Inspirational

I’ve just watched the director’s cut of Amadeus. I must have watched it close to sixty times over the years. To me, if there is such thing as perfection in films, then Amadeus is it. I must admit to have had a special connection to Mozart’s music since I was very young. My father belonged to the generation of people who listened to the radio well after traditional evening family conversations were replaced by the fascination with TV. He played radio before going to work in the morning so as...

My name is Louis Edlinger and I’m 19 years old. Although I’m still young I experienced things in my life which a lot of people will never experience. A lot of bad things, but I don't like referring to those things as bad experiences because without them I wouldn't be the man I am today.  While growing up in a tiny village in the German Alps, I was a freestyle skier, but when I was 14 years old, my life changed dramatically in the blink of an eye. My home was my mountains, and they nearly kil...

Hello all.   We have now posted the video of last week's first ever On Stage With RB, hosted by our Founder & CEO, Richard "RB" Botto.   We opened 1,000 spots for this exclusive Stage 32 Next Level Webinar.  At the peak, 989 Stage 32 members from 77 countries were in attendance!  Thanks to all who showed up and asked such amazing questions.   All in all, RB spoke for 2 hours including a 20 minute tutorial on how to best utilize Stage 32 to create meaningful contacts, find work, post projec...

In the winter of 2009, I drove down a desolate freeway in the middle of the Mojave Desert, and watched the sun slowly rise above the golden hills in the distance. I was overwhelmed with emotion. It had been over three years since my first audition in Hollywood, and I had just finished shooting my first feature film. I made $100 a day to play a jerk/jock who gets brutally slaughtered in the funhouse of a carnival…and it was one of the best experiences of my life…hands down. And as I drove awa...

Chapter 3: “Wait, I have a couple of things to tell you” Two years later, I was called in to work on another of Paolo Sorrentino’s films. Pre-production had already begun on a film that was much 'bigger', more expensive, ambitious and complicated that his previous projects: Il Divo (The Celebrity), the story of one of the most controversial and fascinating figures in the history of the Italian Republic, Giulio Andreotti. It was a gesture of respect, a considerable sign of trust. I accepted wit...

Chapter One: The Swing “Andrea, I thought about it and had this idea: you should make the professor appear on a swaying swing, the ropes all covered in colorful flowers. Mounted over the student’s bed. In a voice over, have her conjugate a verb in Greek, just before her stretched-out legs come into the frame,” he told me, pleased as a little kid, “you’ll see how much better it works. The rest is fine as it is.” But that happened the year after. First we have to take a step back. It was h...

My job has always begun in front of the camera at “action” and ended with my director’s call of “cut,” but I was nudged out of my comfortable actor’s niche when I stumbled into the big, broad world of film production. I’ll back up a little. My modeling career began at age one-and-a-half, by age six I had moved on to Ford Models and the NYC stage in off Broadway musicals, and experiencing my first opportunity for the big screen in Mr. Nanny with Hulk Hogan. In 2010, the year I graduated c...

The call came in. Got the part.  Playing a character named Jerry Catone.  Wow. Weeks of auditioning – improvisation at the first audition, going on vacation, and then giving it my all in my call back in front of Jennifer Peri - and it all comes down to the call.  Got the part. Then the flurry of phone calls came in from every department.  Hair and makeup called.  They wanted me to grow my sideburns long because it’s a timepiece from the 1970’s.  Even before I knew I landed the ro...

This story first appeared in the Nov. 22 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. In the mid-1990s, Ben Stiller spent some time sleeping on David O. Russell's couch. That's when both were struggling to make a name for themselves and working on Russell's second feature, Flirting With Disaster (1996), in which Stiller starred. Decades later, they're two of America's most versatile directors -- Stiller, 47, is responsible for this year's The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, while Russell, 55,...

A few months ago, we joined forces with The Happy Writers for our first Stage 32 Creativefest/Pitchfest.  Our purpose was to offer our screenwriting and filmmaking members a unique opportunity to gain access to top-level managers and executives looking for new talent and material. Our hope was that these executives would find a diamond in the rough here and there. We were wrong. They found a virtual mine. Here are some of the remarkably talented people who have found success through our...