Tips

As a young actor starting out, having your name on IMDb is a strong step in establishing yourself in the business. It is not the be all and end all and in time it will happen. If you want to start building your resume on the mothership of all websites for actors, with a little bit of hard work, you can grow your resume on IMDb. You can shoot a web series, a short film or a documentary with you as the narrator, oupload it to Vimeo or Youtube and then list it on IMDb as a short film. Here is a...

Since I dove into the world of 360 spherical video and VR, I’ve heard a wide range of opinions related to the future of this branch of visual entertainment. “It’s the future!” or “It’s a fad.” Honestly, I really don’t know what the future holds for this space. I just know it’s really cool. I’ve watched 360 videos where I’m seeing the same thing a skydiver, a scuba diver, a wingsuit diver, and dozens of other videos that adventurers have experienced. I’ve played multiple VR video games where I...

I’m not new to the planet, but I am new to the professional writing world, so when my 1st screenplay made the 2nd Rounder list at the 2016 Austin Film Festival, I wasn’t sure whether or not I should go. After all, I have another life—a day job, 3 kids, a Maytag full of their dirty laundry and a standing date for missionary sex with my spouse every other Thursday. How could I ditch all that glam to go to Texas? I polled my friends, my husband and my dogs: they all said go. My wallet disagreed, kn...

I have worked on film sets over the last three years and still find it incredibly exciting because I have been involved in the preparation. I'd like to share with you some thoughts on four areas relating to directing: Intensity, Imagined Space, Pitfalls, Psychology. Intensity: You have been writing, producing and imagining for a while and by the time you reach the film set, you will be brimming with creativity, which will spill over into the creative space of others. The experience is intens...

Building an audience is important for any actor or filmmaker. Every acting job you get, each day on set or piece of content you create is an opportunity to build your audience. In honor of Stage 32, here are 32 ways you can grow your following on social media. 1. Makeover your social media bios! Your bio is a mini advertisement for why someone should like, subscribe or follow you! Tell us what you do, what you stand for and what you love! If you have a YouTube account, your ‘About’ section is...

I’ve been providing advice here on Stage32 for a couple of years now, but that advice is hard to trace, as it has been individualized regarding several postings I have read in The Lounge. Richard (RB) Botto, Stage32’s founder, had mentioned to me I should put together agent-seeking advice, that I have developed through my own experience, and share that advice in a Guest Blog. The Uninformed Approach So, you’re hard at work, toiling away at your desk in a building of many floors with cubicles...

Feedback.  Just that word makes most of us uneasy. Many of us know the feeling of dread just before opening that email with script notes. The voices in our head start in with the usual taunts. The writing won’t be good enough. The story won’t be good enough. We, as people, aren’t good enough. No wonder so many people quit writing. It’s scary, it’s emotional and it’s hard. And that’s just the writing part!  Receiving and utilizing feedback doesn’t have to be painful. Believe it or not, feed...

Do you often intend to check your emails quickly before your day starts and end up sitting with them for longer than you wanted? Do you feel stressed from the massive amount of disorganization in your inbox and are spending more time organizing them than actually working on your goals? You are not alone. Email technology is amazing, I love it, however as much as it can empower us, it can overwhelm us. Staying in control of your emails allows you to save time and focus on other areas of your li...

I'll start by admitting there may be more important lessons to learn while scoring a feature film in four weeks than these, but I wanted to share some of the things I observed while going through the process on the latest film, Sacred Vow. 1. Deadlines Will Change - Except Yours Now that I've said that it's actually not always true. Your deadline can change but usually not in your favor. If it does change it will likely give you less time to complete the score. I remember being hired to scor...

Movies aren’t made with money. They are made with equipment, with artists, with technicians etc. Money is a key resource, but it is something that motivates and facilitates. It is not the movie itself. I like to think of it as energy. When you look at it that way, you begin to realize that there are a lot of ways to generate energy. You might find that even if you don’t have access to large amounts of money, you have more “energy” in a project than you thought.  Last year we shot a movie calle...