Filmmaking

As an artist, you’re called to show up in the world. Whether it’s on stage, making a pitch, submitting your screenplay, putting on an art show, you make yourself vulnerable to others over and over again. Making art is a unique process. The initial stages of creating are deeply personal, but, eventually, you need the attention of your audience to bring your creative work to life. Though it began as something private, your art only achieves its purpose and full potential when it impacts someone...

Hey, Stage 32 Community! Are you feeling lost on Stage 32? Whether you’ve just joined the platform or you’ve been here for a while wondering how to make the most of everything Stage 32 has to offer, you’re not alone. With so many resources, opportunities, and community spaces to explore, it can feel a little overwhelming at first. That’s exactly why I’m inviting you to join me for a special Free Stage 32 Community Open House this Friday! Register for free by clicking HERE! As Head of C...

Happy May! This month, I want to explore how love helps you remain steady, especially during tougher days. The days when doubt creeps in, energy runs low, or your direction feels unclear. These are the moments when love can transform from a feeling into a form of resilience. We know that love is not always simple or easy. It may not come with clear answers or appear in the ways we expect. Sometimes, it means showing kindness to yourself. At times, it means choosing to support someone else. T...

No one covets rejection. Not personally, not professionally. Even when we try to wrap it all up in a pretty bow and look for the “bright side” the cold, hard truth is that rejection sucks. Period. That said, if all we ever did were focus on the crap, we’d never get to taste the cream (Sorry, I thought hard about a more appetizing metaphor but just couldn’t come up with one). Recently, an article in Writer’s Digest on rejection caught my eye, and it brought up an experience I’d like to share wi...

Something I observe frequently is how often overlooked soft equity is in the finance plan. Counterintuitive, right? Why counterintuitive? In understanding film finance as a filmmaker and a producer, it can be explained relatively easily as this; soft equity is anything that doesn’t carry an obligation to be repaid or have the expectation of a recoupment attached. Hence I both preach and practice to seek out as many sources of soft financing as possible. Outside of tax credits or rebates (o...

The cultural zeitgeist speaks in this day and age about the isolation, alienation and despair of young people. We have watched the horrors of this in TV series like Adolescence. In the North-East of England, the region has the highest suicide-rate in the country. This is the consequence of the economic policies of the 1980s. We are a region which has not recovered from the asset-stripping of major industries, leaving many like myself with the label of ‘redundant’. Imagine that word next to you...

As an audiovisual creator, protecting your project from legal issues is just as important as its artistic quality. This guide will help you understand the fundamental aspects of the clearance process (legal authorization) that you need to consider before exhibiting your work. What is Clearance, and Why is it Important? "Clearance" is the process through which you obtain all necessary legal authorizations to include any material or element in your audiovisual production. This process protects...

No matter where you are based as an actor, given the state of the industry over the past few years you have undoubtedly submitted a self-tape audition (or 1,000). If you're based in LA or NYC, before COVID you may have only occasionally been required to self-tape, and when that happened, perhaps you used your cell phone or went to a buddy’s house to have them tape you. I, on the other hand, am based in Atlanta. And in addition to being a full-time actor for almost 20 years, I have co-owned a t...

When you think of great original soundtracks - the best of the best, you probably think of Final Fantasy, Zelda, Skyrim, and even Sonic. Video game music is a genre in itself. It went from 8-bit synthy beeps and bobs to orchestra epic arrangements. The genre has impacted and inspired so many, myself included. I will admit that growing up, I wasn’t into the greats like Final Fantasy or Zelda. I was more into obscure games such as Spyro, Twisted Metal, Crazy Taxi, and such. It is games like thos...

We can all agree that it’s nigh impossible for a finished film to be even 90% close to the original screenplay. Budget and logistic constraints can be very limiting for the filmmaker and often the creative vision changes according to the ebbs and flow of the production. Locations are changed, dialogues are added, and sometimes even characters are edited out. As a result, when the filmmaker has finished post and is busy procuring deliverable material required by film festivals or the distributo...