Tips

Anyone who has ever produced anything knows the title 'producer' can also mean: writer, director, actor, wardrobe, casting director, prop master - you get the picture. Amongst all those titles, I got the lucky experience of adding 'editor' to my list. Don’t get me wrong. This was not a one-man job. I have two incredible producers who are part of my team: Ryan Demaree and Peter Marr - and my project would not be what it is today without them. Even with their help, there was still a lot of roo...

With such a vast library of great films to look to as paradigms, you’d think it would be easy to make a great movie. We’re in the age of reboots, adaptations and (dare I say) rip offs, all of which offer a great foundation for us to work from. So why is it that a lot of these fall short? It’s really quite simple. YOU’RE RIPPING OFF THE WRONG THING!! OK, so obviously I should elaborate on this. I’m a person who likes to explain things via analogies. So in this particular case, I’ll use four o...

  In 1885 the US found itself in the embarrassing position of being given a lovely statue by France but they had nothing to put it on. So the American Committee of the Statue of Liberty established a crowdfunding campaign to raise the $100,000 needed to build the all-important plinth. After it was featured on the cover of Joseph Pulitzer’s The New York World newspaper, they finally really did it, raising $101,091 ($2.4 million in today’s money) from over 160,000 donors.  In 1885, crowdfun...

Our Fearless Leader was a guest on the extremely popular indiefilm podcast, Indie Film Hustle, hosted by filmmaker (and Stage 32 member) Alex Ferrari.  This was one lively show.  RB and Alex covered a ton of ground on a variety of indie film topics.  We ask that you not only listen, but spread the love by sharing the show on social media!  Thanks in advance! Here's a description of the show from the man himself, Alex Ferrari: Blueprint to Make it in the Film Business with Stage 32 Have you...

The November 2015 edition of On Stage With RB was a 3-hour affair and now it's available to watch for FREE on-demand! Joining RB was Jaia Thomas, leading entertainment attorney who assists clients with transactional and intellectual property matters. She regularly counsels filmmakers and producers on all aspects of film financing, production and distribution, with an expertise in copyright protection and how it affects the television, film, and new media industries. She also regularly assists co...

Much has been said on the topic of non-U.S. actors landing prime acting gigs in Hollywood, but much of it accuses America of offering inferior training, which I don’t believe necessarily to be true. Though it may account for a small part of the difference in success between actors from different countries, for my money there are many other highly influential factors than training alone.   Lower cost, good training Regardless of the standard of acting training, the United States has inc...

An actor walks into an audition and says to him or herself, “If I don’t get this part, that’s it. I am giving up acting.” The list of successful actors that have thought of quitting is long. The path is filled with rejection. You have to know that. Every time you put yourself out there, know that it may be "no" for now, but your big "yes" could be just around the corner. Today, I'm going to go over some famous faces that almost gave up, and, if they had, we'd miss out on some of the best ch...

Last time, I gave you important introductory pointers on how to conduct interviews. Most importantly, I talked about researching your subjects, holding a conversation and not an interrogation, keeping eye contact and making your interviewees feel comfortable. Here are a few more tips that have helped me over the years. PUBLICISTS CAN BE YOUR FRIENDS You’ll run into several kinds of publicists if you’re interviewing celebrities. First, there will be the studio, network or set publicists for t...

Do you ever feel isolated and alone? That your creative juice is slowly drying up as big ideas come and go without ever seeing the day of light? Are you looking at a growing pile of projects in which nobody has shown interest to, wondering if maybe you are in the wrong field? That maybe it is in fact not your calling? If the answer to one or more of these questions is “yes”, you’re not alone. But it doesn’t have to be this way.   Your limitations are where your worth lies. I grew-up in...

I once had an audition for a HUGE casting office that I wanted to read for. When it was my turn to go in, the casting director did this super weird move. No one I had ever encountered, by this point, had ever done it before, and no one's done it since. A SIDE HUG...   ​Striped cat - casting director; Orange cat - me   Being the naturally (hopelessly) awkward person that I am, I stiffened up and tried to smile, (with pretty much just bared teeth) and allowed myself to be side-held by t...