Screenwriting

Holidays are often a time for family, celebrations, and even a bit of magic, and holiday scripts uniquely capture the wonder and excitement of those occasions. All-time classics like LOVE ACTUALLY and HOME ALONE warm our hearts and bring us a sense of nostalgia, while unconventional holiday stories like DIE HARD and KRAMPUS explore unique ways into the holiday season. Audiences are always ready for that next holiday movie hit -- and we want it be YOURS! If you have a Holiday story that needs t...

  %%%EMBED_YOUTUBE_VIDEO_WITH_ID_2W1y_-2TPQE%%%   Hey, Creative Army! For those of you who have been here for a while, you know how important education is to me. My dream 12 years ago was to build the world's biggest educational library for people working in television and film and we've accomplished just that, programming over 3,000 hours in the last decade. Now, we take the next step in our evolution, fulfilling another dream of mine 7 years in the making. I'm very proud to announce,...

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. First up, the WGA has a great interview with Teresa Hsiao, the writer behind JOY RIDE and showrunner of AWKWAFINA IS NORA FROM QUEENS. Hsiao shares the shows that inspired her work from a young age and her approach to writing comedy in a collaborative way. Next, we're taking a look at the art of direc...

For many filmmakers, the film festival acceptance is one of their biggest dreams realized – even now as more people share and stream content from their homes than ever before, the allure of the festival hasn’t dampened. Not for me at least, and I imagine many of you too. The feeling of going up to the theatre, seeing your name and your film in the program, and most of all – seeing your work play in front of a real live audience. Not to mention networking with your fellow filmmakers and maybe eve...

As we think about our work as writers, sometimes we forget that there are “off the page” skills that we need to develop as well. We spend a lot of time on craft, focused on dialogue, character arcs, and plot outlining—everything we need to make a strong story. But building a career as a screenwriter—or as any kind of creative—involves more than writing. Entrepreneurship, professionalism, productivity habits, and presentation skills are four “off the page” skills we can develop as we master ou...

One of my biggest dreams as a kid was to become a famous Hollywood screenwriter. I spent hours creating games and roleplaying story ideas with my younger sister. I even transformed my bedroom into a live stage and performed plays for my family. Once I graduated high school, it was apparent what career I desired. Everyone, including my friends, family, and teachers, supported my decision. Go on, Zorrawa, you've got this! You're going to be a star in no time! I can already see you walking the r...

Hey, Creative Army! Digital Journal recognized our fearless leader founder & CEO Richard "RB" Botto's contributions to the creative industry and interviewed him this week. In this article, RB discusses what it’s like as a CEO in the digital age and what Stage 32 is doing to support the workers affected by the strikes. RB also addresses his thoughts on artificial intelligence (AI) and on the future of the entertainment industry. This is a can’t miss read, especially if you’ve ever wanted a look...

Happy Tuesday, Creative Army! As you know, mental health is a very important subject to me. My mission, and that of everyone here at Stage 32, is to provide our members with a safe, motivating, and collaborative environment. Somewhere free from the toxicity of broad-based social media platforms. In celebration of World Mental Health Day today, I want to share the below video with you all. In this video, I’m joined by author and actress Stephanie Szostak (A Million Little Things, Devil Wears...

The Pass You did it, my friend. You wrote for weeks upon weeks and rewrote it again. When it was finished, there it sat in front of you. Your most brilliant screenplay and or pilot. After reading it and congratulating yourself, you knew it was pure gold. A work of unending genius. There will be so many execs and producers lined up with bags of money and praise because they have never read anything like this before. You take a deep breath as you open your Stage 32 account to peruse who is lookin...

Fun. The main reason most of us got into (or are trying to get into) the film and TV industry is because it sounds so much fun! And it is - some of the best times of my life have been on set. I have been lucky enough to have filmed all over the world, from Pinewood to Bollywood and from Montana to the Sahara. I’ve worked on some really wonderful productions and I’ve been on some really awful productions that if I could get in my TARDIS, travel back in time, and change that timeline - then I woul...