Networking

Networking is so important and as you know, we talk about it all the time on Stage 32. I was at a networking event and ran into a Stage 32er, Ben Merserve, who's a talented DP that shoots on RED. His girlfriend is a screenwriter and is very active on Stage 32 and introduced him to the community. He, admittedly, was apprehensive to jump into the community, but when he did, he had some great success! And, his biggest piece of advice, of course, is that you have to put in the work.  Today on our...

I have resented the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” from as early as I can remember, which lands me in my sixth grade play wearing a tennis outfit, surrounded by classmates dressed up as doctors, lawyers, teachers and other professions that were sure to evoke prideful smiles from their parents, beaming at them from the audience. How the hell was I supposed to know? I was twelve. I liked tennis. I was good at it. And, having just returned to California after living in England...

The odds and the realities of making a living at doing what we love, acting, put in perspective, isn't pretty. Actors really have two jobs; first the audition, in which you must be brilliant, and show that you are easy to get along with. And second, after you book the job, to do the job well. Making a living in the industry is not an easy task. Daily you race to auditions, sometimes with only a few hours notice to prepare, and often in an unforgiving environment, stressed by traffic or lack...

Hey guys!  Happy Sunday. The past week has been consumed by Cannes prep (see all the details here), so I have something a little different for Coffee & Content this week.  And it's something for everyone.  How about we cover ground on all the following topics: - Why you need to cut the negativity out of your life- Today! - Why you do not need to be micromanaged as a screenwriter or a filmmaker - How you can bring value to every meeting - What I'm hearing in my meetings regarding...

If there was one subject that dominated the questions asked during my recent Stage 32 AMA, it was about best practices on social media.  Many of you wanted to know how to go about creating meaningful relationships that would help accelerate your path to success.  You know my feelings on this subject as it relates to launching and maintaining a career in film and content creation: Relationships = Reads Relationships = Jobs Relationships = Financing Relationships = Champions of you and you...

Hey guys, You all know I love to talk, but there are few topics I enjoy talking about more than screenwriting.  And based on many of the questions submitted for the AMA this past week, many of you are looking for some direction, clarity and productive strategies as it relates to the craft and business of screenwriting. That's why I'm excited to announce that I will be returning as a guest on Scriptchat this coming Sunday at 5PM PDT.  What's Scriptchat?  Well, it's an hour long Twitter chat f...

Well, this is exciting. As you all know Stage 32 has has worked directly with and have had an official presence at the Cannes Film Festival for the last 4 years. This year, our role with Cannes has grown. We are thrilled to announce that we are an official education workshop partner with the Cannes Marche du Film!  Stage 32 will be presenting an official workshop to producers, filmmakers and other content creators on the importance of audience building, branding and crowdsourcing at the Marche t...

I caught the travel bug early in life and have been blessed with the number of places on this planet I have visited. It’s more than a lust for vacation, but it is a desire to see the world, learn from the people, and tally up some great stories. I'm sure there are plenty of you out there who have the same desire to hike Machu Picchu and Angkor Wat and photograph the penguin colonies in Antarctica. But there is always something that stands in the way, the lack of travel funds and the fact that I...

Hello, my dear, creative friends. It's been a long time since we had a FREE On Stage With RB webcast. I'm appreciative of all of you who have written in asking when the next one was going to air.  It's been a busy few months for yours truly. There have been many project meetings - progress on a few, and a couple of false starts. I've seen and heard much throughout and I'm anxious to share what I've learned out there with you. In addition, so many of you have sent in such incredible ques...

My name is David Banks and I’ve booked over 100 national commercials. Recently, I was a featured guest at Film Con LA and was asked how it’s seemed so easy for me to book spot after spot and what’s my magic touch. How it’s easy? That’s quite funny. Although it may appear like I have some kind of “magic touch,” my current method never fell into my lap. It was derived from MANY years of hearing no after no after no and having no clue how to remedy the situation. Rather, it came from studying t...