Success Stories

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 sell a TV movie, how to ace self-tape auditions, how to research your way to the top of the entertainment industry 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 -...

Nine months ago, I wrote a Stage 32 blog about how to use struggles as creative fuel: When Life Gives You Lemons, Open a Lemonade Company - How to Use Struggles as Creative Fuel. In the last paragraph of that blog I wrote: "Although I did not find a new well-paid job, I would not change it for the world. And I have confidence in the universe." Shortly after posting my blog on Stage 32, a published author contacted me mentioning that she read my wonderful blog and would like to connect. T...

Good morning Stage 32 Creative Crew! It’s Monday and we’re revved and ready to enter this final week of May with not one - but two success stories courtesy of writer connections made through Stage 32. This double dose comes to us from Sarah J. Cornelius the Production and Development Executive at Whitewater Films. If you are unfamiliar with Sarah, she is the powerhouse executive for veteran producer Rick Rosenthal, the Oscar and Emmy-nominated Director & Producer and CEO of Whitewater Films....

Good morning Stage 32 Creative Crew! We’re back at it on this Monday morning to kick off the week with another massive Stage 32 success story announcement. But before we get into it,  a quick update on the month of May. As you know, we’re a little over half-way through the month and at the moment there have been more than 20 new meeting requests from industry professionals looking to connect with writers through Stage 32 in May alone. That's over a meeting a day being requested.  Executives, p...

Happy Monday Stage 32 Creative Crew! I’m sure you’ve heard our Founder and CEO Rich ‘RB” Botto talk about the Content Gold Rush that we are in the midst of right now. I’m going to put it in perspective for you right now. Last year at this time there were 188 meeting requests from industry professionals looking to connect with writers through Stage 32. That’s a phenomenal number. That’s an average of more than a meeting a day. This year, we are at 237 meeting requests as I write this. Did...

Thanks to the successes of instant classics like ZOOTOPIA, TOY STORY, THE LEGO MOVIE and SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE, and daring TV satires such as RICK AND MORTY, BOJACK HORSEMAN, BIG MOUTH, and BOB’S BURGERS, the wonderful world of animation is more exciting, diverse, and in demand than ever! There is truly something for everyone when it comes to animated features and TV series & correspondingly, it is undoubtedly more in demand than ever before! Walt Disney said, "Animation can expl...

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...

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...

I’d been a “Schrödinger’s cat” member of Stage 32 for the better part of the last four years. “What does that even mean, Athina?” I hear you ask. Lucky for you, dear reader, I am here to elaborate. Get yourself a cup of tea (and one for me as well - black, with a dash of milk - please and thank you!) and let’s get crackin’. What I mean is, that “member” is a generous term. I’d been more of a passive, background, lurking in the dark Cat Woman sort of member. I had signed up for the newsl...

It’s no secret that we’re in a new Golden Age of Television. With audiences’ increasing desires for escapism and purely bingeable TV, there is perhaps no greater demand for new material than within Televised Comedies. Series like TED LASSO on Apple+, PEN15 and RAMY on Hulu, BARRY and INSECURE on HBO, ASTRONOMY CLUB on Netflix, THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL on Amazon, critics and global audiences alike can’t get enough. Not only are these shows changing the way that we watch television but, in many c...