung and I could see blossoms from my window… I decided it was time to write the story of how I escaped human trafficking, prostitution, and abuse almost a decade ago."

The moment of decision to sit down and finally write it came swiftly. As came the first draft. 116 pages were churned out in 12 hours, according to Ronika.

Stage 32 Member Ronika Merl

She joined Stage 32 in January. An Irish director and producer, had been looking for a follow up script to his major success debut which premiered in the States and was to come out to streamers in April. This Director decided to check her out on Stage 32. Having been drawn to gritty and true stories, and having already decided that he wanted to work with someone Irish, her profile and her loglines drew him in.

Very soon afterward, he told Ronika**, “I’d love to make it”.** A few weeks later, she framed the signed agreement. It now sits on her windowsill, overlooking the glorious Irish landscape. This came from a Director looking at a writer’s profile and logline on Stage 32. Do you see why it’s so important to have your info as strong as possible on the site?

In May we announced that Austin based Stage 32 writer Robert Levering signed an agreement and put his feature script, DISCREDITED CITIZEN into development with John Goldwyn Productions! You will recognize John Goldwyn Productions as the production company behind features such as THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY with Ben Stiller and BABY MAMA with Tina Fey, as well as the smash Showtime series “DEXTER”, and the critically acclaimed limited series “DOPESICK” starring Rosario Dawson and Michael Keaton for Hulu.

Dexter & Dexter: New Blood were both Produced by John Goldwyn

At the time, Mike Blutstein, the Vice President of Feature and Television Development reached out to me to say, “John Goldwyn Productions is developing a project we found on Stage 32!”

Robert had booked a consultation call with Mike for his project DISCREDITED CITIZEN and Sci-Fi Thriller feature with a very unique premise. It is exactly the kind of “big idea” that Mike and John Goldwyn look to develop and produce. But of course, we all know how long development can take. As Mike explained, “It's a long process and we still need a lot of steps before it's anything, but it's just good to find awesome material on [Stage 32].”

In June, Writer/Director Byron Q. landed representation through Housefire Management. It started when Byron decided to give Stage 32's consultation feedback a try. He found them useful and ultimately, it depended on who was giving the feedback. He liked that members could target specific executives or, in his case, managers. He wanted to know directly from the people who represented writers what was or wasn't working in his scripts.

Bryon Q. on set with Oscar-Nominee Eric Roberts

Byron says something very courageous here: “From this process, I came to the realization that my scripts just simply were not ready. They were not good enough to be considered.”

Finally, four years after his first paid service with Stage 32, he found a manager, Juan He from Housefire Management who responded to a pilot he wrote called TINO 99. They began working together this year and Bryon has been sent on a round of general meetings with some of the biggest production companies in town. This just goes to show, never give up, never be afraid to work, and always put yourself out there.

In July, Stage 32 Member and Writers’ Room member Mariannjely Marval - an emerging Latinx screenwriter, who focuses on unique female-driven stories, especially thrillers - utilized the Stage 32 lounges, the Writers’ Room (“Joining the writers' room at Stage 32 was one of the best decisions I made this year."), blogs, Stage 32 Next Level webinars, and networking to produce her first short film.

Stage 32's Taylor Baker interviews Mariannjely Marvel

She says, “Stage 32 really helped me in self-producing my first short film. Being an overthinker, this platform reassured me constantly I could do it. I didn’t even cover the great consultation options Stage 32 offers. This platform has the tools for you to succeed, and we must take advantage of this. I’m so glad I came across this site and might be a stalker on it (like me) for many years to come.”

August brought us the story of Keith Rivers who once had a successful mentor say to him, "You're not a writer, sign with a manager at Management 360. Keith says, “I bit the bullet and purchased half a dozen 10-minute pitches and a couple of 60-minute talks**,** one with a manager who liked my screenplay, and instantly we gelled, talked strategy, and set goals.”

They immediately got to work on Keith’s project. Keith has been grateful to see doors open week after week. This slight momentum shift has caused him to work even harder. Keith says, “Don't abandon or shun away new ideas. Eventually, the right executive, manager, or producer will see what you see, so keep turning over rocks and don't beat yourself up if you don't find anything.”

In September we heard from Danika Maia from the Bay Area in Northern California now living in Copenhagen, Denmark. She learned about Stage 32 as she was pitching a TV Pilot, "EASY MONEY", earlier this year. Kristen Lucas, a producer with Goldilocks Productions, was the first person she pitched a script to - ever in her life. They had such a great rapport and she really seemed to get Danika.

Goldilocks Productions optioned "EASY MONEY" from Danika Maia

Danika said, “Everyone who had offered to help me before was a man and people never really respect when I get help from men because they think it's about my looks and not the story. So Kristen's respect and interest really has meant so much to me as a new woman in the entertainment industry. After she read the TV Pilot we decided that the story would be better told as a feature length film, so after speaking together about once every two weeks for 4 months and getting some development calls with Kristen and other writers she works with, I had a new outline for a feature length film and that's when we made the agreement official.”

In October we heard from Shanika Freeman who reminded us the real power of love in a community like Stage 32. Shanika says, “ I dropped out of college twice and ended up homeless. I let go of a full scholarship to law school. I was down….In 2012, while sleeping on floors and couches, I came across this site - Stage32.com**.**”

Shanika says, “I remember a couple of days after that I stayed up again, for 48 hours writing a script. I remember saying, "This is what I want to do for the rest of my life".”

And Shanika got some great advice from a former professor: “You are going to suck. You are going to spend hours working on your drafts and you're going to read it and realize that it sucks. So will your second draft. The third will suck less. The key is to keep going. The key is to write every single day and show your work to others."�

Shanika went back to school and graduated at 26. Shanika kept working in music and kept writing. One night, Shanika searched the jobs board on Stage 32 and came across a listing searching for a screenwriter for their feature film.

Shanika says, “I got the job. My first screenwriting credit! This was MY chance. This opened a lot of doors for me. I now have the platform to talk to producers and creators about my original works. A platform that I didn't have when I was couch hopping, busking and writing scripts and recording songs off of an eight-year-old computer.”

November brought a twofer from Connecticut-based Stage 32 Member and Writers’ Room Member John Mezes who optioned two projects through connections made on Stage 32! John took a 27 year “break” from screenwriting before discovering Stage 32 in February. As John says, it “changed the direction of my life.”

John took part in webinars, attended Writers’ Room exclusive Pitch Practice sessions, and supported fellow members. His first written feature script, 'GARDEN OF EDEN", was optioned in August, and is currently in pre-production, after being forwarded by a producer contact on Stage 32. This producer also asked that all important question, “what else have you written?”. John’s second feature script, “TWO” was also optioned by the same producer. John says, “It felt like hitting multiple home runs in a World Series game.”

John also shares some great insights about rejection say**, “A NO is simply a New Opportunity. Keep writing.”**

And here we are in December with another incredible story to finish out the year from Washington D.C.-based Writer and Author Kawan Glover, who was signed to representation by Literary Manager Tessa Shaffer at NY-based Corvisiero Literary Agency.

Stage 32 Member Kawan Glover signed with Tessa Shaffer

Tessa Shaffer was taking pitches here on Stage 32, and Kawan thought, “what else do I have to lose.” That was in October, and now they are officially working together. They will be working on a feature film script adaptation of Kawan’s memoir, “Favor: How Stroke Struggle and Surgery Helped Me Find My Life’s Purpose” - and then the possibilities are limitless.

Wow! What an incredible year! And it is because of members just like you who make this community the vibrant, living, welcoming refuge for creatives all over the world.

So with that in mind, I want to add another success story to this list - yours. You made tremendous strides this year in the face of some overwhelming odds. This business is not easy and it is not for the faint of heart. And you're here. Doing it every day. Because you have a fire and a passion that will see you through.

It is time for this community to celebrate your wins. I welcome you to add your success story to the comments section below. Let’s show this industry the strength of this community and how we are changing the paradigm every day.

Thank you again for another amazing year. I am grateful to be in your life and a part of your creative journey. I will see you in 2022. And I will show up ready to work. You can always reach me at j.mirch@stage32.com

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

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