Networking

You’re waiting in the wings before walking on stage, but you’re worried about last looks for hair and make-up. You’re researching locations before submitting a budget, but you’re not sure if filming on location or in-studio is safer or worth it. You’re writing a particularly powerful scene, but you’re not sure if the joke lands to break the tension. Even in our virtual workplace, we still have the ability to gain perspective before making an important decision by posting in the Stage 32 Lounges!...

Dear Actors, you are enough… But do you really believe that? Following nearly 25 years of working in the performing arts industry as an actress myself, I have also had the opportunity to assist directors, train with incredible coaches and view the problems that arise for most actors time and time again. It’s an elusive art form acting and what it takes to be a great actor seems to be equally puzzling because great acting looks so simple. But don’t be deluded into thinking that anything t...

Happy Thursday Stage 32 Community!   Since 2011, the Stage 32 team has been working tirelessly to help you stay connected, creative, motivated, and informed. As always, we are committed to bringing you networking opportunities, education and mentoring from top-level industry executives and professionals, and access to decision-makers around the globe all from the comfort of your own home. Recently, to celebrate a successful first quarter of 2021, our fearless leader and CEO Richard "RB" Botto...

I like to pull out the phrase “self-audit” once in a while. We all get so busy and are getting so much done and the achievements, presumably, are adding up. And yes, we should allow ourselves a chance to step back and take pride in whatever our latest accomplishment is. Time should be made to look back on the most recent highlight, but this isn’t one of the many articles that I’m sure you’ve read, encouraging us all to do exactly that. Think about being in that spot, though, and moving on to t...

You just launched your life-long dream as a working actor – auditioning for roles while continuing workshops with casting directors. Or you graduated from drama school, and, damn, the pandemic started! Maybe your hope for the pandemic to end sooner encouraged you to at least take online acting classes, but now moving to Los Angeles for more job opportunities is complicated with vaccine requirements, border closures, or getting stranded somewhere on the way. Even if you are in Los Angeles or New...

The Dark Origins Before we get started… there’s a few downer moments in this, but rest assured it all comes up roses in the end, so stick with it. I recently optioned my first script, BlackBird to an Irish director/producer who is currently working on preproduction. BlackBird is a hugely personal story. In fact, it is an autobiographical story. It gets super, seriously, rated-R level dark, so I won’t go into those details on this upbeat “happy news” kind of blog. But here is a breakdow...

Happy Saturday Stage 32! As many of you may know, I host an Instagram LIVE every week on @stage32 highlighting some amazing Stage 32 members from all over the world. We cover everything from how to shoot a short film 100% remotely to how to how to master the art of a director/composer relationship and more. Recently, I had the supreme pleasure of chatting with two powerhouse Stage 32 members that have been working hard to make magic happen in their entertainment careers in 2021 - and they have...

In 2017, I had a weird epiphany about an opportunity realized I had. Long story as short as possible, I had a 77-page Horror/Thriller script that I realized I could actually shoot, and thus, have my first feature film as a Writer/Director. By 2018 the script was totally finished. I submitted it to a few Stage 32 written pitch sessions and I got some really supportive feedback. Notably one exec requested to see other loglines I had and even requested one script, but the important part was that...

It’s safe to say that 2020 was one hell of a year! From an apocalyptic type pandemic, to a hot and heavy political climate, to our economy nearly crashing, it really had it all. Unfortunately for me, I was one of the unlucky ones that found myself out of work. This turned out to be a huge blessing in disguise though, because it gave me more free time. During my down time, a friend of mine asked me to read the first draft of his feature script, and I happily obliged. Reading his script and giv...

From Alex Montilla   Kheireddine El-Helou and I met while working as assistants in the editing room of 'The Muppets' in 2011 and immediately formed a bond based on a love of genre films and filmmaking, often discussing ideas for films we wanted to make. Through his award-winning short horror film, 'Drudge', Kheireddine got representation and some industry attention and was ready to make the move into features. So, in 2015, he told me his loose idea for a super low-budget movie he wanted to ma...