Networking

It was a sunny Sunday morning, May 9th, 1970. I just sat down for breakfast at a quaint little restaurant in Hollywood. I was going to the MGM auction for a second day. The day before I had snagged a cool prize and it only cost me $20.00. I loved looking for movie props and memorabilia from the golden age of film. My budget was $100.00, so as you may have guessed, you can’t buy much with that. Still, you must remember it was 1970 and one hundred bucks was like a thousand back then. As I sat down...

Happy Friday, Stage 32 Community! At Stage 32, we are dedicated to helping creatives like you take your career to the next level. Whether you’re looking to sharpen your skills, connect with industry professionals, or develop your next project, we’ve got exciting new education and executive mentorship opportunities designed just for you! This month, we’re rolling out cutting-edge courses and interactive labs led by Emmy-winning producers, top literary managers, and working executives from stu...

Happy Sunday, Creative Army! Have you had a creative weekend so far? I have some content here for you that is sure to get the creative juices flowing, so grab your coffee, and let's dive in. For years, Matthew McConaughey was the ultimate rom-com star. If you needed a leading man with charm, a mischievous grin, and an easygoing Southern drawl, he was your guy. But then, something changed. In this video essay from FilmStack, they’re exploring McConaughey’s professional reinvention, also known...

Too many creators spend years perfecting their work in silence, only to release it and wonder why no one is paying attention. The problem isn’t the quality of the work, it’s that people weren’t invited into the process. They never had a reason to care before it existed. That’s why I created the motto, “Watch Who You Call Ugly” or "WWYCU". It’s more than just a phrase; it’s a philosophy about transformation, perspective, and growth. The things we overlook, dismiss, or label as “not ready” often...

Hello, Stage 32 Creatives! I'm Sandra Isabel Correia. Today, I want to share my unexpected journey on Stage 32. This vibrant community for filmmakers, screenwriters, and creatives has been more transformative than I ever anticipated. My Background I spent part of my childhood in a theater owned by my father in the 1970s and 1980s in a village in southern Portugal. I remember choosing films with him for the theater, and they are still vividly in my mind: Bud Spencer and Terence Hill, Bru...

Sometimes, someone comes along who suddenly propels you into an inspirational state that you never felt before. I worked with someone called, Shibu Thomas, who wrote a screenplay and asked me if I would become script consultant and editor. I read the script and edited it for him, but the story was so intriguing and so clever, I was happy to continue to help him work on it. He then made pitches to producers and received great feedback, he had very good written critiques from professionals in...

Happy Valentine’s Day, Stage 32 Community! Romantic comedies have always held a special place in cinema. From the golden era of When Harry Met Sally and Pretty Woman to modern hits like Crazy Rich Asians and Palm Springs, the rom-com genre has evolved to reflect the changing dynamics of love, relationships, and storytelling. But what makes a romantic comedy successful in today’s market? How have audience expectations shifted over the years? And most importantly, how can screenwriters craft c...

Hello, Dear Readers! Some of you may remember me from back in the day when I was writing semi-monthly Stage 32 blogs in an emotionally confusing effort to both inform and subvert the discourse that’s always underway in this community. For those who don’t know me, my credentials include the decade I worked as a development executive in the trenches of indie Hollywood, as well as ten years spent serving clients on every strata of Hollywood’s power structure as a script doctor and script consult...

My wife, Carolina, and I made a film, Expressway to Your Skull. It's not even close to the first film I've made, not even the first film my wife and I made together, but it ended up being the most challenging film to cross the finish line and the one we are most proud of. I want to share some of this story with you here and hope you can take something positive from our experience. THREE DAYS IN. I had accumulated seven days of vacation time at work, so I scheduled and budgeted a seven-day...

Happy Tuesday, Creative Army! As you know, Stage 32 Certification was a dream of mind for nearly a decade and is near and dear to my heart. Since launching just over a year ago, we’ve welcomed over 40 film commissions and other organizations who are now utilizing Stage 32 Certification to train below the line professionals in support of their film incentives and rebates. Many more will be announced soon. Today, we’re thrilled to announce some truly groundbreaking news that represents another...