Inspirational

Hello, Stage 32 Members! We are excited to introduce you all to Brian Patacca, a professional working actor, host, and the Founder of ActorSalon New York & LA. Below, are a few clips from his Actor Real Talk series that are sure to inspire and direct you to growth, wherever you are in your career. Though Brian primarily coaches actors much of his wisdom can be applied across creative positions.  In this batch of short clips, Brian tackles the issue of waiting around for something to happen in...

Imagine a happy boy going to school, a straight A student, popular, loved by his peers and pretty much everyone around him. Even though he has an illness called Haemophilia (a blood-clothing disorder), he does not let it determine his existence and who he is. He works hard, he studies, he dreams and plans of becoming a doctor, so that he may help others, as people are helping him while he is constantly in and out of the hospital. Then, the war in Bosnia comes. This boy was raised in a home whe...

My team's latest short film, Trust, had a lot of firsts for us: First time, we shot in a location not owned by a team member and the first time we received sponsoring from a local company. But before that, we spent over two years just about filmmaking, hardly ever releasing anything. I'd like to share some of the most important things we learned about productivity over those two and a half years and tell you how we managed to get a location and a sponsor. First, let me tell you a little bit abou...

If you haven't signed up for today's free On Stage With RB online webinar broadcast, make sure you do soon. Only the first 2,000 Stage 32 members are able to attend the online broadcast for free. Only a few spots remain! As always, you are in for quite a treat for this month's On Stage With RB broadcast. In addition to interviewing 2 impressive industry guests, RB will be covering some of the latest and greatest site features, speaking to members of the community and spending at least 90 minut...

Silence is defined as the absence of any noise or sound; stillness. However, for a freelancer it is the most deafening (and terrifying) noise one can experience. The absence of your ringtone, text tone, or email notification tone going off for a lengthy period of time segues into the five stages of a grief-like state for a freelancer. First, there is denial. Your phone must be broken. Overnight, without you knowing, your home had a cement shell constructed around it, preventing you from gett...

The college party scene extras shuffled onto the set, dodging lighting standards and avoiding electrical cables, a twenty year old blonde stood beside me, she was to be my dancing partner for the shoot. This was my first feature film and I would not be acknowledged in any of the credits. Dancing with my partner among a group of twenty other students, without the aid of music felt awkward and exhilarating. Two rules of life on the set came out that day—‘Don’t look at the camera’ and ‘Big eyes,...

Photography has always been my passion. Throughout my life there were instances of seeing my path laid out for me, but it took years to connect the dots. I didn't realize at the time that I was working towards it through my genre choices. I started out in street photography, real estate, family and newborn portraits and in the evenings, I worked at live venues covering intimate concerts at a Jazz Club I frequented. I was a self-taught working Photographer for six years learning...

As a father, I am always proud watching my five-year-old daughter discover and accomplish things that, while innate or simple to me as an adult, are milestones for her. She is a beautiful piece of veined marble that I enjoy watching as the sculpture deep within is slowly revealed. She believes she can be anything she wants to be when she grows up and my wife and I encourage that. Right now she wants to be a 'Fire fighter Doctor', an honorable profession if there ever was one. I am envious of h...

Tips on techniques I used on the feature film ON THE HORIZON. On The Horizon was a process that took four years. I’ve learned a lot in that period of time. For the past 12 years, I have been working on short films, music videos and now feature films. All my projects have always been done the same way, with barely any budget and no crew at all, but I was still successful. I won festivals around the world and secured funding for two feature films. I wanted to share with you some crucial tips on...

Many commercials and some re-enactment parts come to you with one simple instruction: 'No sides, all improvised'. For all those trained comedians, this is a huge relief and they can walk in excited to play with new scene partners. For the actors who are more comfortable with scripts…panic will start to set in. "Improv?! Do I have to be funny, what if my scene partner stinks at improv?" Here are five things you can focus on that will make your auditions memorable.  1: Focus on your partner. One...