Filmmaking

Beginning a new relationship can be both exciting and challenging. In the world of filmmaking, we directors initiate many relationships, the most vital and crucial being the ones we have with actors. Director/actor relationships are like none other in life. Their goal is to create believable characters that exist in a fictional world. These relationships are, by design, temporary and short-lived, lasting only for the span of the production. The curious thing is that these director/actor re...

In 2016, I began the crazy notion of directing and writing my feature films. In my first two years, I wrote a book that’s been published that I turned into a movie and I completed 6 feature films. All totally different genres. I met an incredible mentor who supports me in ways I never thought possible. I spoke on a director panel at the Cannes Film Festival and I have won various awards at various film festivals. The reason I’m telling you this is not to brag. It’s because I want to show that...

On behalf of the entire Stage 32 family, I'd like to wish you all a happy, healthy, and loving Christmas and the remainder of the holiday season. While the holidays are a time of celebration, I hope everyone will take a moment to reflect on the many blessings life has offered and afforded all of us. We personally feel blessed to have had so many of you enter and enrich our lives. The Stage 32 community has grown to over 1,000,000 members from around the globe, and we are beyond honored to prov...

Happy Sunday, Creative Army! Have you had a creative weekend so far? Or too busy enjoying the holidays? I have some content here for you that is sure to get the creative juices and nostalgia flowing, so grab your coffee, and let's dive in. First up, in this video from Audiorama, actor and filmmaker Peter Billingsley relives his time starring as 'Ralphie' in the seasonal favorite, A CHRISTMAS STORY. In this hour-long storytime session, the actor goes through what it was like making the film a...

First of all, let me introduce you to the existence of Independent Film Predators. They are less-than-legitimate indie film distributors that want to distribute your film and unfortunately, there's a bunch of 'em. In fact, I can vouch for their existence personally. 3 OF A KIND, my completed psychological thriller, premiered at the WorldFest Houston International Film Festival. It's a film we literally scraped and clawed financially to get done. We ultimately had to take out personal loans to...

A look into the work method of Dutch independent director/producer Joshua van ’t Hoff, who has a knack for shooting award-winning films. Indie filmmakers are in my book, much like the cosplay superheroes at Comic Cons. They create magic for others on a shoestring budget by sheer determination. I talked to Joshua van ’t Hoff of Apostrof Cinema, who has sixteen wins and ten nominations under his belt so far, to learn how he achieved that. Funding This Indie filmmaker's everyday alter ego has...

Scriptwriting is a thrilling ‘Act Two’ for me, after years of writing fiction. Now, with help from Stage32, I am proud to be signed on by Tammy Hunt, Manager and Co-Founder of Sandstone Artists. On my zig-zag journey to this point, I’ve learned a few things that might be useful to fellow aspiring scriptwriters, especially those who also write fiction. First, some BACKSTORY While I’ve loved movies all my life (my Mom threw parties on Oscar nights) and while my first writings were scripts (a ‘s...

Happy Sunday, Creative Army! First, congratulations to all of you who have already participated in our monthly Introduce Yourself Weekend! Thousands of connections have been made between entertainment creatives and professionals from around the globe. Whether you are a long-time member or brand new to Stage 32, take a moment to pop over to the Introduce Yourself Lounge and say hello before the end of the weekend. First up, in this installment of "Directors On Directors" from Variety, Oscar-w...

As creatives, we can all probably remember the first person who took notice of the unique turn of our minds and chose to affirm it – whether that was a teacher, a parent, a friend, a sibling, or an early fan of our work. This person’s words might have given us exactly the encouragement we needed at exactly the right time. The truth is, it’s very easy for self-doubt, self-criticism, Imposter Syndrome, fear, and the inner forces of resistance to win the day. There’s a reason why there are about...

Buzz. Trailers. Cast Interviews. Behind the Scenes Featurettes. Seeing A-list talent answer random yet strangely personal questions while playing with puppies. Producers have gone to great lengths to convince audiences to watch their finished films. But, is it worth it? Putting aside for a moment the nitty-gritty details of what it takes to market a film, the process of planning and executing a marketing strategy for a film or series takes just as much teamwork, strategy, and creativity as fil...