Swish!

How I’m Making the Most of My Stage 32 Experience.

There’s a basketball court near my house. My girlfriend and I pass it on our routine walks around the neighborhood. One day not too long ago, we walked by it and joked that we should get a basketball and play against each other. We like a bit of a competition, and we’re always looking for new games to play against each other. The holidays were approaching, so, I put a basketball under the Christmas tree for her. You might be thinking two things: that’s not a very romantic present, and, what does this have to do with screenwriting?

Well if you knew us you’d know it was kind of romantic. But, true, it doesn’t have much to do with screenwriting. Not yet at least.

I’ve been writing for the visual medium since high school. My first real film called “City Riff” won an award for Best Student Film from the Fountain Valley Film Festival in Colorado. I attended New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where I wrote, produced and directed several short films, one of which, “Regular Coffee,” won a Bronze CINDY Award from the Association of Visual Communicators. After film school, I worked for a while in the commercial production industry in New York, and I started focusing on screenwriting.

I had good results. My screenplay “Guardians Of The Crown,” won Best Screenplay at the Westchester Film Festival in New York and was a semi-finalist in the Nicholl Fellowships. It also placed well in numerous other contests. Late last year I decided to enter it in the Stage 32 Action Screenplay Competition. And I won the grand prize.

I wasn’t all that familiar with Stage 32 at the time, but I jumped in head first. I set up my profile, added my log lines and listed my awards. My initial call with Molly and Jason at Stage 32 was awesome, and I immediately felt like my screenplay and I were in good hands.

I hit the forums, and instantly met some great people – other Stage 32 contest winners, fellow screenwriters and a ton of inspiring, creative folks. Then I checked out the Stage 32 job board. I applied to several interesting posts. One of them was looking for a screenwriter to write a biopic, the true story of a retired basketball player who made basketball history. Since I love writing historical stories and enjoy doing research this seemed right up my alley.

I received a message back from his producer and we set up a Zoom interview. I did some research ahead of the call and uncovered some key events about the athlete, such as when he was drafted into the NBA. I also researched his producer, familiarized myself with her work, and learned that she was also an NYU alumni. I was ready.

The call went very well. We hit it off, and had a great conversation. I was able to connect with the producer based on our shared experience, and I wowed the athlete by demonstrating knowledge about his career. We didn’t talk about my specific work very much or the details of the gig. We just talked about his story, and my ideas on how to approach it. It’s true that so often as a screenwriter you end up selling yourself and your skills, not a specific screenplay.

A few days later, I got a message from Stage 32 that I got the job! And I received a message from the producer saying letting me know that the basketball player was very impressed and wanted to move forward with me as the writer. I was elated. The producer provided me his details and asked me to contact him directly. I immediately sent a thank you email. A few days later I called him to chat, and we had another great conversation.

When Jason at Stage 32 heard the news, he directed me to producer Jim Young’s webinar on writing true stories and suggested I consider a consult with Jim. After watching the webinar, I immediately booked a call with Jim. I knew he would be a great resource in helping me understand how to set up the deal, how to approach the work and anything else I should look out for.

We spent about an hour on the phone. It was a great conversation and he was incredibly helpful. It turns out Jim had his own personal connections to basketball so he was very curious to hear the story. By the end of the call I felt like I was fully equipped to take on this writing gig and make it successful.

Stage 32 was instrumental in getting me this far, so to anyone out there wondering how to make the most of the site, I highly recommend the following:

1. Create a great profile.

Your profile is probably one of the first things someone on Stage 32 is going to look at to learn about you. Make sure you include everything you possibly can to help yourself stand out. That includes any projects you’ve worked on, screenplays you’ve completed, log lines you want to share and awards you have won. You should also include your education, even if it’s not from a “film school,” because someone looking at your profile might be a fellow alumni and that’s often a great jumping off point for a conversation.

2. Connect with others in the lounges.

There are so many amazingly talented people out there, and many of them are on Stage 32. The lounges are a great way to meet and connect with them. I encourage you to post an introduction in the Introduce Yourself Lounge, and to check the latest posts on a daily basis. When someone new joins, welcome them and make a connection – you never know when your paths might cross in the future and create an opportunity.

3. Keep an eye on the job listings.

And submit to as many as you can. In my first week on Stage 32 I think I submitted to at least three different job posts. Even if it’s not something you don’t feel you have a great chance at, it’s a worthwhile exercise to practice pitching yourself, and hey, you never know what someone is going to be drawn to. It’s also valuable to get rejected and learn to handle that. On the other hand, people get gigs every day on Stage 32. I did, and you can too.

4. Check out the awesome blog articles and webinars.

There is such a vast library of educational materials on Stage 32. Whatever you are working on, there is probably a blog post or webinar on that topic. Lots of the content is free, but there is also content that is well worth paying for if it’s something that can help you accomplish what you are trying to do with your project. In my case, the webinar on how to approach true stories was amazingly helpful and informative.

5. Consider consults with people who can specifically give you the tools and information you need to further your own career.

One of the cool things about Stage 32 is that it can provide access to producers, agents, managers and others that are working in the industry. While there is typically a fee associated with these consults, it may very well be worth the investment if you get something out of it that helps you advance your project or career. For me, getting first hand advice on how to proceed with a biopic engagement from someone who has experience with them was incredibly valuable.

As far as my new biopic project goes, there’s still a lot of work ahead, but hopefully this gig is the beginning of a great experience and a fruitful opportunity. In any event, I am thankful to Stage 32 for helping me get this far.

And the basketball under my Christmas tree? Well, right before I turned on my camera for that initial Zoom interview, I grabbed the basketball and started dribbling it on my office floor.

“Oh, hi!” I said when the producer and basketball player joined the call, “I was just warming up!” They started laughing hysterically. Which is a great way to begin an interview.