Inspirational

A year and a half ago I wrote a new script, a comedic pilot called "The Other F Word." I had previously written four-produced indie features, but this story was episodic in nature, so it was a whole new world, as none of my relationships were in television. "The Other F Word" is a comedic coming of age series about four women who deal with the hights and lows of mid-life as they reinvent themselves now that their kids are grown. I discovered Stage 32 and after joining Happy Writers, I perfecte...

No weekend News and Notes blog this weekend because I'm out of town...However... As we approach the final stretch of 2016 I thought it might be a good time to reflect a little on the creative goals we set for the year. Need a refresher on the goals you set? Here is where we all checked in to start this year. How are you doing? Making progress? Lagging behind? Changing direction entirely? Let's talk about it in the Comments section below. And, of course, if there is the opportunity to assist...

  As actors, we tell stories constantly. I first told mine over four years ago. Not only to myself, but to complete strangers and New York theater goers. Fresh out of my 27th surgery, I performed words from journal entries I wrote years ago as a way to pass the time between the endless series of medical interventions. Every time I 'perform' what happened to me, I find myself somehow transformed in the process. Theater has the power to change lives, both for those performing and those who wat...

Last year, Brittni Brown and Jenna Palermo won our Stage 32 Happy Writers 1st Annual Feature contest with their script NEVERBRIDES. We set them up with meetings all over town including at Warner Bros., Lionsgate and Ineffable Pictures to name a few.   After a meeting with manager Seth Nagel at Infinity Management Group International, Seth signed Brittni and Jenna and went to work on getting their screenplay out there. We're thrilled to announce that NEVERBRIDES was recently optioned by and...

My name is Tennyson E. Stead and I'm an award-winning writer and director with over 20 years of experience in stage and screen production and an additional ten years spent working as an indie film development executive. While these credentials do hint at my value to the film community, they are not the main reason I've been asked by the excellent people at Stage 32 to write to you today. What makes my words click-worthy, at least right now, is the fact that they're being written by a survivor of...

In the 80's I was fortunate enough to get a huge glimpse of what I wanted to do later on in life without knowing what it was at the time, which allowed me to be what I was... A movie fan. I quickly became enamored down the line with good writing and brilliant storytelling. Nowadays it seems like we're decades away from the known dominant lone writer of a feature comedy outside of Judd Apatow and Kevin Smith. What other writers work can you identify while watching a movie without seeing the credi...

We’ve had some incredible success stories lately here on Stage 32. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be shining a light on those 32’ers who have found success either through networking on the platform, through our Jobs section or through pitching with the Stage 32 Happy Writers. Today, we congratulate screenwriter Joe Downey! Joe contacted Erik at the Stage 32 Happy Writers with information regarding a screenplay he was looking to pitch. Joe was looking for suggestions on an executive Erik felt m...

I’m standing at the bar like a fish out of water at the local networking event when three women approach my corner. Looking at my name tag one says “So Michael Campo, what do you do?” It’s times like these I think about all the creative answers I could give, each a little funnier than the last but with three sets of peering eyes staring I decided to tell the truth. “I’m a filmmaker.” This answer is usually greeted with one of two responses. Wow, that is really cool what films have you ma...

When you make a film, it is a personal reflection of your vision. This vision is realized with the help of others. Everyone involved leaves a piece of them in the finished project. Everyone will see your film differently and that's a really good thing, but once the film is shown, people will have their own opinion and may offer unfavorable criticism, even the ones that worked on it with you. If these criticisms, the bad and also the good, are not taken personally, they can be used to improve you...

A few weeks ago I enrolled in a Stage32 webinar entitled, “Is There A Market For Your Short Film? Distribution, Recognition & Monetization.” It was led by David Paterson, the screenwriter and producer of Bridge to Terabithia. I took the webinar because I had worked on a short film about a soldier battling PTSD, and I was looking for ideas about where to go from there. What comes next is a bit of trip down the rabbit hole. Want to come along? OK, onward then. David’s webinar got me thinking...