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Happy Friday, Stage 32 Community! Summer is almost here, and there’s something exciting about this time of year in our industry. New momentum. New conversations. New opportunities. Over the last few weeks, our team has been on the ground at the Cannes Film Festival, connecting with creatives from around the world, hearing what’s happening across the industry in real time, and having conversations about where the business is headed next. And one thing has become incredibly clear: The crea...

Books, video games, and graphic novels have taken over film and TV. Sixty-five percent of popular movies and TV series are adaptations now. And yet (I'll go on record), screenplays are still the most powerful IP in this town. Here's why. A great book and a bad script will make a bad movie. A bad book and a great script can still make a great one. Not to be simplistic about it, but underlying IP with a built-in audience is a smart business move as it mitigates risk. It is not, however, a shortc...

There is a specific feeling that comes with yet another funding rejection. It sits somewhere between heartburn, grief and apathy, with a top note of "I should have been a dentist." You are not surprised, exactly, because you have done this enough times to know the odds. But you are still a little surprised, because you genuinely believe in this one. You know how good it is. You know how badly you, as an audience member, would want to watch it. You have massaged the budget until you can quote the...

This started with a comment on Stage 32 and ended with a short film called Sol Rise. It began on a post by our friend Sebastian Tudores, directed at Juliana Philippi and me: “I need to get you two together to sing on film.” I had casually mentioned that I used to sing with the Houston Masterworks Chorus, and Juliana had shared that she’s a singer as well, so naturally, he ran with it. The Debate That afternoon, I turned to my wife and said, “Honey, this guy seems nice… I don’t think he’...

Making a short film was one of the best things I’ve ever decided to do. When COVID hit and my auditions stopped, my creativity didn’t. Birds, Bees, and Threes is based on a true story from my childhood, and I had a brewing desire to share the story with the world. It’s funny, cringey, and honest. Logline: Julia’s trusted triplet support group leader expresses the importance of teaching their children about sex by the age of eight. Birds, Bees, and Threes comically follows Julia and Andy Huds...

Happy Sunday, Creative Army! Let’s kick things off with a huge shoutout to everyone who has already jumped into this month’s Introduce Yourself Weekend. Thousands of creatives from around the world are connecting, sharing their stories, and building relationships that can lead to collaborations, opportunities, and lifelong friendships. If you haven’t made your introduction yet, you still have time. Head over to the Introduce Yourself Lounge before the weekend wraps. Be bold. Introduce yourse...

Someone who was a guest on my weekly “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast recently had a massive opportunity, getting to open for country star Lainey Wilson. That’s an opportunity that my interviewee won’t soon forget. When she posted about it on Instagram, I pulled out the old, “Don’t forget us little people when someone is sharing a video someday of opening for you” in commenting on her reel. I can paint you a picture of the long, long road of how I ever got to her in the first place. And...

You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. I read hundreds of pilot scripts every year, most of them written by emerging writers. I teach pilot writing labs here on Stage 32, and I also work as a consultant and producer. Since my job is to give feedback, I give every script a full read (sometimes more than one). But when you send your script out to a producer or exec who is not being paid for feedback, they can stop reading whenever they feel they’ve seen enough. So the first...

Rejection has a way of feeling final. In an industry built on gatekeepers, opportunities, and timing, a single “no” can land like a verdict rather than a moment. It’s easy, almost automatic, to associate rejection with failure, with being stuck, or with the idea that all your hard work somehow didn’t matter. But that interpretation misses something important. Rejection, uncomfortable as it is, can be one of the most effective forces shaping your career. The Familiar Weight of "No" Most c...

Nolan. Kubrick. Spielberg. There is a moment in every auteur's career that looks, from the outside, like a mistake. Tarantino wins the Palme d'Or for Pulp Fiction in 1994 and the crowd is divided. Supposedly, half the jury reportedly walked out during deliberations. Christopher Nolan releases Memento with no studio backing and a structure that runs backward because that was the only honest way to tell that particular story. Bong Joon-ho makes his debut with Barking Dogs Never Bite and Korean a...