Tips

One of my favourite TV series is Mad Men. When Don Draper walks into a room with his ideas and visual pitches for a potential client, he does it impeccably, and with as few images and slogans as possible to sell the product. His theory has proof in the pudding: “You are the product. You feeling something, that’s what sells.” Which is precisely why we all are glued to our television screens during Super Bowl to watch the commercials that make us tear up or incite some other emotion within us....

Structure is one of the most discussed and important words in fiction writing. In scriptwriting, there are many theories of what exactly structure is. Screenwriting texts and experts, for example, often declare that structure is the proper placement of plot points or the use of sequences and acts. These organizing principles are essential to a script but they relate, I believe, not to structure - but to form. Form is the external shape of a script, of how its content--its events and scenes--are...

Happy Sunday to all. Greetings from a very chilly Chicago where we're prepping our first day of filming for Rain_Beau's End, a feature film I'm producing with more than a dozen Stage 32 members, including my fellow producer and good friend, Joe Orlandino. I'll be making some more posts about that as filming progresses, but for now, it's time to get to another edition of Coffee & Content. First up this week, it's a screenwriting lecture with the legendary Paul Schrader. Those of you who have be...

Hi Everyone! Over the years, I've been inundated with questions from up and coming filmmakers from around the world at film festivals, conferences, or just on the street. Sometimes I feel bad that I don’t always have time to answer them all. So I decided to start the Dear Bradley Vlog. And who better to partner with for the vlog than Stage 32, the premiere education platform for film and television content makers! So please, submit your questions to me in the comments below or via Instagram...

Good morning, Creative Army. Welcome to March and another edition of Coffee & Content. First up this week, a very inspiring video from Mr. Upbeat himself, Will Smith. It's 5 jammed packed minutes of acting advice designed to push you through your doubts and have you fired up. We all know that there is nothing worse, and budget busting, than trying to fix bad audio in post production. In our second video today, our good friends at DSLRGuide present a variety of tips to assure that you capture...

I moved to South Korea in 2009. My intention was to stay for one year and then move back to America and pursue an acting career. Eight years later, 34 IMDb credits, three awards, and a featured segment on BBC News, I had to be thankful and reflect on everything I learned while overseas. 1) The Lesson of Selling My Product   Erebus Films 'Midway Round,' a short film written and directed by Paul Stafford. First off, I don’t like the term “selling” when it comes to actors. We need to be “en...

What is the next step you need to take to catapult your career? Whether you're an actor, a screenwriter, a filmmaker, or play a different role on set, Richard "RB" Botto has an idea of what your next step should be.   Drawing from his free webinar "Ask Me Anything," RB gave sound advice to all wondering what the next step is. Click the link below to hear RB's advice on what you should do next, and who you should (or shouldn't) listen to along the way:   Click Here For RB's Advice!      ...

Good morning, Creative Army.  Happy Oscar Sunday. In honor of the little, naked gold dude, I have a very special Coffee & Content for you this week.  You'll want to brew an especially large pot for this one. I've hunted down the 10 nominated screenplays in both the original and adapted screenplay categories.  You can see them all below. Now, this is a treasure trove of goodness, so please, do me a favor would ya and share the content with your fellow creative friends and peers through your...

So you got yourself a face to face meeting with a decision maker. This is epic. Could be a game changer, you think. This is your “one shot, one opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted in one moment” like in the the Eminem song. It's your personal anthem that plays on rotation on Spotify as you sit in the lobby of the office of the producer you most want to meet who could make your script or book into a movie. Or the sales agent or distributor that finance your project your project. Or...

Dear Stage 32ers and Fellow Peers, I’m a DP/Filmmaker/Aspiring Director based in LA. I am here today to shed light on something that is not discussed often. Lenses and sensor size. Am I a lens whore? Yes! Do I obsess about color and image quality? Yes! To be a cinematographer means having a healthy dose of obsession. Your job, first and foremost, is to serve the director’s vision and storyline. Also, to provide ‘eyegasm’ and entertainment to the audience. (I just made the eyegasm word up but...