That is the part nobody prepares you for. You spend years on a film. Someone across a table spends four minutes deciding whether it is worth their money, time, and resources. And the thing that tips that conversation is almost never the thing filmmakers expect it to be. It is not how beautiful the film is. It is not how hard it was to make. I wish it were.

It is whether anyone besides you already wants it.

That is the whole business, honestly, and it is why I keep coming back to Curry Barker...

What the Buyers Were Really Buying

A 26-year-old writer-director. A former Starbucks barista. Earlier films made with friends for as little as a few hundred dollars. By any traditional measure, he had nothing a buyer looks for. No agency packaging him. No studio relationships. No track record a distribution executive could point to in a meeting.

What he had was an audience. Years of it. People who had been watching his work, sharing it, waiting for the next one.

And when OBSESSION premiered at Toronto, that audience was sitting in the room in a way no one could ignore. The deal that followed was reported at $14 million.

Here is what I want you to understand about that number, because it is the entire point of this series.

The buyers were not only buying a film. They were buying a de-risked one. Every acquisition executive in that theater was running the same math they always run: what will it cost to make people care about this? For most independent films, the answer is a marketing spend that dwarfs the production budget, aimed at an audience that has never heard of the filmmaker. For Barker, that line item was already handled. The audience existed. The awareness existed. The proof that people would show up existed.

That is what audience proof is worth at a negotiating table. It moves you from a speculative bet to a demonstrated one. And demonstrated bets get greenlit.

There Is a Playbook for This

Here is what gets me about all of this.

Nobody had to explain any of it to Stage 32 CEO RB Botto. He wrote it down years ago, before two horror filmmakers took it to the box office and made it look obvious.

His book is Crowdsourcing for Filmmakers: Indie Film and the Power of the Crowd, and it is the complete approach: how to shape the message of your project, how to get it in front of the people most likely to care, and how to build those relationships until your audience is the one carrying your work forward for you. John T. Trigonis, who wrote the book on crowdfunding, said it plainly: "No one knows crowdsourcing better than RB."

And RB did not write it from theory. He built this place the same way. Fifteen years ago, Stage 32 started with 100 people he invited personally, each asked to invite five more. It's now a community of over 1.5 million members across 190 countries. The platform you are reading this on is the case study.

Stage 32 members can get RB's audiobook at no cost, and I would start there before you do anything else.

Click here to grab it free on Audible.

It is also free in the UK, Germany, France, Canada, and Australia.

Prefer to read? Grab it in paperback or on Kindle by clicking here.

Audience Proof Is Not the Same as Being Famous

Here is where I think a lot of creatives take the wrong lesson from these stories and count themselves out.

You read "he built a following on YouTube for years" and you hear "you need to be an influencer." You are not going to become one, you do not want to become one, and so you close the tab and go back to hoping the right person reads your script.

That is not the lesson. Audience proof is not a follower count. It is evidence that people who are not obligated to care about your work care about your work.

For a filmmaker, that might be a short that traveled, a proof of concept people shared, a documented festival response.

For a screenwriter, it looks different and it counts just as much. It is the readers who asked for your next draft without being asked. The contest placements that show a script holds up against a field. The industry professionals who took a meeting and then took another one. The writers who read your pages and came back with notes because they wanted to see where it went.

For a producer, it is the collaborators who keep signing on. The relationships that make a package come together faster than it should.

Every one of those is proof that your work creates a response in other people. That is the asset. A buyer, a financier, a manager, they are all asking the same question in different words: does anyone besides you want this? Audience proof is how you answer with something other than your own enthusiasm.

The Long Game Is the Only Game

None of this produces a deal next Tuesday. I am not going to pretend otherwise, and you would not believe me if I did.

What it produces is a foundation, and foundations compound. The relationships you build this month may become the collaborators on your next project. The readers who followed your last script could become the people who champion the next one. The community that watched you work becomes the evidence that your work creates a response.

Barker did not build his audience in order to sell a film at Toronto. He built it because he was making things and sharing them with people who cared. The deal was what that foundation eventually made possible.

You have the same opportunity, and you have a considerable head start, because the crowd is already assembled and waiting for you to say something.

Where the Crowd Gathers

Now the practical part, because I do not want you to close this blog inspired and stuck.

You do not have to build a crowd from zero in front of an empty camera and hope strangers find you. You are already standing inside one, and the mechanics work exactly the way RB describes in the book.

The Lounges are where that happens. They are free, they are open every day, and they are where your first hundred people are sitting right now, working on their own projects and looking for people to build with.

Start by telling people what you are building.

Post in the Introduce Yourself Lounge and be specific. Not "I'm a screenwriter from Ohio," but "I'm a screenwriter from Ohio finishing a contained thriller set in a hospital during a blackout, and I'm looking for two readers who love the genre. I want to learn more about pre-production and make connections that will help me navigate my first short film. What do you wish you knew when you were preparing your first short?"

Specific gets responses. General gets scrolled past.

Then go where your people are, and then go where they are not.

We built the Lounges as designated homes for every kind of creative on this platform. A place to build connections, ask the questions you have been carrying around, share resources, and come together for support and growth. Whatever you do, there is a room here for it.

But here is my honest advice, and it is the thing I wish more members did. Do not only spend your time in the space that speaks to you. Spend time in the ones that challenge you, push you, and teach you about more of this industry than the single lane you happen to be standing in right now.

Screenwriters who understand financing write more producible scripts. Directors who sit with editors think differently on set. Producers who listen to actors build better projects to work on. Every conversation you have outside your specialty makes you more valuable inside it, and it puts you in front of people who would never have found you otherwise.

So take the time. Wander. Click here to browse every Lounge and pick two you would not normally open.

Show the work, not just the result.

This is the piece most people skip, and it is where we see so many members confused about why they are not making the progress they believe they should be. This is not an industry that moves quickly. Finding your footing takes time, patience, and persistence, and almost nobody tells you that honestly.

The audiences behind those two films were not built on finished products. They were built on process. On watching someone try things and get better. On relationships and fans formed over time through regular presence and openness.

So post the problem you are stuck on. Post what you learned from the location scout that went badly. Reach out to your community for help or answers. Admit when you are stuck, unmotivated, or just need a reset.

People follow the making of a thing. Then they show up to celebrate it.

Give more than you ask.

This is the whole engine.

Read someone else's pages and give constructive, respectful feedback. Answer the question you know the answer to. Congratulate the member whose short got in somewhere. Lean in and show interest in getting to know someone else's process and what they care about.

The creatives who build the strongest crowds and success here are, without exception, the ones who showed up for other people first.

And when you have something to show, show it.

The Your Stage Lounge exists for exactly that. This is the room for your projects, your crowdfunding campaigns, your screenings, and your events. By the time you get there, you will have a crowd who already knows your name.

Then use the tools built for your work. Share your videos, whether that is a short, a reel, a proof of concept, a screen share of your process, or a project you are still working through. You can upload them directly to your Stage 32 profile or to the Stage 32 Videos page.

Post your loglines on the Stage 32 Loglines page, and then go read a few other members' loglines and leave them respectful, useful feedback. Both halves of that matter.

And here is the distinction worth understanding, because it is where a lot of members get it backwards. You can absolutely bring your videos and loglines into the craft Lounges. Just do not bring them as a pitch. Do not open with an ask for reps or partners, financing, or attachments. Bring them as work in progress: here is what I am building, here is what I learned making it, here is the piece I am stuck on, tell me what you see and share feedback.

Promotion asks the room for something. Process gives the room something. One gets scrolled past. The other builds the crowd that shows up for you later. It makes all the difference in the world.

Your Move

Here is what I am asking you to do, and I mean today, not someday.

Get RB's book so that you're better informed and prepared to make the most of crowdsourcing your success. Click here for your copy!

Then make one post. That is it. Introduce yourself and say what you are building right now, with enough detail that someone can actually help you. Or jump into one of the craft Lounges to ask a question or share the process you are in currently. Not a promotion of your project, but an honest peek into your experience working on it. Then find one other member's post and answer it like you have something to offer, because you do.

That is three quick actions. Maybe fifteen minutes.

Nobody's crowd started with a thousand people. They started with one conversation, and then another one, and then a hundred more after that. Yours starts the same way.

I will be reading. Tell me what you are working on.

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Ashley at blog@stage32.com and let's get your post published!

Please help support your fellow Stage 32ers by sharing this on social. Check out the social media buttons at the top to share on Instagram @stage32 , Twitter @stage32 , Facebook @stage32 , and LinkedIn @stage-32 .

It can build cities, worlds, and characters out of thin air.

It can also create monsters and catastrophes—which, in film, can be incredibly lucrative. In life, it can create chaos.

Calming the creative mind comes with two very different outcomes. On one hand, it can make space for creation to thrive. On the other, it can quiet the very noise from which some creations emerge.

Creativity has always fascinated me because it seems to arrive from so many different places. Sometimes it comes from inspiration. Sometimes curiosity. Sometimes pain. Sometimes peace.

Both can create.

I created libraries of work during a dark decade. Music, books, lyrics, melodies, and characters. Some became novels. Some became albums. All of them taught me something valuable. I put my pain on pages to remove it from my mind and heart.

And it worked.

Not overnight. But with time.

The creations of others helped shine light into my own heart, soul, and mind. They became the lifeline I needed to escape the uncertainty and instability that had enveloped my life.

Books.

Music.

Film.

Creations are a powerful thing.

They are sacred.

And they should be celebrated and protected as though life depends on them.

Because sometimes it does.

I once had a spinning mind and words that needed to be said but couldn't be spoken. Creation became my medium and conduit to freedom.

As the years passed, something unexpected happened.

Learning how to quiet my mind didn't diminish my creativity. It deepened it.

The chaos that once fueled creation slowly gave way to understanding. The noise became clarity. The fear became curiosity. The constant need to react became the ability to observe.

My mind became calmer.

My world became calmer.

My creations began finding their voice in a different way.

Today, I often speak to people who are where I once was. People trapped in self-doubt, overwhelm, uncertainty, or fear. People carrying stories that have not yet found a place to land.

A dear friend here on Stage 32, Leo, recently touched on imposter syndrome in his wonderful article, "Sol Rise: From Connection to Creation on Stage 32." What struck me most wasn't just the project itself, but the reminder that some of the most meaningful creations begin with simple human connection. One conversation. One comment. One collaboration. Creativity rarely happens in a vacuum.

Imposter syndrome is a phrase that always makes me smile.

Not because it isn't real to the person experiencing it, but because it is a state of mind I conquered years ago.

Something I now help fellow creatives transform from a weakness into a superpower.

That's what happens when you quiet your mind.

You learn there is no imposter.

There is only you.

And you are a beautiful thing.

So never be afraid to create.

Your work might save a life one day.

It certainly helped save mine.

The six books that had the greatest impact on my life are explored in my book Powerless to Powerful. Other creations that followed included Ziva Meditation, introduced to me through Stress Less, Accomplish More, the works of Neville Goddard, and The Great Nerve.

Each creation became another guidepost along the path.

But perhaps the most important lesson I learned wasn't found in a book.

It was learning the difference between creating a life and merely reacting to one.

There was a time when my circumstances convinced me that life needed to be handled, managed, and hustled.

Everything felt urgent.

Everything felt important.

Everything felt like it deserved access to my time and attention.

Armed with new knowledge and the ability to step back, I learned one of the most important lessons of all:

Control the things you can control.

That realization led to healthier boundaries—boundaries that remain intact no matter what life throws my way.

One of the healthiest creations of all was something surprisingly simple:

A day of peace.

A full day away from technology.

Before creating this boundary, all of my days looked the same. Busy. Working. Solving problems. Allowing other people's priorities to dictate my peace.

I had created pockets of rest within each day.

But I had never created an entire day.

And the difference has been profound.

Imagine a computer you never reboot.

What happens?

Eventually it crashes.

You are that computer.

Learn to unplug for one day and see what happens.

Sunday is that day for me.

Unwavering.

No computers until the evening when I write my weekly Medium article—which doesn't feel like work at all. It feels like cathartic creation.

The rest of the day is spent reading, walking in nature, light exercise, light housework, and simply being present.

Cleaning my world.

So my mind can follow suit.

It is a beautiful day.

For more than two decades, I never allowed myself such a day.

I realize now that was my own doing.

Not because I lacked discipline.

Not because I lacked desire.

Because I didn't yet understand that I had the power to create that boundary.

Boundaries are beautiful fences built to keep your garden healthy and free from the weeds of life.

They are not walls.

They are a gentle reminder to yourself, and to the world, that you matter too.

You are the first domino.

Treat yourself as such and watch what beautiful creations emerge from your leadership, your peace, and your life.

Because the creative mind is a powerful thing.

What about you?

Has your best work come from chaos, calm, or a combination of both?

And have you created any boundaries that protect your creativity and peace?

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Ashley at blog@stage32.com and let's get your post published!

Please help support your fellow Stage 32ers by sharing this on social. Check out the social media buttons at the top to share on Instagram @stage32 , Twitter @stage32 , Facebook @stage32 , and LinkedIn @stage-32 .

Last week, I announced our 11th Annual Short Film Program at the Oscar-qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival, and I promised I'd come back and introduce you to the extraordinary filmmakers behind this year's six finalist films. So grab a coffee and settle in, because these are the people we're celebrating on August 13th, and once you know their stories, I think you'll want to be in that room as badly as I do.

First, in case you missed last week's announcement, here's everything you need to join us:

The 11th Annual Stage 32 Short Film Program Screening at HollyShorts

• Thursday, August 13th
• TCL Chinese Theatre, Hollywood
• 4:00 PM: Red Carpet, in the lobby of the TCL
• 5:00 PM: Screening, featuring the finalist films followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers

And because I want our community there to celebrate these filmmakers with us, Stage 32 members get an exclusive 25% off tickets and passes.

Click here to grab your tickets and use code Stage32HSFF2026 at checkout.

Now, let's meet the filmmakers. Let's start at the top.

Grand Prize Winner: TAINTED LOVE, directed by Lisa Steadman

Our 2026 Grand Prize Winner is TAINTED LOVE, and it's a film that does something I always admire: it takes a big, of-the-moment idea and finds the beating human heart inside it.

In a near-future Los Angeles where AI companions have become a luxury solution for loneliness, traditional matchmaker Stella hosts an elegant dinner party for friends and neighbors. Cocktails, flirtation, carefully curated charm, until a citywide blackout reveals that some of the guests at the table aren't human at all. As the embarrassment gives way to honesty, the humans left at the table have to confront the grief, insecurity, and longing they'd tried to outsource. It's darkly funny and quietly heartfelt, and it asks a question that's both futuristic and deeply old-fashioned: what happens when love becomes programmable, but loneliness remains stubbornly human?

Lisa Steadman is a Los Angeles-based writer, brand storyteller, and first-time director, a USC School of Cinematic Arts graduate and bestselling relationship author who has spent her whole career exploring how people connect, disconnect, reinvent themselves, and search for love. With TAINTED LOVE, she steps into the director's chair for the first time and brings that lifelong fascination with intimacy and emotional risk to the screen. She directed alongside Brian Thomas, a producer and director with more than 20 years of experience on projects for HBO, CBS, FX, and Universal Sports. In a story worthy of the film itself, Lisa and Brian first met back in 2007 when Lisa appeared on iVillage Live to promote her bestselling book It's a Breakup, Not a Breakdown, with Brian producing behind the scenes. Nearly two decades later, they reunited as creative collaborators, and tAInted love is the first independent film they've directed together.

In Lisa's words: "In a world increasingly optimized for comfort and control, I wanted to explore the messy, irreplaceable pulse of imperfect human love." That's exactly the kind of vision this program exists to champion. Congratulations, Lisa and Brian.

Finalist: KITE, directed by Olivier Hero Dressen

International Drama, 15:00

A man stands at the edge of a cliff, staring at the void beneath him. With nothing left to live for, he crosses paths with a little stranger who gives him a reason to keep going. Kite is the story of an unlikely friendship between a middle-aged foreigner and a young Chinese girl, two lonely souls thrown together by destiny on a remote island, who each learn that life is worth living even when it feels like there's no way out. It's a film about second chances, and about keeping your hopes and dreams alive even in your darkest hours.

Olivier Hero Dressen is a highly acclaimed director with a portfolio spanning fashion, commercials, music videos, and film, known for his distinctive approach to character and storytelling, and for collaborations with major brands and celebrities.

As he puts it, "I wanted to create a film that touched people's hearts and reminded them of the importance of human connection, no matter how different we may seem."

Finalist: SELFLESS, directed by Jason Kim

A devoted mother, desperate to fulfill the American promise she and her husband made for their son, enacts a tragic plan to secure his future, forcing her family into an explosive confrontation with guilt, sacrifice, and betrayal. It's a taut, emotionally charged slice of life about an immigrant South Korean family in Queens.

Jason Hyun Kim is an award-winning writer, director, editor, and producer based in New York City. Gentle and mindful by nature, creative and ambitious by design, he has worked across commercial, documentary, and scripted spaces since 2014, including his film Trombone Magic, which earned two awards and a distribution offer. A graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Jason describes Selfless as deeply personal, a work born from the passing of his father and shaped into pure emotion. "Emotions connect us together," he says. "I hope this slice of life finds a connection with the fire of emotions that arises in my heart."

Finalist: VITAL, directed by Amir Zargara

A mother in Iran considers selling her organs to save her daughter. In the United States, a doctor faces an impossible ethical dilemma to save his own. Vital weaves these two stories together into a searing look at the human cost and moral complexity of the organ trade.

Amir Zargara is an award-winning Iranian-Canadian writer and director whose perspective is shaped by the cultural mosaic of Iran and Canada, by the resilience of an immigrant, and by his experience living with a stutter. An alumnus of prestigious programs at Berlinale, TIFF, Busan, Zurich, and Reykjavik, he's drawn to the moral complexities individuals face. His previous short, A Good Day Will Come, qualified for the Oscars and earned over 70 awards and mentions across more than 100 festivals worldwide, and his screenplays have been recognized by the Academy's Nicholl Fellowship, The Black List, Austin Film Festival, and Slamdance. Amir is a filmmaker very much on the rise, and Vital shows exactly why.

Finalist: THE INTERVIEW, directed by Kai Kim

Desperate to prove himself a reformed man, Tyson Babineaux can't outrun his history of violence, and it's sabotaging every chance he has at a normal job. With the threat of losing his family looming, Tyson takes an unconventional interview at a private security firm, where he's offered the fresh start he's been chasing. But there's a catch: to win the job, he has to kill the other candidates. It's a gripping, high-stakes piece of genre filmmaking, and at nearly 24 minutes, the most ambitious runtime in this year's program.

Kai Kim was born in Kailua, Hawaii, into a world of love, chaos, and survival. Originally conceived as a twin, he arrived alone into a household shaped by generational trauma, colorful personalities, and unconventional choices. Raised primarily by his single mother between Los Angeles, Ventura County, and Fremont, California, Kai grew up straddling extremes: the raw survival instincts of his family and the polished suburban life of his peers. Stories became his refuge and his compass. By eight, he was directing homemade films on a camcorder, blending ninjas, dinosaurs, and space adventures into intricate narratives that mirrored life’s unpredictability. Early experiences, witnessing death, navigating complex family dynamics, and confronting life’s raw edges, instilled a fascination with morally complex heroes and the courage it takes to survive unseen. Kai broke into the industry as a driver at Stan Winston Studios, where his ingenuity caught the attention of Stan Winston himself, leading to hands-on work in creature effects on Small Soldiers. His career evolved through prop building, animation, museum dinosaurs, and eventually camera operation on long-running series like General Hospital, The Bold & The Beautiful, and The Young and the Restless, where his dedication and vision transformed him from operator to director of 56 episodes of the latter series. Kai thrives on risk. His short film The Interview, a 24-minute, 21-page action story shot in two punishing days on a shoestring budget, epitomizes his relentless drive to push boundaries and tell bold stories. Influenced by Spielberg, Tony Gilroy, Ayn Rand, and Hunter S. Thompson, he crafts films that explore heroism, moral ambiguity, and the unsung courage in all of us. Kai Kim is a rebel with integrity, a craftsman with vision, and a storyteller whose life, from addiction to triumph, chaos to creativity, is a testament to the power of resilience, redemption, and unapologetic originality.

Finalist: TO BITE A DOG, directed by Vilmos Szász

A man's love life turns suddenly, wonderfully upside down when his seemingly perfect girlfriend discovers her inner beast. To Bite a Dog is a sharp, playful black comedy, and a genuine breakout moment for a young filmmaker.

Vilmos Szász studied directing at FAMU in Prague before completing his bachelor's degree in film directing at Budapest Metropolitan University. Along the way, he worked as a production assistant on international productions shot in Hungary, including FBI: International and Gran Turismo. To Bite a Dog is a student film he produced at university, and it's having its world premiere with us at the Oscar-qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival. I love that. There is no better launchpad for a first film, and no better story of what this program is all about.

Come Give These Filmmakers Their Flowers

Here's something I want to say directly to our community.

Making a short film is hard. Finishing one is harder. And getting one selected to screen at an Oscar-qualifying festival, in front of a theater full of executives and peers, is a genuine achievement that most filmmakers spend years chasing. Every person on this list poured their time, their money, their talent, and a piece of themselves into the work you're going to see on that screen. They earned this moment.

So let's show up for them. One of the most powerful things about this community has always been the way we celebrate each other, and these six films are exactly the kind of work worth celebrating. Come to the screening. Cheer during the Q&A. Introduce yourself afterward. Tell these filmmakers you saw their work and it moved you. That kind of support means more than you know, especially at this stage of a career, and it's the reason this community is unlike anywhere else in the industry.

And if you're coming out on the 13th, or heading into a festival run of your own this year, our Writer Liaison, Pat Alexander, put together a field guide for getting the most out of a festival like this one. It's in last week's blog, and it's worth five minutes of your time before you walk in the door.

Click here to read it now!

Where This Road Can Lead

And make no mistake, this moment can be the start of something big. Over the last decade, our finalists and winners have gone on to be signed by agencies and managers including UTA, WME, Verve, Echo Lake, Gersh, and Paradigm, and to be financed and produced around the world.

Our 8th Annual winner, Lisa Cole, was shortlisted for an Oscar and signed with Oscar-winning sales company Ouat Media. Last year's Grand Prize winner, Robin Wang, saw his film released by Omeleto and signed with The Gersh Agency. Past finalist Steve Desmond landed a Warner Bros. bidding war for a spec that started with his short film. Past finalist Dinh Thai became a working television director on shows like WU-TANG: AN AMERICAN SAGA and THE GOOD DOCTOR. This is where a short film can take you, and it's why getting your work in front of the right people matters so much.

One Last Thing

I've said it before, careers in this industry are not built alone. They're built in rooms full of people who show up for each other, one introduction, one kind word, one shared victory at a time. That's what this community has always been, and it's what the screening on August 13th is really about. Yes, it's a celebration of six wonderful films. But it's also us doing the thing we do best, lifting each other up and reminding one another that the work matters and the dream is worth chasing.

So come be part of it. Come give these filmmakers their flowers, watch some phenomenal films, and be in the room where the next chapter of somebody's career begins.

Stage 32 members get an exclusive 25% off tickets and passes. Click here to grab your tickets and use code Stage32HSFF2026 at checkout.

I'll see you on the red carpet.

RB

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Ashley at blog@stage32.com and let's get your post published!

Please help support your fellow Stage 32ers by sharing this on social. Check out the social media buttons at the top to share on Instagram @stage32 , Twitter @stage32 , Facebook @stage32 , and LinkedIn @stage-32 .

The Thirty-Second Absolute

Screenwriters working in the streaming economy face a brutal absolute. They have perhaps thirty seconds to halt a wandering thumb. A platform’s internal metrics value the initiation rate of a series far above its completion rate. That single mathematical reality birthed a front-loaded narrative economy. Writers no longer have the luxury of a slow build. They are forced instead to engineer an immediate detonation.

The cold open has devolved into a desperate arms race. Showrunners pack their initial pages with staggering set pieces and hallucinatory mysteries simply to secure a viewer's gaze. Yet every story possesses only so much structural integrity. If a writer spends all their foundational capital in the pilot episode just to keep the audience from opening another app, the narrative collapses before it ever reaches the finale. This intense need to capture immediate attention produces a generation of scripts with breathtaking openings and entirely hollow endings.

What the Grenade Costs

We can observe this architectural flaw across the current streaming landscape. HBO's True Detective: Night Country detonated its premiere beautifully. A frozen knot of screaming human bodies trapped in the Alaskan ice offered a masterclass in atmospheric dread. The series demanded total surrender, and we gave it willingly. Weeks later, the finale landed with a dull thud. Profound cosmic terror dissolved into a hurried logistical explanation inside a dimly lit cave. The grenade went off in the first five minutes. The remaining six hours simply swept up the ash.

Netflix’s The Watcher suffered a similar fate. The show masterfully weaponized suburban paranoia in its opening hour, delivering a brilliant exercise in hook writing. But the final episodes deflated into a structurally unsound mess. The creators spent so much energy getting us through the front door that they forgot to furnish the house.

The Show That Refused to Rush

Contrast this modern panic with Apple’s Severance. The pilot is undeniably compelling, but it refuses to rush. The writers trusted the quietness of their premise, substituting immediate spectacle with an escalating, methodical mystery. They allowed the audience to sit with a deliberate accumulation of dread, holding back their most potent reveals for the moments they would hurt the most. Because the writing conserved its structural tension, the season one finale became a masterpiece of synchronized release where the destination actually justified the journey.

Nobody Trusts the Viewer

A quiet cynicism now governs development rooms. Executives assume audiences lack the basic capacity for delayed gratification. Nobody trusts the viewer to wait. This lack of trust is built directly into the interface itself. As soon as the final frame cuts to black, a five-second countdown timer immediately threatens to roll the next episode or a preview for an entirely different show. The architecture of the app opposes the concept of a lingering thought. It actively prevents the audience from sitting with an ending.

Writing Your Way Out of the Trap

How do we write our way out of this trap? For screenwriters trying to break in, the pressure to conform to the algorithmic grenade feels immense. The industry demands a hook. But delivering a hook does not require bankrupting your third act.

Strip the Spectacle From Your Cold Open

The first step is applying a simple litmus test to your cold open. Strip away the visual spectacle. Remove the frozen bodies, the exploding vehicles, or the cryptic symbols written in blood. Look only at the core human dilemma remaining on the page. If the scene relies entirely on a sensory shock to hold the reader, the foundation is already crumbling. A sustainable hook operates on emotional friction. The spectacle should merely decorate the friction, never replace it.

Audit Your Mystery

You must also audit your mystery. Writers frequently confuse confusion with intrigue. Dropping an inexplicable puzzle box in the first five minutes will certainly buy you an hour of attention. But if that puzzle box exists only to stall the audience, the eventual explanation will inevitably feel like a betrayal. Severance succeeds because its central mystery is inherently tied to the psychological wound of its protagonist. The mystery explores the character. In lesser scripts, the characters are just there to slowly narrate the mystery.

Ration Your Reveals

Finally, we need to relearn the art of rationing our reveals. A pilot script should function as an invitation, not a ransom note. You do not need to prove you are a genius in the first ten pages. You only need to prove you are a steady hand at the wheel. Trust the viewer to absorb nuance. Allow a scene to breathe without forcing an artificial cliffhanger every six pages just to appease an imaginary algorithm.

Gorgeous Lobbies, Missing Roofs

We are constructing gorgeous lobbies for buildings missing their roofs. Patience remains a vital narrative virtue. The third act is where thematic weight finally crystallizes into something permanent. Sacrificing the destination merely to guarantee the audience walks through the door condemns us to an endless sprawl of magnificent facades hiding completely empty rooms.

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Ashley at blog@stage32.com and let's get your post published!

Please help support your fellow Stage 32ers by sharing this on social. Check out the social media buttons at the top to share on Instagram @stage32 , Twitter @stage32 , Facebook @stage32 , and LinkedIn @stage-32 .

I hope your weekend has been a creative one so far. Whether you have been writing, filming, editing, or sketching out the next spark of an idea, I have something today that will give you a boost. So grab your coffee, and let’s dive in.

This week's featured video comes from Panavision: How Director Boots Riley Brought I LOVE BOOSTERS from Big Idea to the Big Screen

Boots Riley wanted to make a movie that could not play small. Something loud and funny and packed with color, the kind of thing that fills a theater with a rowdy crowd having the time of their lives. And when he set out to build it, here is what he had in his hands: chicken-scratch notes in a notebook and stick-figure storyboards. That was it. He took those into rooms and asked people to build it with him. His production designer says on camera that he thought Boots was nuts. Then he went and built the miniatures and matte paintings anyway. His cinematographer started deliberately flaring lenses and pushing color into the blacks. And when the lenses she wanted did not exist, Panavision pulled glass from the 1950s off a shelf and built her new ones from scratch.

I have been saying for years that this business is not built alone, and this video is the proof. Every single thing that ends up on that screen exists because somebody heard Boots out and then went further with it than he asked. That is what a real collaborator does. They do not just execute your idea. They raise it. Here is the hard part, and I know it because I hear it from you every day. Those rooms are difficult to find. If you are not in Los Angeles, if you do not already have the relationships, where do you actually go? Where do you take the scribbles? Who is going to tell you the truth about your pages and then help you make them better?

That is the exact question we built the Writers' Room to answer. And since I get asked about it constantly, let me tell you what is actually going on in there. Every week in the Writers’ Room we host webcasts that put you in front of executives. We post Open Writing Assignments you can submit to for free, usually around six of them every two weeks, which allow you to submit your scripts to real producers, reps, and executives without that pesky “no unsolicited materials” blockade.

On Mondays and Thursdays, we run live Script Workshops over Zoom, where you refine your material with feedback and support from people who want you to get better. Our own John Mezes, alongside Noel Thompson, who is fantastic, runs a pitch practice over Zoom every Thursday, and I mean it when I say it is one of the most engaging, educational, and uplifting environments you can possibly be in. You listen to other creatives pitch in a safe and supportive space, usually four to five minutes each, and then the feedback comes from John, from Noel, and from the executives, managers, and agents they bring in. I have jumped in to give feedback myself more than once. I love doing it. Then on Wednesdays, we bring professionals into the space to connect with you over Zoom for Q&As, pitch tanks, and script breakdowns. It is a chance to learn directly from working professionals across every corner of this industry.

I will say it plainly. There is nothing else like the Writers' Room anywhere.

This Wednesday, August 12th, I am hosting my State of the Industry Ask Me Anything, live over Zoom. This is the one where I open the floor and you ask me whatever you want about where this industry is heading, what is selling, what is changing, and what it means for your career. No script, no filter, just an honest conversation with our community.

The event lives inside the Writers' Room, but I want all of you there. So we are giving you your first month on us.

Click here to get your free month and join me on Wednesday.

If you cannot make it live, come anyway. The recording will be waiting for you, along with the full library of past webcasts, and you have the entire month to sit in on the Script Workshops, the pitch practice, the Wednesday sessions with industry pros, and every Open Writing Assignment we post. Use all of it. That is what it is there for.

Boots Riley walked into rooms with stick figures and came out with a movie made for the big screen. Every one of you has something worth building. You just need the room. Click here and come find yours.

Now I want to hear from you. Who is the collaborator who changed your work? Maybe it was the person who saw what you were reaching for before you could explain it, or the one who told you the hard truth you needed. And if you are still looking for those people, tell me what kind of collaborator you need most right now.

As always, here at Stage 32, we love sharing stories and knowledge with our fellow film fans. Know someone who would love this content? Share it with them. You can keep up with all of our videos by subscribing to the Stage 32 YouTube Channel. For more inspirational, educational, and motivational content on all things entertainment industry, follow me on Instagram and X @rbwalksintoabar.

Wishing you a very happy, healthy, and creative Sunday.

Cheers,

RB

Panavision | How Director Boots Riley Brought I LOVE BOOSTERS from Big Idea to the Big Screen

RBWalksIntoABar | What is the Stage 32 Writers’ Room?

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Ashley at blog@stage32.com and let's get your post published!

Please help support your fellow Stage 32ers by sharing this on social. Check out the social media buttons at the top to share on Instagram @stage32 , Twitter @stage32 , Facebook @stage32 , and LinkedIn @stage-32 .

Recently though, I’ve found myself taking it another way. I’m one of those people who work on multiple projects at once, and two of the things I’m working on had a similar thing happen. I cut an entire character from both.

This can be more painful than cutting scenes or entire plot points. In both screenplays and novels, creating compelling characters takes time and effort; to suddenly and completely remove all traces of them hurts. In the case of a pilot script, you have to go back through the series bible and edit out any and all mentions of them. It’s like they never existed.

In my case, I cut a character out of a pilot script and a second out of a novel. Both were for different reasons and came with different results.

Let’s take a look at some of the reasons why I made the decision I did. Hopefully, it can help you when you face a similar situation.

When you budget a production, keep this in mind: every character in the script represents a person you will need to pay for every day they’re on set. When you’re working on a strict budget, it is something you especially have to consider as you write.

In a novel, however, budget isn’t an issue. But, no matter the genre, there is a flow to a story and an extra character can disrupt it.

That was one of the problems I faced in one of the books I’m currently working on. It’s a sequel to a previous story I wrote. But with this book, I’m establishing the world and creating a cast of characters that we will see book to book as I turn this into a series.

Without giving too much away, I created an assistant for my lead investigator and then created her best friend; I made them a duo of sorts. I figured the two could bounce off each other and bring different perspectives. I thought I had justified the friend’s existence by giving her a background in PR. My protagonist has gotten some not-so-great press and is in hot water; I thought that someone in her corner who knows how to massage a situation would be interesting.

As I developed the story, things weren’t clicking. Some problems were solved by cutting storylines from earlier drafts that I was hanging on to. Even so, issues persisted and it took me ages and the advice of my editor to figure out the problem.

That PR-expert friend did absolutely nothing to help the story. In fact, she was hurting it by her mere presence. Every time I brought her in, it bogged down and slowed down the story in a way that I didn’t quite catch (because I was too close to it).

Another character was solving problems and handling plot developments for my protagonist. It’s much more interesting when she has to do that for herself.

There’s a bonus tip for you: it’s almost always more interesting (and meaningful to their arc) when your protagonist(s) have to face adversity head-on.

I tried to keep her in a different or reduced role, but I eventually ended up cutting her entirely from the novel.

And sure enough, the story started to flow better. All those words that she took up could be better used elsewhere.

Which leads me to my second cut character.

As you’ve seen in previous posts I’ve done for this site, I’m currently working on a pilot for a web series. I’ve been developing this show for a year now. Over the course of that year, I’ve been drafting the pilot episode as the world around the series took shape.

When it comes to television, I’m of the philosophy that people come for the premise but stay for the characters. With that in mind, when I write for the screen, I focus heavily on them. If they are well-developed, they’ll help carry the script.

In this case, the story formed around my lead character and began to develop. During earlier drafts, I wrote who I thought would be the male lead. He was going to work alongside my main character and eventually, I was considering allowing them to get together into a relationship.

But while my female protagonist worked, the guy did not. It became evident pretty quickly that part of the script’s problem was this character. While trying to fix him didn’t help, finally I made the decision to cut him altogether.

And it worked. The script began to flow much more and another character stepped up to fill the hole he left behind. It made the script stronger, made the characters sharper, and moved the story along.

So, if you’re having issues with a story, let me leave you with some food for thought.

If you removed that character from the story entirely, would it make a difference?

In both of the cases I’ve mentioned above, the character’s absence didn’t negatively affect the story. With that in mind, it became obvious that the characters added nothing to the story.

From an editing perspective, the only logical course is to remove them.

This is one of those times when you truly need an editor or a second set of eyes. As writers, no matter whether it be for a book or for the screen, we often find ourselves far too close to our work to see things with any degree of objectivity.

But an outsider’s perspective can do so much to help strengthen a story.

Whenever you add a new character, especially in a script, you should ask yourself…

What purpose does this character serve?

As a mystery writer, I look at it in terms of the story. Do they deliver a vital clue? Are they the only one who can give or get that information? Is it best coming from them?

If that’s a yes, perhaps they can stay, but maybe I’ll downgrade their importance to little more than giving me that missing piece. Though in many cases, if there’s not another pre-existing character who can offer vital information, that missing clue would be best served by moving that plot reveal to physical evidence. It not only saves you money you can use elsewhere, it can help bring your sets, props, or costuming alive.

For example, a protagonist could learn their dead family member was in debt by talking to a banker–or they could find crumbled-up IOUs in their family member’s jacket pocket and overdue notices stuffed out of sight in a drawer. The latter option breathes life into an otherwise unseen character and makes the world feel lived-in.

If a character truly is bogging down a story, chances are they serve no purpose that can’t be filled by someone (or something) else.

Trust me, I know firsthand how hard it is to cut scenes, much less entire characters. It feels like you’re killing off someone who barely got the chance to live. It can hurt.

As writers, our job is to make sure that our work is as strong as it can be.

That’s why the advice to Kill Your Darlings is so important. It may hurt in the short term, but you and your project will benefit from it in the long term.

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Ashley at blog@stage32.com and let's get your post published!

Please help support your fellow Stage 32ers by sharing this on social. Check out the social media buttons at the top to share on Instagram @stage32 , Twitter @stage32 , Facebook @stage32 , and LinkedIn @stage-32 .

I have been on the road, in the meetings, and on the phone with executives, producers, financiers, and buyers all year long. And every time I come back from one of those conversations, the same thing happens. I want to sit down with the creatives in this community, and I want to tell them everything I just heard, because so much of it is information that would genuinely change how they approach their careers if they only knew it.

So that is exactly what I am about to do.

On Wednesday, August 12th at 4:00 pm PT, I am hosting a live Ask Me Anything session over Zoom, inside the Stage 32 Writers' Room, and I am bringing all of it. What is selling. What is not. Who is buying. What executives are actually looking for right now, and what I am watching them pass on. Where the real opportunities are hiding for creators who know where to look.

This one is just for our Writers' Room members. And if you are not in yet, your first month is free, so you can be in the room with me for this one.

Start your free month right here.

What We Are Going to Get Into

Where the industry actually is right now, and where I believe it is heading over the next twelve months.

What executives, managers, and producers are genuinely looking for from writers today, based on the conversations I am having every week.

How to build a career that is sustainable, not just one that chases a single short-term win.

The business side of this business, because your craft alone will not carry you as far as you need to go. It never has.

And your questions. As many as we can possibly get through, with no topic off limits.

How to Be in the Room

This AMA is included with your Writers' Room membership. If you are already a member, you are set, just join the Zoom from your Writers' Room Portal!

If you are not a member yet, here is the part I want you to hear clearly: your first month is free.

That means you can join, sit in on this AMA with me, and see everything else the Writers' Room gives you at no cost. Click here to start your free month.

Membership also opens the door to Open Writing Assignments, weekly live webcasts with working producers, reps, writers, filmmakers, and executives, ongoing feedback exchanges with pros and your peers, live pitch practice, a community of serious creatives who show up for each other every single week, all year long, and so much more.

That is the room I want you in. Not just for one afternoon with me, but for the long haul.

Mark Your Calendar

Ask Me Anything with Stage 32 CEO Richard "RB" Botto
Wednesday, August 12th at 4:00 pm PT
Live inside the Stage 32 Writers' Room

Not a member yet? Start your free month here and join me.

If you have missed my previous AMAs, you can catch up on them here.

I have said for years that the writers who move fastest in this industry are the ones who understand the business they are working inside of. This is a couple of hours where I hand you as much of that as I possibly can.

Come with your questions. I will bring the honest answers.

See you in the Writers' Room.

Let's go.

RB

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Ashley at blog@stage32.com and let's get your post published!

Please help support your fellow Stage 32ers by sharing this on social. Check out the social media buttons at the top to share on Instagram @stage32 , Twitter @stage32 , Facebook @stage32 , and LinkedIn @stage-32 .

Today I want to clear up the single biggest misunderstanding I see whenever this topic comes up. Because when people hear "build an audience to power your film," they almost always think you mean one thing.

They think you mean crowdfunding.

You don't. And the difference is everything.

Crowdfunding Asks for Money. Crowdsourcing Builds a Movement.

Let's define both clearly, because they get used interchangeably and they are not the same thing.

Crowdfunding is a transaction. You launch a campaign, you ask a crowd for money, and in exchange you offer rewards or a stake. It has a start date, an end date, and a dollar goal. It's a tool, and it can be a good one, but it is finite. When the campaign ends, it ends.

Crowdsourcing is something much bigger and much more durable. It's the ongoing work of building a crowd and moving that crowd, an audience that gives back in every currency, not just cash. A crowd gives you feedback. It gives you word of mouth. It gives you collaborators, locations, gear, press, testers, believers, and yes, sometimes funding. But money is just one of many things a mobilized audience provides, and often not even the most valuable one.

Here's the part that surprises people. Neither Backrooms nor Obsession was crowdfunded. Not one dollar of a Kickstarter built those films. What their creators did was crowdsource, for years, mostly without calling it that. They built audiences on YouTube, nurtured them, listened to them, and made things those audiences wanted to share. By the time there was a film to sell, there was already a crowd ready to show up. That's not crowdfunding. That's crowdsourcing, and it's exactly the distinction RB drew years ago in his book.

RB Wrote the Book on This, Literally, and You Can Get It Free

If this idea is landing for you, I have good news: there's an entire playbook for it, written by our own founder and CEO, Richard "RB" Botto.

RB is a creative, just like you. He's an author, a WGA screenwriter, a producer, and an actor, someone who has sat exactly where you're sitting, with a project that needed an audience and no obvious way to reach one. That's the whole reason this matters so much to him. Helping this community find connection, momentum, and real success isn't a business goal for RB. It's personal.

His book, Crowdsourcing for Filmmakers: Indie Film and the Power of the Crowd, lays out the whole approach: how to shape the message of your project, how to broadcast it to the people most likely to care, and how to cultivate that audience until they're the ones carrying your message forward for you. It's built on real case studies, including the founding of Stage 32, the largest crowdsourced platform for film creatives in the world.

When it published, it drew praise from across the industry, including from John T. Trigonis, the author of Crowdfunding for Filmmakers, who said it plainly: "No one knows crowdsourcing better than RB." When the person who wrote the book on crowdfunding tells you to read the book on crowdsourcing, that's worth paying attention to.

And here's the best part for our community: right now, Stage 32 members can get the audiobook completely free.

Get the audiobook free on Audible by clicking here.

It's also free in the UK, Germany, France, Canada, and Australia. Prefer to read? Grab it in paperback or on Kindle by clicking here.

Stage 32 Itself Is the Proof

Here's the part that gives me chills every time I think about it. Stage 32, this platform you're on right now, is itself the ultimate case study. He didn't just write about crowdsourcing a creative community. He did it.

Fifteen years ago, Stage 32 began with a single act of crowdsourcing. RB invited 100 people he knew who he thought would be interested in a creative community. Then he asked each of them to invite just five more. That was it: a small, genuine crowd, each person moving the message forward to the people they knew.

From those 100 people, Stage 32 has grown into a global community of over 1.5 million members across 190 countries.

That is crowdsourcing. Not a fundraising campaign, not an ask for money, but a message shaped and shared and carried forward by an audience that believed in it, until it became something none of them could have built alone. Everything RB teaches in the book, he proved by building the very place you're reading this.

Your Crowd Is Already Here

Now for the part I really want you to hear, because it's easy to read "build an audience on YouTube for years" and feel like you're already behind.

You're not. And you don't have to do it alone in front of a camera hoping strangers find you. You are already standing inside one of the most powerful crowds in the world: this community.

Stage 32 is, at its core, a crowdsourced platform. It's the living proof of RB's entire thesis. Every day, right here, you can begin building your audience foundation with the help and support of both your peers and working professionals. When you post in the Lounges, share what you're working on, ask a question, give someone feedback, or cheer on a fellow creative, you are doing the exact work the book describes. You're building relationships, testing your message, and growing the crowd that will one day carry your project forward. That is crowdsourcing, and it starts with a single post.

So start there. Introduce yourself and tell people what you're building in the Stage 32 Introduce Yourself Lounge (click here). Ask for the specific kind of eyes or help you need. The crowd is already gathered. You just have to start the conversation.

When It's Time to Talk Money, Start Here

Because crowdsourcing does often lead to discussing financing, and because "how do I fund this" is one of the questions we hear most, I want to point you to something our community does exceptionally well: financing education.

Stage 32 has a deep Financing Education library taught by working professionals, and it's some of the most practical, demystifying education we offer. If the money side of filmmaking feels like a black box, this is how you turn the lights on. A few standouts from the on-demand library worth starting with:

Equity Investment in Film: How to Attract Private Investors, for understanding how film investment actually works.

How to Work With Current Global Tax Incentives, because knowing where your dollar stretches furthest is a superpower.

How to Make Your Micro-Budget Feature Look Like It Has a Million-Dollar Budget, which is exactly the resourcefulness Barker used to turn well under a million dollars into a global hit.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Getting Your Film Picked Up by a Sales Rep or Buyer, for the deal side.

And Introduction to Cost Reporting, for keeping a production honest once the money is in.

If you want to go from watching to doing, registration is open now for an upcoming Stage 32 Finance Lab with Emma Louise Smith, where you'll craft a real financial and investor prospectus for a feature. It's hands-on, it's practical, and it's the kind of thing that turns "someday" into a document you can actually put in front of an investor. Click here to register now!

And if you'd rather learn from a live conversation, our community just had a great one. A recent Ask Me Anything with Jeanette Milio on the common mistakes filmmakers make when pursuing financing is now available to read and learn from in the Stage 32 Financing Lounge. It's a perfect example of the kind of access this community gives you every single week.

The Takeaway

Crowdfunding asks your audience for money once. Crowdsourcing invites your audience to build something with you, over time, in every currency that matters. One is a campaign. The other is a career.

The filmmakers behind the two biggest surprises of 2026 understood that, and they proved it at a scale nobody expected. The playbook is available to you for free, and the crowd you need to start building is already right here, waiting for you to say hello.

If you take just one action after reading this, make it this one: get RB's book. It's the complete playbook for everything we talked about today, how to build your crowd, shape your message, and turn an audience into the engine behind your entire career.

Don't forget- Get the audiobook free on Audible by clicking here.

Or get the physical book/Kindle copy by clicking.

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Ashley at blog@stage32.com and let's get your post published!

Please help support your fellow Stage 32ers by sharing this on social. Check out the social media buttons at the top to share on Instagram @stage32 , Twitter @stage32 , Facebook @stage32 , and LinkedIn @stage-32 .

You've made a short film. You've put your time, effort, blood, sweat, tears, and maybe even some serious money into it. And your goal isn't just to get it seen. It's to get it seen around the world, and by the people who can actually make a difference in your career.

Would being screened at an Oscar-qualifying film festival matter to you? How about having your film screened for over 1,000 executives, including managers, agents, producers, and financiers? Then let me tell you about something I'm very proud of.

The most prestigious short film competition on the planet is back. For the 11th straight year, Stage 32 has partnered with HollyShorts Film Festival to put the best short films from our community in front of the industry. I've watched this program change lives for over a decade now, and I could not be more excited about this year's finalists.

Why Short Films, and Why This Program

I've said for years that we live in a DIY, control-your-own-material world, and filmmakers have taken that to heart. Legions of you are turning to short films to get your voices heard. More and more festivals are adding short programs to their lineups, and more and more of you are shooting shorts as proof of concept to showcase what you can do. Short films are finally getting the attention they've always deserved, and I love to see it.

Here's what I'm proudest of. Over the last decade, we've screened our finalists' films at one of the most highly regarded festivals in the world. That's access, opportunity, and exposure you will not find anywhere else. And this year is no different.

Come Join Us for the Screening

I'd love to see you there. Here are the details:

The 11th Annual Stage 32 Short Film Program Screening at HollyShorts Thursday, August 13th TCL Chinese Theatre, Hollywood 4:00 PM: Red Carpet, in the lobby of the TCL 5:00 PM: Screening, featuring the finalist films followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers

And because I want our community there to celebrate these filmmakers with us, Stage 32 members get an exclusive 25% off tickets and passes.

Click here to grab your tickets and use code Stage32HSFF2026 at checkout.

Meet Your 2026 Finalists

Here is this year's official screening lineup, six exceptional films from around the world, in screening order:

• KITE, an international drama directed by Olivier Hero Dressen.
• SELFLESS, a family drama directed by Jason Hyun Kim.
• VITAL, an international drama directed by Amir Zargara.
• THE INTERVIEW, an action drama directed by Kai Kim.
• TO BITE A DOG, a black comedy directed by Vilmos Szász.

And our Grand Prize Winner, TAINTED LOVE, a sci-fi dramedy directed by Lisa Steadman & Brian Thomas.

Congratulations to every one of these finalists, and a huge congratulations to Lisa Steadman, Brian Thomas, and the team behind TAINTED LOVE for taking home this year's Grand Prize. These are the kinds of films and filmmakers that remind me why we do this. I'm going to introduce each of them to you properly in a follow-up blog next week, so keep an eye out.

For now, I hope you'll come celebrate them with us in person on August 13th.

This Is a Launchpad, Not a Finish Line

If you're wondering whether a program like this really moves careers forward, let the last ten years answer for me. Our finalists and winners have gone on to be signed, financed, and produced, landing at agencies and management companies including UTA, WME, Verve, Echo Lake, Gersh, Paradigm, and plenty more. One of our filmmakers even went on to have one of the biggest spec sales in recent memory, sparking a Warner Bros. bidding war that started with a short film.

Let me share a few of the stories that make me proud:

Our 8th Annual winner, Lisa Cole, was shortlisted for an Oscar for her film BIENVENIDOS A LOS ANGELES, and signed with the Oscar-winning sales company Ouat Media.

Last year's 2025 Grand Prize winner, Robin Wang, saw his film Wei-Lai enjoy a long festival run before being released by Omeleto, the channel for the world's top short films, and signed with agent Jimmy Cheng at The Gersh Agency.

Steve Desmond, a past finalist, screened his film Monsters for executives from WME, Lionsgate, and more, then landed a major bidding war for his spec Harry's All Night Hamburgers, picked up by Warner Bros. with Ted Melfi attached to direct.

Dinh Thai, a past finalist, signed with Paradigm and Kaplan/Perrone after his film Monday, and is now a working television director on shows including WU-TANG: AN AMERICAN SAGA, THE GOOD DOCTOR, WARRIOR, and UNDER THE BRIDGE.

Zara Burdett, a past finalist, signed with UTA and Echo Lake Entertainment after we set her up with meetings around town.

And believe me, these are just a handful. Filmmakers from this program have gone on to direct for The CW, Hulu, NBC, Disney+, and MTV, to produce internationally distributed features, and to build exactly the kind of careers this community exists to support. This is what happens when you get your work in front of the right people.

How to Make the Most of a Festival Like HollyShorts

Whether you're joining us for this year's screening or gearing up for your own festival run, our Writer Liaison, Pat Alexander, put together a field guide worth holding onto. The biggest takeaway, and I could not agree more, is that the greatest value of a festival is access to people who can help your career, especially peers who are a step or two ahead and looking for projects and collaborators. Here's how to make the most of it.

• Go digital. Skip the printed scripts and paper one-sheets. Use QR codes, swap social profiles like your Stage 32 account, or prepare a digital business card linking to you and your work.
• Target your peers. Build community with emerging directors, producers, and writers who need material, the collaborators of your future.
• Request script reads. When a conversation naturally opens the door, ask if someone would like to read your script.
• Keep pitches conversational. Talk about your project the way you would with a friend over a beer, not the way you'd present it in a boardroom.
• Value horizontal relationships. Making future filmmaker friends is often more impactful than chasing down isolated executives. Everyone needs collaborators, including the people standing right next to you.
• Ask questions. Be curious about what others are working on.
• Pace your schedule. Build in downtime for a meal or a coffee. Back-to-back blocks and mixers will drain your social battery.
• Attend the panels. That's where you'll track distribution trends and pick up real-time business insight.
• Meet the programmers. Introduce yourself to festival staff and programmers. They decide what screens, so it's worth them knowing your name when you submit next.
• Follow up thoughtfully. A polite thank-you note after the festival goes a long way.
• Watch the competitive blocks. Sit in on the short film blocks to learn what concepts and structures hold an audience.
• Wear comfortable shoes. You'll be standing through long mixers and walking between venues.
• Dress casually smart. Skip the formal evening wear unless you're on a specific red carpet. Stay comfortable.
• Stay hydrated. Carry a water bottle. All that talking is thirsty work.
• Have fun. Festivals are a celebration of new art. Enjoy the films, and enjoy yourself.

Come Celebrate With Us

These six films represent everything I love about this community: bold voices, real craft, and filmmakers who did the work.

Come out on Thursday, August 13th, and celebrate them with us, and don't forget your 25% member discount with code Stage32HSFF2026.

Click here to get your discounted tickets now!

And keep an eye out next week. I'm going to introduce you to each of these finalists properly, their films, their stories, and what they're bringing to the screen. Save Pat's field guide above, print it, bookmark it, whatever works for you. It's the perfect thing to have in your back pocket before the big day, whether you're joining us at the TCL or heading into a festival run of your own.

I'll see you on the red carpet.

RB

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Ashley at blog@stage32.com and let's get your post published!

Please help support your fellow Stage 32ers by sharing this on social. Check out the social media buttons at the top to share on Instagram @stage32 , Twitter @stage32 , Facebook @stage32 , and LinkedIn @stage-32 .

Comedy is one of the hardest things to get right on the page, and one of the most in-demand once you do. This weekend, the Comedy Pitchfest puts your script in front of a lineup of executives, producers, and managers who develop, produce, and sign comedy writers, and who came here looking for exactly the kind of funny you write.

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Ashley at blog@stage32.com and let's get your post published!

Please help support your fellow Stage 32ers by sharing this on social. Check out the social media buttons at the top to share on Instagram @stage32 , Twitter @stage32 , Facebook @stage32 , and LinkedIn @stage-32 .

You hear about residuals and royalties the way you hear about compound interest, abstractly, admiringly, as something that happens to other people.

And then one day, you negotiate your first reuse clause and the abstraction collapses into something real and irritating and completely learnable.

The irritating part is this: the information is buried under a thick layer of people who'd rather sell you a framework than explain how payment waterfalls actually work.

Here’s everything you need to know, without the motivational preamble.

What Residuals Actually Are

The entertainment industry invented the vocabulary. SAG-AFTRA, the WGA, and IATSE spent decades building the contractual architecture that turns a single performance or script into a revenue stream that outlasts the production.

An actor who worked three days on a show in 2008 might still be getting quarterly checks from streaming reruns.

What most people miss is that the underlying logic, get paid when your work gets reused, applies far outside Hollywood:

• Insurance agents who write annuities earn trailing commissions for as long as the policy renews.
• SaaS referral programs pay monthly on active accounts you introduced years ago.
• A photographer who licenses stock images earns every time a placement is renewed or a new buyer finds the file.
• Syndication deals for podcast content, unscripted TV formats, and documentary footage.

All of it runs on the same principle.

The question to start asking is simple: does my work produce ongoing value for someone else?

If yes, there may be a residual structure available. You just have to ask for it before you sign anything.

Royalties

Royalties are when you license your intellectual property, your music, your writing, your patents, your brand.

Where residuals are typically tied to reuse within a distribution system, royalties are about what you own and who you let use it.

Music is the most mature royalty system and also the most confusing:

• Performance royalties flow through PROs (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC), and your work needs to be registered.
• There's a real chance money never finds you because the metadata on a recording was incomplete at upload.

Literary royalties are cleaner on the surface:

• Publishing contracts spell out percentages for print, ebook, and audio.
• Net royalties calculated after the publisher recoups their own costs can mean you technically earn royalties on a book that sold well and still see nothing.

Dolly Parton held her publishing on "I Will Always Love You." That decision has generated royalty income across decades of covers, sync placements, and performances.

Whitney Houston's version alone was worth millions.

The thing is, Dolly Parton didn't get lucky. She made a contractual decision early in her career that most people didn't make because nobody explained what they were giving up.

The difference between keeping your publishing and signing it away is contract literacy.

Patents and trademarks add another layer. Licensing your process or brand to others requires careful drafting of territory, duration, exclusivity, quality controls, and termination rights.

Without clear termination language, you can end up locked into a licensing relationship you want out of with no clean exit.

The Contract You Sign Today

This is worth slowing down on.

The payment you receive tomorrow, or five years from now, fifteen years from now, is a direct function of the contract you signed at the beginning.

Most people sign bad deals because they're excited about the project. The excitement is real, and it's not wrong, but it's the psychological state that produces the worst long-term outcomes.

You want the work. You want the relationship, and you don't want to seem difficult. And in that state, you scan the contract instead of reading it, you accept standard language that isn't standard at all, and you sign away your rights for a flat fee that felt good in the moment.

Conrad Wang, Managing Director of EnableU, works with organizations delivering ongoing aged care and disability support services across Australia.

"The mistake most service providers make is structuring everything as a one-time engagement. The value you deliver compounds. When you build your service model around that reality, the shift to recurring revenue isn't a sales tactic. It's just an honest reflection of how the relationship already works."

Audit rights are another one. If a contract doesn't give you the right to audit the books, to independently verify that you're being paid correctly, then you're dependent entirely on the other party's accounting.

Some of them are fine. Some are not. Without audit rights, there's nothing you can do about it either way.

Building This Into a Career

The practical question isn't theoretical. It's: where do you start?

• Start with what already exists. Finished projects, documented methodologies, and skills you repeat for clients. Any of these might have licensing potential you haven't explored.
• Pick one structure to start with. Residual (reuse within a system), royalty (licensing IP you own), or recurring revenue (retainer, subscription, revenue share). Learn that deal structure deeply before layering on the next.
• Register everything. Copyright registration in the United States is cheap and fast, and it substantially changes your legal options if infringement happens.

The asset doesn't have to be digital. The wholesale apparel industry runs on exactly this logic: existing inventory, existing infrastructure, and multiple buyer channels. The principle translates: what you've already built is usually more leverageable than you think.

Diversifying Revenue Without Fragmenting Your Focus

The goal is income sources that compound, not ones that compete with each other for your attention.

• Licensing existing work costs you almost nothing once the asset exists and the deal is structured. A well-drafted limited license for a specific territory and time window lets you say yes to one buyer while preserving your ability to license the same work in other contexts.
• Digital products have high upfront production costs and low marginal costs after that. The problem is that most people treat them as a passive income strategy when they're really a publishing and marketing strategy.
• Retainers and maintenance contracts provide predictable recurring revenue without requiring you to build entirely new products. If you're already doing something for a client on a project basis, there may be a version of that work that justifies a monthly relationship.
• Affiliate structures work when they're aligned with what you actually use and recommend. They stop working when the recommendation gets ahead of the genuine conviction.

Licensing existing work costs you almost nothing once the asset exists and the deal is structured.

A well-drafted limited license for a specific territory and time window lets you say yes to one buyer while preserving your ability to license the same work in other contexts.

The same logic applies to physical products. Brands offering custom t-shirts operate multiple revenue channels off the same design infrastructure without rebuilding from scratch each time.

What Most Courses Won't Tell You

The people who are actually earning meaningful ongoing income from their creative work know what a payment waterfall looks like.

Find someone who's actually doing what you want to do. Ask them the uncomfortable questions. The answers to those questions are worth more than most courses combined.

There's no shortcut to the compounding part. You build it deal by deal, clause by clause, registered work by registered work.

The first smart contract produces a trickle. The second deal is a little better because you know more.

After a few years of this, the income feels like infrastructure.

That's the actual version of passive income. It's available to anyone willing to understand the mechanics. And the mechanics, once you see them, are not that complicated.

If you're building toward this kind of career, the conversations matter as much as the contracts.

Stage 32 is a great place to start! It's where a million creatives and industry professionals actually talk shop, find collaborators, get educated, and meet the people who've already navigated the deals you're about to face. So jump in and ask your questions in the Financing Lounge now!

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Ashley at blog@stage32.com and let's get your post published!

Please help support your fellow Stage 32ers by sharing this on social. Check out the social media buttons at the top to share on Instagram @stage32 , Twitter @stage32 , Facebook @stage32 , and LinkedIn @stage-32 .

I hope your weekend has been a creative one so far. Whether you have been writing, filming, editing, or sketching out the next spark of an idea, I have something today that will give you a boost. So grab your coffee, and let’s dive in.

This week's featured video comes from The Movie Rabbit Hole- NOLAN'S CGI is really just INVISIBLE CGI.

The truth, as the video lays out, is that Nolan uses plenty of visual effects. He just uses them invisibly. Rather than leaning on obvious digital spectacle, Nolan and his team build as much as they can practically, then use CGI to enhance and extend what's real, seamlessly, so you never catch the seams. The effects are working hard, but they never announce themselves. The goal isn't to show off the technology. The goal is to keep you locked inside the story, never once pulled out of it by something that looks fake.

And that idea, that the best craft disappears so the story can speak for itself, is exactly what I want to talk about today. Because there's a version of this same principle that applies to your career, and specifically to a fear I hear from writers all the time.

Does Age Matter When Selling a Script?

Let me answer the question directly first: no.

Here's why, and I want you to really sit with this. When your script lands on someone's desk, there is nothing on the page that says how old you are. There's nothing that says what you look like, where you're from, or how long you've been at this. There is just the story. That's it. Just like a great Nolan effect, everything else disappears, and all that's left is the work.

It helps to understand what the person reading your script is actually thinking, because it's simpler than you fear. These executives have one job. For reps, the question is: can I sell this project, and can I work with this writer to create more material I can take to market? For producers, financiers, and everyone else, the question is: is there a path to profitability here? That's the whole game. That's what they're looking for when they open your pages.

So if you simplify it down to that, a lot of the weight lifts off. And I know that weight. We carry enough on our heads as artists without piling on a bunch of other fears about whether we're too old, too young, too late, or too anything. My advice? Wipe all of that off. It isn't your job to worry about it. Your job is to write the best script you possibly can.

Write something where a reader looks up and thinks, "Not only is this a great story well told, with roles actors would kill to play, but I can see exactly where this sits in the market and how we'd sell it." That's your only job. Write the best story you can, and then be honest with yourself about the market for it.

That honesty part matters. If you're writing very small, tiny indie films, understand that you're working in a smaller market and a tougher lift. There's still money to raise, and there may be fewer places to take it. That doesn't mean you can't do it, or that you shouldn't. I've written plenty of those small scripts myself, and there's absolutely a path. It's just a different path than the one for a ten-to-fifteen-million-dollar movie. So be real with yourself about which path you're on, and then write the thing you actually want to write, and write it as well as you possibly can.

Because at the end of the day, the story is the only thing on that desk. Not your age. Not your résumé. Just the work. Make the work undeniable, and let it speak for itself.

So let me ask you this, Creative Army. What's a fear or a piece of self-doubt you've been carrying that has nothing to do with the quality of your work, and what would change if you set it down and just focused on the writing? Share it in the comments. I have a feeling a lot of us are carrying the same weight, and there's real power in realizing you're not alone in it.

As always, here at Stage 32, we love sharing stories and knowledge with our fellow film fans. Know someone who would love this content? Share it with them. You can keep up with all of our videos by subscribing to the Stage 32 YouTube Channel. For more inspirational, educational, and motivational content on all things entertainment industry, follow me on Instagram and X @rbwalksintoabar.

Wishing you a very happy, healthy, and creative Sunday.

Cheers,

RB

The Movie Rabbit Hole | NOLAN'S CGI is really just INVISIBLE CGI

RBWalksIntoABar | Does Age Matter When Selling a Script?

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Ashley at blog@stage32.com and let's get your post published!

Please help support your fellow Stage 32ers by sharing this on social. Check out the social media buttons at the top to share on Instagram @stage32 , Twitter @stage32 , Facebook @stage32 , and LinkedIn @stage-32 .

My Unexpected Path to Directing

I pioneered female entrepreneurship in Portugal and won the most significant awards a businesswoman could win worldwide. After thirteen years of living between countries (USA, China, Portugal), on planes and hotels without vacations, I decided to sell my company and pursue a new path—helping other entrepreneurs expand their businesses while developing their self-awareness for success.

You might be wondering how I stumbled upon Stage 32. Honestly, it’s a bit of a mystery even to me! I recall rekindling my creative writing in the summer of 2023, after writing a journal with 88 episodes, and even taking a screenwriting TV pilot and feature course at Michigan University. When I decided to dive into the filmmaking community, I somehow discovered I had actually been a member of Stage 32 since June 2022, though I couldn't remember joining! Perhaps my "higher self" knew what it was doing, but the timing wasn't right until October 2023. That's when I finally set up my complete profile with a photo and bio, and truly began to explore and learn to navigate the platform.

My journey really took off with the November Write Club in 2023. Winning this free community competition was a huge surprise and led to invaluable script coverage, which helped me write my first screenplay in just two months. This initial taste of Stage 32's free education and support proved to me that real growth was possible here.

The collaborative atmosphere quickly opened doors. I was thrilled when Geoff Hall invited me to be an executive producer for Seeing Rachel, marking the true start of my filmmaking career.

By March 2024, my screenplay, Soul Mated, was written, and I decided to invest in Stage 32 Education for professional guidance. Marsy Robinson's Script Consulting was crucial, pushing me to rewrite for universal understanding. Later, Kay Ross's "Break my Feature" consultation helped me refine it further, leading to my market-ready fourth draft.

Mastering the pitch was next. Alexia Melocchi's Stage 32 Pitch Lab in October transformed my 20-minute pitch into a concise 7-minute one. This prepared me for Stage 32 pitch sessions, where I secured requests for my screenplay from a producer and a manager – a significant victory. These resources, along with the power of lounge conversations, were instrumental in guiding me through the filmmaking production process.

In December 2024, the "cherry on top" arrived: Ashley Smith, Stage 32's Head of Community, invited me to be a Lounge Moderator. This role allows me to continue learning and help others achieve their goals.

I kept investing in my education in 2025. The Stage 32 Coverage Career Development Program with Nick Phillips deepened my industry understanding, and Sam Sokolow's Global Film & TV Production Summit further inspired me to take on new challenges.

Looking back, my evolution on Stage 32 has been incredible. From a brand-new filmmaker to now having a completed short film just over two years later, my journey shows that anything is possible if you actively engage with all that Stage 32 offers.

Now, my learning journey doesn't stop here! I'm excited to delve even deeper into the craft of directing with a fabulous class from the Stage 32 Education Program in August:

Fundamentals of Directing: From Visualization to Post-Production – 4 Part Class (August 2025) Hosted by: Heath Cullens.

From Idea to Action: The Birth of The Misstep

Last February 2025, an old creative writing piece resurfaced in my mind, a story about a distracted man entering the wrong apartment. This idea had always lingered, and by April, I felt a strong urge to challenge myself. I also knew I needed to build my brand in the filmmaking industry. I'd only written one screenplay, Soul Mated, a romance/fantasy, but I wanted to tackle a thriller and push my boundaries.

So, I pitched my idea to a producer friend: write a thriller short script based on my existing creative writing. She loved it but then asked, "Who's going to direct?"

My immediate reply was, "I'll find a director."

But she quickly countered, "You are the director! You have the whole story and every scene in your mind."

I hesitated, "But I don't know how to direct; I've never done it."

She just smiled. She knows me well.

That conversation was a turning point. The idea became crystal clear in my mind, and I decided to take on the challenge. The result? In just five weeks, I wrote, produced, directed, and completed my debut short film, The Misstep.

My 12 Steps to Directing a Short Film

Here's how I did it:

1. Outline & Script in a Day: I wrote the outline and a 10-page short script in just one day. May 1, 2025.
2. Co-Producer Onboard: I invited my producer friend, Carolina Afonso, to co-produce with me. She smiled and accepted the challenge!
3. Community Power: My first stop for guidance was the incredible Stage 32 community. I initially sought advice on my logline, and Maurice Vaughan and John Mezes were absolutely incredible with their insights. Their help, along with the advice I received from all of you on the Producing and Filmmaking/Directing Lounges was invaluable. Your collective wisdom, guidance, and tips became my real-world "certification."
4. Finding a Cinematographer: I asked fellow Stage 32 member Samita Nandy for recommendations for a cinematographer who could shoot in a cinematic style. She recommended Richard Osborne, a Lisbon-based professional with an impressive portfolio, including work with Steven Spielberg, James Bond, and House of the Dragon.
5. Pitch & Partnership: We met for coffee, and I pitched him my story. He accepted my invitation to come on board, and I was over the moon.
6. Casting the Lead: I knew I wanted a native English-speaking female actor. Richard suggested Joana Raio, an international actor trained at East 15 Acting School in London. Her simple reel, especially her poker face, instantly hooked me. We met, and she agreed to play Claire, our protagonist.
7. Director's Shot Deck and Shot List: With our cast and crew coming together, the next crucial step was to finalize the visual blueprint for the film: the Director's Shot Deck and Shot List. My cinematographer, Richard, specifically requested these two documents. The Shot Deck was particularly important for determining and renting the necessary lighting equipment. I created the Shot Deck using SHOTDECK - Home, which proved to be an invaluable tool. For the detailed Shot List, I turned to Celtx, my preferred screenwriting software. I dove deep into Celtx's features to build out a comprehensive shot-by-shot plan. A game-changer for the Shot List was generating the accompanying photos using Google's Gemini AI. This allowed me to maintain a consistent visual identity for my characters across all the reference images, something that's incredibly difficult with traditional methods. The secret, as I discovered, lies in crafting the right prompts. It's amazing what we're capable of when we push ourselves to explore new tools!
8. Rehearsals & Shoot Date: We held rehearsals and set the shooting date for May 23, 2025.
9. Production Puzzle: Carolina and I shared the immense task of production. We handled pre-production, production, and every detail from budgeting and crew to locations, wardrobe, props, catering, and makeup. Our business experience proved incredibly helpful here.
10. Micro-Budget, Maximum Quality: We self-funded the film as private equity, opting for a micro-budget. I prioritized quality, which meant investing our own resources.
11. Dream Team Assembly: I assembled the best team I could imagine: an eight-person crew including the director, producer, cinematographer, lead actor, gaffer, graphic designer, hair & makeup artist, and, crucially, a food production team. We decided on a one-day shoot to manage costs, as our micro-budget only allowed for it.

1. Shoot Day Success: On May 23, 2025, we shot The Misstep at my home and a nearby forest. We started at 1 PM and wrapped at 3 AM the next morning. We did it!
2. Post-Production & Festival Submission: Post-production took two weeks, with Ricard handling the editing under my supervision until we achieved the final version I envisioned. On June 10, 2025, the film was finished, and we immediately submitted it to the Female Film Festival.
3. First Laurel! Just two days later, on June 12, 2025, we received incredible news: The Misstep was selected for screening at the Female Film festival, supported by the British Film Institute (BFI), and was screened at the BFI screening rooms in London on July 11, 2025. We got our first laurel!

You might call me "crazy," but that's life, isn't it? When you dream, you can make it happen. What's meant for you will always find you. And considering all of us have other professional occupations, we truly achieved the impossible. I am incredibly proud of this accomplishment.

The Misstep is a thriller, a proof of concept that I aim to develop into a feature film later. As a director, this short film emerged from a personal desire to translate an emotional truth into a visual language. Rather than follow convention, I leaned into the surreal, the symbolic, and the sensory, crafting a world that invites the viewer not just to watch, but to feel. My intention was never to explain but to evoke; not to diagnose but to illuminate.

Next Steps For The Misstep

I'm thrilled to announce that The Misstep is available for streaming on our official Vimeo channel!

You can also follow our journey and stay updated on all things The Misstep on our Instagram!

I genuinely invite all of you, my fellow filmmakers, directors, producers, and screenwriters to watch the short and share your honest opinions. Your sincere feedback is incredibly valuable to me. I appreciate every one-of you, and remember: "What is meant for you will always find you."

Thanks to Stage 32's powerful education and community, I am what I am today. Thank you!

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Ashley at blog@stage32.com and let's get your post published!

Please help support your fellow Stage 32ers by sharing this on social. Check out the social media buttons at the top to share on Instagram @stage32 , Twitter @stage32 , Facebook @stage32 , and LinkedIn @stage-32 .

Before we talk about what comes next, I want you to do something for me. Stop and look back at the last five weeks. Really look. Because if you showed up this month, you did something a lot of people only ever talk about doing. You set goals out loud. You took on challenges. You put your work and your voice in front of a global community of your peers. You reached out and learned from working industry professionals. You cheered for people you'd never met. That is not nothing. That is everything.

And this month gave us exactly the roadmap we need to keep going. So let's revisit what we learned together, because every single lesson from July is a tool you get to carry into August and beyond.

What This Month Taught Us

We started by setting our independent filmmaking goals, because you cannot move toward something you haven't named. Week 1 was about turning the overwhelming into the achievable, one small, honest step at a time. That lesson doesn't expire on July 31st. Your goals are still yours. The only question is whether you keep taking the next step.

Then Evan Anglin reminded us that great storytelling is great storytelling, and that animation, or any medium, can take your story anywhere. The takeaway underneath it was bigger than animation: don't let "I've never done that before" be the thing that stops you. You already have what matters most, you have a vision and story to share.

Henry Hereford taught us to book the room, not the job. That a "no" is rarely the end of anything, that the relationships and the impressions you build outlast any single pitch, and that the real work is showing up as a professional long before anyone hands you the part.

Lauren Simpson gave us the myth of the overnight success, and a conversation about visibility that so many of you told me hit home. The truth that progress is usually invisible until you look back, that the roots grow underground long before anyone sees the bloom. If you've felt like you're not moving fast enough this month, read that one again.

And Emma Louise Smith closed our month out with the new proof of concept: why building an audience before you pitch is one of the most powerful moves a modern filmmaker can make. Your audience is the one asset no gatekeeper can take away from you.

Look at that list: goals, courage, relationships, patience, and audience. That is not five separate blog posts. That is a complete playbook for a creative career, and you now hold all of it.

Look at What This Community Did

I want to brag on you for a moment, because you earned it.

This month, thousands of you commented, posted, and challenged yourselves in the Lounges. You shared goals you'd been scared to say out loud. You introduced yourselves to strangers who became new connections and potential collaborators. You gave feedback, offered encouragement, and lifted each other up week after week. Our winners, Timika, Lindsay, Jackie, Corey, Leonardo, Dalton, and everyone who participated, showed us what happens when you simply decide to show up.

That is the whole secret, by the way. There's no trick to any of this. The people who move forward are the ones who keep showing up, for their work and for each other. You proved that all month long.

Your Launchpad: How to Keep Moving Forward on Stage 32

Let's be honest about something: Stage 32 can feel overwhelming sometimes. A lot of members tell me, "there's just so much going on, I don't always know where to start or what to give my attention to." And here's the thing: that's by design, in the best way. There is no one-size-fits-all path in this industry, so Stage 32 meets you at every experience level, every interest, and every price point, and lets you decide what's right for you. So as you carry your July momentum forward, here are the tools waiting for you.

Connect in the Lounges, for free, every single day. Everything you practiced this month- sharing, asking, encouraging, lifting each other up, lives in the Lounges year-round and never costs a thing. This is the easiest way to keep your momentum alive. Keep asking questions so that you're always learning. Keep connecting with new people and taking the time to truly get to know them. Share who you are, what your goals are, and how you're progressing, not just to promote but to open the floor for real conversation and value.

Learn from the Stage 32 Blog, for free, every single day. The wisdom our guest authors shared this month is just the beginning. Every day, you can learn from fellow creatives and experienced professionals right here on the blog.

Go deeper with Stage 32 Education. Stage 32 is the world's leader in entertainment industry education, with over 3,500 hours of craft and industry training across every corner of the business, taught by working professionals, with new education added every week. It's available at every price point, including free education we provide regularly throughout the year and in our on-demand library. There is truly no excuse not to keep learning, growing, and connecting with new mentors. Not sure where to start? Email our Education Team at Edu@Stage32.com for personalized recommendations on the best webinars, classes, or labs for your goals.

Share your work with Stage 32 Executives. Stage 32 is a true marketplace where you can put your projects, materials, and IP in front of vetted, reputable, working industry professionals for feedback, partnerships, and mentorship. And something that matters deeply to us: we believe you always deserve to know exactly who you're connecting with. Many script services online never tell you who is actually reading your material or giving you notes. On Stage 32, we make it mandatory for every executive to share their bio and credits, even the ones who normally keep their resume private or internal, so you can make an informed decision about who you trust with your work, time, and money. We've celebrated thousands of Success Stories on Stage 32: writers finding collaborators, creatives signed by managers and agents, material optioned, shopped, and produced, members staffed in professional Writers' Rooms, and projects taken into production and distributed theatrically and on streaming. To find the executives and resources that best fit your projects and goals, email our Success Team anytime at Success@Stage32.com.

Workshop everything in the Writers' Room. If creating is your path, the Stage 32 Writers' Room is a year-round home for exactly the momentum you built this month. You can workshop your script, your pitch, and all your materials with weekly support, join live Zooms that give you direct, face-to-face access to working pros, and get ongoing feedback that keeps you improving. Membership also opens the door to Open Writing Assignments, real opportunities to submit your scripts directly to interested producers, reps, and executives, without the tricky "no unsolicited material" hurdle that keeps so many writers on the outside. Want to see for yourself? Your first month is free. Start your free month of the Writers' Room here.

Enter the Global Contest Hub. Stage 32 is now the home of the Global Contest Hub, giving you access not only to our own screenwriting and filmmaking contests, but to some of the top contests in the world, including the Oscar-qualifying HollyShorts, the BAFTA-qualifying Manchester Screenwriting Competition, Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, Big Apple, Finish Line, Golden Script, Los Angeles International, and many more.

Because here's what Stage 32 really is. It's one of the best creative communities in the world. It's the world's leader in industry education. It's the home of Certification training that's building production infrastructure across the globe in partnership with over 60 film commissions. It's a marketplace where you can get real guidance and connect with real professionals.

It is, truly, a one-stop shop for every creative goal and every pathway you might want to walk. All you have to do is keep trying. The power to move forward is entirely in your hands. Don't give up. Keep showing up, for yourself and for each other, here on Stage 32.

The Playbook Behind It All

If you want the definitive guide to turning everything above into an audience of your own, here's some good news: our founder literally wrote the book on it.

RB Botto is a creative just like you, an author, WGA screenwriter, producer, and actor, and years ago he wrote Crowdsourcing for Filmmakers: Indie Film and the Power of the Crowd.

It's the complete playbook for building a crowd around your work, the very principle Stage 32 itself was founded on. And this week, Amanda shared a brand new blog about something remarkable: how two of 2026's biggest box office hits, Backrooms and Obsession, were both built on audiences that came first, proving what RB has been teaching all along.

It's the perfect next read as you carry your July momentum into the rest of the year, and right now Stage 32 members can get the audiobook completely free!

Read Amanda's blog to learn more and grab the free audiobook here.

Celebrating Our Week 5 Winner

Joyce Isaacson is an author and screenwriter who creates character-driven stories blending emotion, mystery, and imaginative genre concepts, spanning psychological thrillers, fantasy, supernatural comedy, and crime drama, always centered on relatable characters facing extraordinary circumstances. She's the creator of Wish You Were Here: A Rock Fantasy, a published novel she adapted into a completed six-episode series, and has completed the thriller CODE 23 and the crime drama Sheer Luck (& Logic), with the supernatural family comedy My Friendly Possession currently in development. Before writing full time, she spent ten years as an Editorial Assistant at the Chicago Tribune.

Connect with Joyce by clicking here!

For completing all three of last week's challenges, Joyce has won a free Stage 32 Contest entry. She can put that entry toward any of our Stage 32 Contests, our own competitions designed to get your work in front of the industry and help you stand out as you take the next step with your project.

And Now, Our Three Grand Prize Winners

All month long, everyone who participated in July Filmmakers Club was entered into our grand prize drawing, and now it's time to announce the three members who are taking home the top prize.

Drumroll, please. Congratulations to our three July Filmmakers Club Grand Prize winners!

Banafsheh Esmailzadeh is a writer working across novels, comics, and screenwriting, driven by a love of storytelling and a deep influence from anime and manga, especially the work of Kunihiko Ikuhara. Step by step, she's sharing her art with the world and building toward a creative empire that spans every medium she loves. Connect with Banafsheh by clicking here!

John Martinez Hulsey is a writer, creator, and publisher based in San Antonio, Texas, and the founder of JohnnyVeins.com and Virus Veins Comix, where he's published original stories since 2001. After more than two decades building original IP in print and digital media, he's expanded into screenwriting with character-driven stories that blend horror, action, and punk grindhouse energy with grounded emotion, including his dark, anime-inspired action-horror project Johnny Veins, for which he recently completed a proof-of-concept trailer. Connect with John by clicking here!

Sandra Isabel Correia is a Portuguese entrepreneur turned writer-director whose path has never followed convention. After building a globally recognized sustainable fashion brand, she stepped into filmmaking with intention, and she's become a deeply woven part of this community: a Writers' Room and Producing Lounge Moderator, a member of the Stage 32 Education Team, and co-host of the Morning Script Coverage Workshop in the Writers' Room alongside Kay Ross. Her directorial debut THE MISSTEP has already earned festival laurels, and her short script SOUL MATED is gaining recognition on the festival circuit. Connect with Sandra by clicking here!

All three have won a free DaVinci Resolve Studio license from our partners at Blackmagic Design, an incredible tool to help bring their next project to life. We could not be more thrilled for each of you, and we cannot wait to see what you create with it.

To every single person who showed up, posted, commented, connected, and challenged yourself this month: you are all winners in our book. Thank you for making this the best July Filmmakers Club yet.

Your Final Challenge: Keep the Momentum Going

So here's the most important thing I'll say all month. Don't let this be the end. Let it be the launchpad.

The challenges that got you here, connecting, posting, reaching out, they aren't just July challenges. They're a way of working that carries you all year. So your final challenge for Week 5 is the simplest and the most important one yet: keep going, and take one concrete step to make sure you do.

Comment on this blog and tell us the single biggest thing you're taking away from July Filmmakers Club. Say it out loud, the way we practiced all month.

Head into the Filmmaking Lounge and keep the conversation alive. Share what's next for you, and encourage a fellow JFC participant whose journey inspired you this month. Momentum is a team sport.

And here's the step that guarantees your next chapter: register for our next free Community Open House Webcast on Wednesday, September 23rd. It's our recurring, no-cost gathering built to keep you connected, learning, and moving forward with the community, exactly the kind of positive, like-minded room that turns a good month into a good year. Consider it your bridge from July straight into the rest of 2026.

Click here to register for the September Community Open House.

Complete these, and you'll close out July exactly the way you should: already moving toward what's next.

One Last Thing

There's a reason we do July Filmmakers Club every year. It's not the challenges or the prizes, as fun as those are. It's the reminder that you are not doing this alone. There is a whole community here, all over the world, chasing the same dream, fighting the same doubts, and rooting for you to win.

That community doesn't pack up when July ends. We are right here, every single day, for the whole year ahead. So keep writing. Keep connecting. Keep asking. Keep creating. And keep showing up, for your work, and for each other.

I could not be prouder of what you did this month. Now let's go see what you do with the rest of the year.

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Ashley at blog@stage32.com and let's get your post published!

Please help support your fellow Stage 32ers by sharing this on social. Check out the social media buttons at the top to share on Instagram @stage32 , Twitter @stage32 , Facebook @stage32 , and LinkedIn @stage-32 .

Two films. Together, they've earned more than $750 million. Neither was built the way Hollywood traditionally builds a hit. They weren't sold on a star's name or a studio's marketing budget. They were built on something far more powerful, and far more available to you than you might think.

They were built on an audience that came first.

The Thing These Two Films Had in Common

On the surface, Backrooms and Obsession don't look like they belong in the same sentence. 

Backrooms is an A24 psychological-horror film from 20-year-old director Kane Parsons, adapted from the eerie YouTube "Backrooms" web series he had been building since he was a teenager.

Obsession is a micro-budget horror breakout from 26-year-old writer-director Curry Barker, a former Starbucks barista who made his earlier films with friends for as little as a few hundred dollars before this one premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

But underneath, they share the exact same DNA, and it's the thing I want you to pay attention to.

Before either film had a wide release, before the deals, before the numbers, each one already had a crowd. An audience that was watching, waiting, and invested. The films didn't go looking for an audience after they were made. The audience was there from the beginning, and that audience is what made everything else possible.

That's not luck. That's a strategy. And it's one our fearless leader RB Botto has been teaching us here on Stage 32 for over a decade.

RB Wrote the Playbook. The Industry Is Just Catching Up.

Long before these films proved it at scale, our founder and CEO, Richard "RB" Botto, wrote the book on this exact idea. Literally.

RB's entire philosophy has always been that the modern creative doesn't wait for permission. You don't wait for a gatekeeper to hand you an audience. You build one yourself, and that audience becomes your leverage, your proof, and your greenlight. It's the principle Stage 32 itself was founded on, that when creatives connect and build community around their work, everything changes.

For years, that idea felt ahead of its time. Today, watching two audience-first films rewrite the box office, it just looks like the truth. The industry is finally catching up to what RB, and this community, have understood all along.

Yes, an Actual Book. And the Industry Took Notice.

I mean that literally. RB's book is called Crowdsourcing for Filmmakers: Indie Film and the Power of the Crowd, published as part of the American Film Market Presents series, and it laid out this entire audience-first philosophy years before two horror filmmakers took it to the box office.

The premise is simple, and it's the same one driving those two films. Whether you're a producer, screenwriter, filmmaker, or any kind of creative, you have a project that needs exposure. So how do you rise above the noise? RB's answer is crowdsourcing: using social media, networking, branding, and a real understanding of your audience to build a crowd that doesn't just watch your work, but carries it forward for you. The book walks through how to shape your message, broadcast it to the people most likely to care, and cultivate those relationships until your audience becomes the ones spreading the word. And it's grounded in real case studies, including the founding of Stage 32 itself, the largest crowdsourced platform for creatives in the world.

Here's how you know the idea had teeth. When the book came out, it drew praise from across the industry, from executives to award winners to the people who wrote the other definitive books on the subject:

Oscar-nominated and Golden Globe-winning producer Michel Merkt said RB "shows clearly that the power is in you, and that power can be harnessed by learning the lessons in this amazing book."

Jason Roberts, DGA AD on Jurassic World, Transformers: The Last Knight, and Almost Famous, put it simply: "RB has introduced an important tool for filmmakers. Read this book."

Jason Scoggins, President and COO of Slated, called it "required reading for any writer, director, or producer looking to build a career as a filmmaker."

And John T. Trigonis, author of Crowdfunding for Filmmakers, offered maybe the best line of all: "Fact: No one knows crowdsourcing better than RB."

That was the industry recognizing the playbook when it was written. What's happening at the box office right now is the industry living it.

Why This Matters for You

Here's the part I really want you to hear, because it's easy to read a box office story and think it has nothing to do with you.

It has everything to do with you.

You do not need a studio's budget to build an audience. You do not need to be famous first. The tools that these filmmakers used to gather a crowd are the same tools available to you right now. The playing field has never been more level, and the creative who understands how to build an audience has an advantage that money genuinely cannot buy.

If this idea sounds familiar, it might be because one of our own community members just made the case beautifully. In her July Filmmakers Club Week 5 blog, film financing expert Emma Louise Smith wrote about the new proof of concept: why building your audience before you pitch has become one of the smartest moves a modern filmmaker can make. Your audience, she reminded us, is the one asset no gatekeeper can ever take away from you.

What Backrooms and Obsession just proved at the box office, Emma was teaching our community on the very same principle. That alignment isn't a coincidence. It's the shape of where this industry is heading.

Read Emma's blog here if you missed it.

Over the next few weeks, we're going to break this down together. What the difference is between crowdfunding and crowdsourcing, and why it matters more than you think. What audience proof actually looks like, and how it can lead to a real deal. And how filmmakers right here in our community have used these exact principles to move their projects forward.

Because this isn't just a story about two movies. It's a blueprint. And it's one you can start building from today.

Start With the Book That Started It All

If you want to go straight to the source, RB laid out this entire philosophy in his book, and right now you can get the audiobook completely free.

Get the audiobook for free on Audible by clicking here- an exclusive offer just for our amazing members.

It's also available free in the UK, Germany, France, Canada, and Australia.

Prefer to read? You can grab it in paperback or on Kindle by clicking here.

Give it a listen or a read, and then come back next week, because we're just getting started.

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Ashley at blog@stage32.com and let's get your post published!

Please help support your fellow Stage 32ers by sharing this on social. Check out the social media buttons at the top to share on Instagram @stage32 , Twitter @stage32 , Facebook @stage32 , and LinkedIn @stage-32 .

If you missed the first two parts of our journey, you can catch up here:

• Part 1: The Pure Vortex Journey Begins
• Part 2: The Pure Vortex Production Chaos

Taming the Timeline and the Tech

Post-production on Pure Vortex actually started long before we wrapped principal photography. The moment day one wrapped, I was home importing and organizing footage into a new DaVinci Resolve project, copying everything onto our network-attached storage. Every single time we shot a block of scenes, I’d sync the audio, sort the video files into bins by scene number, and prepare for cutting. By the time we rolled on our final day in October 2025, the rest of the film was already meticulously synced and sorted.

Leya (my partner and cinematographer) and I had even slapped together a temporary timeline during production breaks, and early signs pointed to something that cut together really well. But when we officially locked ourselves in the editing suite in late October, reality gave us a swift kick in the teeth.

Because our budget was basically zero, we didn't have a dedicated sound recordist. We relied on 32-bit float lavalier mics that recorded audio directly onto internal transmitter storage. I wasn't worried about clipping because, “hey, 32-bit float is magic,” right? Wrong!

We started noticing severe clipping toward the end of our production days. After deep-diving into the files, we found the culprit was a bad firmware update on the recorders that was automatically cranking up the analog gain over time. Just like that, a quarter of our footage had unusable audio. So What do we do?

Lesson: Don't panic when a technical disaster strikes. Either find a way to fix it, or prepare for a mountain of ADR.

Thankfully, I managed to lean on some really good sound engineer friends who helped me surgically recover and repair every single clipped file used in the final cut. It wasn’t perfect audio, but it was usable, and the disaster was successfully averted.

The Assembly Cut, The Feedback Cut, and The Radical Cut

With the audio resynced, we pushed forward into the massive assembly cut. We threw every viable take onto the timeline to see what we actually had. By mid January 2026, we were staring at a grueling 2 hour and 15 minute behemoth of a cut. Leya joked that she was starting to develop "rectangular irises" from staring at the monitor for so many hours, but she kept burning the midnight oil to shape it into a rough cut. Little did she know that those "rectangular irises" would become the norm and not the exception over the next couple of months!

While she sliced away at the footage, I handled the multi-tasking circus. Designing the poster, creating video thumbnails, upgrading our website, and coordinating with our VFX artist, Mitja. The guy who built 3D assets for the poster and our two planned, locked-off CGI shots. We even started teasing content on our Facebook page according to our promo plan. By the end of January, Leya cut our first official teaser trailer, and it looked absolutely awesome. I loved her first cut of the trailer, but we still spent three days polishing it to perfection.

By late February, we had a watchable rough cut. To maintain our objectivity, Leya did all the actual editing while I acted as the technical supervisor and a fresh pair of eyes. Then came the terrifying step, actually showing the cut to a few trusted colleagues who had never read the script or been on set.

Feedback is a funny thing. You have to filter out the personal preferences of people to find the notes that actually serve your film. Our feedback was a mixed batch, but it spotlighted a massive problem unique to features, character dilution. During pre-production, we had expanded the backstories of our supporting cast to help the actors find their characters. They crushed their performances, but in the edit, these side stories were choking our main narrative arc. The core story of Nik finally finding his way in life was getting completely buried.

I made the brutal decision to radically slash the side stories. Leya and I went to work with a machete. This scene? Out. That dialogue? Gone. Those shots? Deleted. Within a week, the main story arc was finally breathing again. A much needed stage in the editing.

Creative Faking and Family Favors

The downside to radical pacing cuts? We accidentally severed a few crucial plot explanations. Because this was a no-budget film, we already relied heavily on dialogue exposition to get around our production constraints. I accepted that pretty early and came to terms with it.

During principal photography, I had planned a voiceover scene as a visible fourth-wall break, but the original footage wasn't working right anyway. With the new gaps in the story, I rewrote the monologue to strategically inject the missing information. We grabbed a bare-bones skeleton crew, that was just Leya, myself, and the lead actor, and reshot the fourth-wall break scenes in under an hour and a half, utilizing an accessible location and grabbing some extra B-roll along the way.

We also had another narrative bottleneck with an early scene that was dragging. It featured our lead actor on a one-sided phone call that contained the inciting incident. The obvious fix was to show the other side of the call. Easy enough for one character, as the voice actor was my own father and we could shoot the scene anytime. But the other actor had already flown back to the US months ago.

Our gaffer and gear wizard, Blaž, jokingly suggested using AI tools to generate something that would help. We actually tried it, feeding a couple of photos into an AI generator to create a group photo at a local tourist spot, kind of like a family photo of all the characters. The results were mostly horrible, but the actor we needed actually looked similar enough to himself to pull it off. I printed out the image, framed it, and Leya shot a tight closeup of it on a desk. I stood in as the hand double of the lead actor by the phone. It blended seamlessly with our original footage, fixed the pacing, and completely solved the problem.

We wrapped up our structural fixes by inviting one of our supporting actors over to watch a screener. It was actually a brilliant idea by another supporting actor, Alen to quickly shoot a brief, pre-tested two-shot pickup scene right then and there to clarify another minor story point. It worked out beautifully.

Polishing the Diamond

By April 2026, the rough cut was coming along nicely, and we charged toward the finish line.

• Color & Sound: I locked down the visual aesthetic, Leya executed the color grade, and I tackled the tedious process of cleaning dialogue and separating each actor onto their own separate audio tracks.
• VFX Compositing: Mitja, the 3D guy, did a fantastic job creating the assets, and I took over the compositing work myself. The CGI successfully masked the original surroundings of our locations, completely selling the illusion that the scenes took place exactly where the story demanded.
• Foley Fun: We carved out a day to record Foley sound. We hilariously underestimated how much work goes into recording cloth movements, footsteps, and prop handling, but it was easily one of the most fun parts of post-production. We had so many laughs watching the monitor and trying to match the sounds perfectly to the onscreen action.

After Leya pulled off a series of brutal all-nighters, we finally hit PICTURE LOCK. Our producer, Gregor, was instrumental here, constantly challenging me to cut away every single frame of unnecessary fat until the film was lean and mean. Funnily enough, the locked cut resembled my original screenplay far more than the final production draft. It taught me an invaluable lesson for my next feature, sometimes you need to expand the story during production just to give yourself the raw material you need to cut it down to its best version in the edit.

Next came the score. Our brilliant neighbor Sandi, an experienced music producer and composer who has worked with many well-known musicians and on a few major film projects, had told us to use temporary music tracks until picture lock. To hit our looming deadline, Sandi suggested looking through his own band's catalog from 25 years ago to see if any of the songs fit the film. Leya and I were skeptical because we’d grown attached to our temp tracks, but his music matched our scenes so perfectly it felt like the songs were written for the film (or that the film was shot for the music). He composed a few original transitions, and the soundscape was basically complete far faster than anyone expected.

It’s funny how so many things with this film just sort of clicked into place. I kept thinking about this, and the best explanation came from my neighbor Bogdan. He told me that when you've been honing your craft for a long time, instinct simply takes over. When you put passionate people together who know what they're doing and know what they want, the result will always be positive. Passion is what gives you a great result in the end.

The Finish Line and Beyond

We spent the final weeks running endless quality control passes. The first pass yielded 8 pages of fixes, scenes, sounds, you name it. The next pass had 6 pages, then 4 pages, and so on. In total, we watched Pure Vortex over 50 times or more from that initial assembly cut, tweaking volumes, EQs, and pixel fixes over a grueling seven-month editing process.

We pushed our final deadline by just two days to re-render a flawless master and create the English subtitles alongside. Having to battle with our editing computer having problems to keep up with exporting everything. It was a high end setup about 7 years ago, but now it’s pushing it, especially with editing an entire ninety minute feature film.

We still had things to take care off, like making a music video for the band that performed in the film out of the film footage. The band loved the music video so much that they commissioned us to make another one for them in the next couple of months. Somehow we had to organize a viewing for the crew and cast. It was my first time preparing a DCP (Digital Cinema Package) for viewing on a real cinema projector and it went great. The film looks and sounds just as good on the silver screen as it did on the computer screen.

In the meantime, we’re taking care of some other things like the subtitles. Iza is taking care of the English and Slovenian ones, Francesco will take care of the Italian ones.

And remember how I mentioned my sci-fi screenplay The Procedure in my last post? While finishing Pure Vortex, it picked up a few new awards on the festival circuit. On top of that, an LA producer got in touch about producing another script I co-wrote with a dear screenwriting partner who has sadly since passed away.

We started with nothing but a camera, a few friends, and a crazy idea. Now, we're heading to a few film festival with a finished movie in our pockets.

Final Lesson: Trust your friends, embrace the technical nightmares, and never stop cutting. If you build it yourself, you can do it yourself and go anywhere. Someone might notice.

Stay tuned for the next blog, where I'll take you behind the scenes of our festival run and see if we get into any festivals with Pure Vortex and if we’re able to maybe find distribution for it!

Have you ever had to radically restructure your script in the editing room to save the pacing? How did you handle killing your darlings?

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Ashley at blog@stage32.com and let's get your post published!

Please help support your fellow Stage 32ers by sharing this on social. Check out the social media buttons at the top to share on Instagram @stage32 , Twitter @stage32 , Facebook @stage32 , and LinkedIn @stage-32 .

Recently, I asked members of the Stage 32 Writers' Room to share something unexpected they learned once their projects started gaining traction. Their answers revealed something fascinating. Almost nobody talked about success the way they imagined it beforehand.

Instead, they talked about surprises.

A "Yes" Feels Like Responsibility, Not Validation

One of the most insightful responses came from writer Sam Rivera, who discovered that a "yes" doesn't feel like validation at all. Instead, it feels like responsibility.

Suddenly the script isn't just yours anymore. Other people are counting on you. Deadlines appear. Decisions need to be made. The project starts moving whether you're completely ready or not.

It's a reminder that development isn't the finish line. It's the beginning of a different race.

Progress Arrives More Quietly Than You Expect

Other writers spoke about how quietly progress arrives.

Charmane Wedderburn noted that she once expected success to be a breakthrough moment. Instead, she found that opportunities often grow from seeds planted months earlier through networking, revisions, feedback, submissions, and showing up consistently.

Looking back, many of her biggest opportunities seemed sudden only because she couldn't see the roots growing beneath the surface.

Careers Are Built on Courage and Connection

Several writers shared lessons about courage.

Ewan Dunbar landed his first Hollywood production job through a simple philosophy: "If you don't ask, you don't get."

Karen Ross echoed a similar sentiment from another angle. She described how genuine outreach, offering value first, and building authentic relationships have opened doors to mentorships, jobs, invitations, and opportunities she never expected.

Their experiences challenge a common misconception that careers are built solely through talent. Often they're built through connection, generosity, and the willingness to start conversations.

Sometimes the Harshest Critic Is You

Then there was a lesson many writers need to hear.

CJ Walley spent years believing the industry would become harsher once he broke in. Instead, he found the opposite. The people he worked with were supportive, encouraging, and genuinely excited about his work. His realization was profound: the harshest critic in the room had often been himself.

It's a reminder that sometimes the obstacle isn't external rejection but our own inability to accept praise when it arrives.

Growth Can Come From an Unexpected Detour

Some lessons come from unexpected detours.

Darrell Pennington found himself struggling with a horror screenplay that wasn't quite landing. At his wife's suggestion, he began adapting it into a novella. What started as an experiment revealed new layers of character, story, and theme that ultimately strengthened the screenplay itself.

Sometimes moving forward means approaching the same story from a completely different direction.

Development Never Looks the Way You Think It Will

And perhaps that's the biggest takeaway from all these responses.

Development doesn't look the way we think it will. It's not one dramatic breakthrough. It's a collection of conversations, risks, revisions, relationships, small victories, unexpected turns, and moments of self-discovery. It's making a short film with friends and no budget. It's sending a message when you're not sure anyone will respond. It's trusting your instincts. It's learning that progress can be invisible until you look back.

For writers still waiting for that first taste of development, the message from those who have experienced it is surprisingly consistent:

Keep writing. Keep connecting. Keep asking. Keep learning.

The opportunities may not arrive the way you expect. But then again, neither will the lessons that come with them.

Keep the Conversation Going: What Your Failures Taught You

If there's one thread running through every lesson above, it's that growth rarely arrives the way we expect, and often it arrives disguised as a setback. That's exactly the conversation Stage 32 member Jack Vincent has opened up in the Producing Lounge, taking this same spirit of honest reflection one step further into producing and production.

Jack's post takes its cue from a line he came across a decade ago: "Failure is a scar, not a tattoo." As he puts it, scars fade and don't define you, but they're proof of something that happened, and if you're paying attention, they teach you exactly where you were exposed. He's carried a few from his own transition into filmmaking, and every one of them changed how he approaches the next project, the next pitch, the next step.

So he's asking the community a question worth sitting with: what's a mistake you made on your first or second project that you actually thank yourself for making? What scar taught you a lesson you took forward and used?

It's a perfect companion to everything the Writers' Room members shared here, because development and production are both built far more on what we learn from the stumbles than on the moments that go perfectly. Head over to the Producing Lounge to read Jack's full post and add your own story to the conversation.

Join the discussion by clicking here.

Your scars might be exactly the lesson another writer or producer needs to hear.

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Ashley at blog@stage32.com and let's get your post published!

Please help support your fellow Stage 32ers by sharing this on social. Check out the social media buttons at the top to share on Instagram @stage32 , Twitter @stage32 , Facebook @stage32 , and LinkedIn @stage-32 .

As much as this statement could feel harsh to a creative ear, "content consumption," I can hear the wails and see the hands to foreheads as I'm writing. It's never been more important that we all digest and understand this trend, because it's not going away or about to reverse. In short: if you want to build a career in the entertainment sector, you need to understand what is driving and dictating the flow of funds right now.

For the majority of filmmakers, a common pathway is to make a short as a proof of concept to build out plans for a feature film, or to go straight for the prize and pitch the feature using comps and target audience data. This playbook is intended to validate against the risk. It's been "the way you do it" forever. Only now there are not only more options than ever before, but far better options. And by better, I mean they aren't contingent on having a door opened for you to a fiercely gatekept room.

Local UK independent film investment fell to £160m in 2023, less than half of 2016's £406m (Ben Keen/British Screen Forum, 2024), even as total UK production spend held at billions. UK film and High-End TV total production spend, including inward investment, reached £6.8 billion in 2025, proving the money hasn't left the industry. It's just moved away from independent and local financing (BFI Statistical Yearbook 2025).

The Gap Isn't a Lack of Appetite for Film

It's a lack of appetite for financing your film through old channels. And that appetite differential is risk.

We've all heard by now that streamers aren't operating like they used to with us independents. They want big names attached, audience pull, or they'll tell you "sounds great, would love to see it once you get it made." They want to taste the final mix. Pre-sales are like hunting for the rarest of rare eggs.

In short, they aren't funding production like they used to, because their own economic arena has changed, and that's impacted us accordingly. The average US household reduced its number of streaming subscriptions from 4.1 services in 2024 to 2.8 in 2025, a whopping 32% reduction in a single year (Self Financial, 2025). 41% of paid video streamers have cancelled a subscription due to subscription fatigue, up from 35% just three months earlier (CivicScience, October 2025). No wonder these guys are twitchy about cutting a cheque for an indie production without "guarantees" of success, huh?

Cinema & Streaming Didn't Die

Films and series in long form, cinema and streaming services aren't going anywhere. But now there's a set of "must-have" characteristics that have crowded out the space.

If the traditional gatekeepers are financing certainty instead of story, the job of the filmmaker has changed. You're not just making a film anymore. You're building the case that an audience exists before anyone else will bet on it.

Every one of the top ten grossing films at the 2024 US box office was based on existing IP (Insight Trends World, 2025).

We don't have to look too far in the rearview to see this in practice. What do The Odyssey, directed by Christopher Nolan, and The Backrooms, directed by Kane Parsons, have in common? It's not a joke. Say it out loud, preferably while clapping, for real emphasis:

Built.

In.

Audience.

Differing Models, Same Play

Kane Parsons had already built a phenomenal, loyal fanbase on YouTube. His debut feature became A24's highest-grossing film to date, at a global $367 million box office. Over 86% of the ticket buyers were under the age of 35, so you can assume most of these people followed Kane's work from YouTube straight into the theatre.

Christopher Nolan has one hell of a track record, sure. He's arguably one of, if not the, best director of our era, and yet even he still leaned on this structure. He built a prolific ensemble cast of A-listers, huge name after huge name, and their collective audience reaching power? I'll give it a conservative estimate of 400 million across their combined socials (Zendaya: 175M, Tom Holland: 65M, Travis Scott: 59M, Anne Hathaway: 43M).

All of this de-risks the decision for a financier, studio, or talent to green light or get onboard with a project. In an unpredictable business, you're securing the parts you have some control over. At the 2025 British Screen Forum conference, film finance executive Anne Sheehan put it plainly: "Costs have gone up, but the rewards have gone down." In business terms, that means you absolutely need a certain, predictable amount of sales, more than ever, to create a return on investment.

Your Next Investor Deck Should Include a Fanbase

When advising independent filmmakers about how to get their project funded, I've noticed a pattern over the years. As soon as I mention social media or YouTube, there's a palpable resistance, with the majority viewing it as a "lesser medium" or a distraction from the end goal. Nearly always, folks want a theatrical release even when the predictable net revenues don't support that plan. Often, in the same conversation, these same people tell me they've tried "everything" and share their disdain for how the industry is filled with gatekeepers.

Imagine, then, if we had a way of getting direct to an audience member without those gatekeepers. Imagine if we didn't have to raise tens of thousands to fund a short plus a festival run, a route that's akin to mapping a moonshot for an investor, purely because it carries creative validation from within our own industry. Imagine if we could engage the audience directly with snippets of the concept, tease the release, and build excitement. Oh, but you can! Build the audience first using vertical and social platforms.

China's micro-drama market reached RMB 50.44 billion, roughly $6.9 billion, in 2024, surpassing mainland China's annual theatrical box office revenue for the first time, with 34.9% year-on-year growth (Chambers and Partners, 2025). Micro-drama audiences in China reached 662 million by December 2024, approximately 60% of all Chinese internet users. Let that sink in.

This isn't to say verticals have replaced the streaming or cinema audience. They haven't. It shows the whole landscape of the audience map has expanded.

Major studios are already doing this, because they use data to make decisions. Disney has rolled out vertical "Verts" on Disney+. Fox Entertainment invested in Ukrainian micro-drama platform Holywater and commissioned 40 original scripted verticals from YouTube creator Dhar Mann Studios. Netflix has signalled increased vertical content on its mobile app.

We as a collective of filmmakers can turn our artistic noses up at this all we like. The facts remain. The majority of the world's population want authenticity signalled in the information and communication they receive, and social media outweighs traditional routes emphatically:

• 63% of people globally struggle to tell credible news from disinformation; trust in social media sits at 42 out of 100 (Edelman Trust Barometer, 2025)
• Trust in mainstream media among adults under 30 sits at 28% or below (Edelman Trust Barometer, 2025)

Which is exactly why direct, authentic engagement carries more weight with an audience than it used to. A filmmaker talking to their audience directly is, to that audience, more credible than an unknown studio marketing push, not less. So maybe having a plethora of film festival logos on your pitch deck won't sway a potential investor with the same force as evidence of real audience data, genuine engagement, and interest from within the communities and influential people your project says it will reach.

Turning Audience Proof Into Investor Leverage

Film investment is notorious in the finance world as a high-risk, "alternative" asset class. I've heard it likened to going all in on red or black more than once in my investor circles. Investors are financing certainty (see the IP-dependency stats above). An engaged, quantifiable audience is the indie filmmaker's version of "certainty."

I encourage you all to use the creative spark you have, because let's be honest, that's where the real value lies. Make content around your project. If you would've made a sizzle reel or a short anyway, you literally have no excuse not to. Here's what a modern proof-of-concept package can include:

1) Audience size and growth on a specific idea

• Not vanity follower counts, but growth tied to one piece of IP or story world, over a defined window (e.g. "6,000 followers gained in 8 weeks after posting content specifically from this project")
• Shows trajectory, not just a static number, because investors care whether interest is compounding or flat
• Cross-platform breakdown matters: a story that pulls audience on TikTok and YouTube, and Instagram signals broader appeal than one platform spiking alone

2) Engagement and completion rates

• Watch-through and completion rate on short-form content is arguably more valuable than view count, because it tells you whether the story, not just the hook, is working
• Comment sentiment and volume: are people asking "when's the next part," debating characters, requesting more of a specific storyline? That's organic evidence of narrative pull
• Save and share rate: people saving or sharing a piece of content is a stronger signal of investment than a like. It means they want to return to it or bring someone else in
• Compare rates across different scenes, characters, or moments you've tested, because this becomes real creative data, not just marketing data (which character resonated, which tone landed, which cliffhanger worked)

3) Direct audience quotes and feedback

• Verbatim comments describing emotional response, not just praise. "I didn't expect to cry at that" is more useful proof than "love this!"
• Feedback that shows people forming theories, requesting backstory, or arguing about characters, because this is evidence of narrative investment, not just approval
• Demographic or psychographic colour from your audience's own words: who they say they are, why they're drawn to the story. This can double as market research for pitching tone and positioning

4) Pre-sale or crowdfund signal

• Even a small, low-stakes pre-sale (limited merch tied to the world, early access to a short, a founding-supporter tier) tests whether interest converts to money, not just attention, and carries more real world value to an investor than a festival run that didn't lead to the project being picked up
• Crowdfunding campaigns don't have to fully fund the project to be useful. A campaign that hits 40% of its goal in 72 hours is a stronger data point than a vague "audience is excited" claim
• Waitlists and email sign-ups for updates are a lightweight version of the same signal, and cheap to set up early

None of this Replaces the Film

It doesn't replace the script, the craft, or the years you'll spend getting the story right. What it replaces is the guesswork that used to sit between "I have an idea" and "someone will pay for it."

The old proof of concept was a sizzle reel and a prayer. The new one has data behind it. You're not asking anyone to bet on a story anymore. You're asking them to bet on a story that's already proven it can hold an audience, before you've spent a single pound or dollar of someone else's money finding that out. That's not a smaller ambition than the one you started with. It's a better-funded route to the same one.

Last Week's Winner Spotlight

Before we jump into this week, let's celebrate. Congratulations to our Week 4 July Filmmakers Club winner, Dalton Alexander Mosley!

Dalton Alexander Mosley is a screenwriter, playwright, and story editor with a deep understanding of genre mechanics and a passion for discovering singular, resonant stories. He is captivated by the intersection of thought-provoking narrative and genre fiction, drawn to work that elevates original voices and crafts socially conscious entertainment, which he believes is the purpose of art as a whole. His primary interest lies in science fiction, specifically as a vehicle for social critique, built on the conviction that fantastic premises offer the most honest framework for examining human nature, systemic issues, and complex politics. What fascinates him is how the genre uses speculative and imaginative settings to comment on our own world, sparking conversations that feel both immediate and personal.

Connect with Dalton by clicking here!

For completing all three of last week's challenges, Dalton has won three free months of the Stage 32 Writers' Room.

The Writers' Room is a thriving home for screenwriters who want to keep the momentum going all year long. Membership opens the door to Open Writing Assignments along with weekly live webcasts with working writers, reps, producers, filmmakers, and executives, ongoing feedback exchanges with a community of peers, regular pitch practice, script workshops, and a support network that never stops showing up. It is built for creatives who want consistent accountability, real connection, and steady growth in their craft, exactly the kind of environment that turns a goal into finished projects.

Could this be you? Complete this week's challenges below for your chance to be featured right here in next Monday's blog.

This Week's July Filmmakers Club Challenges

Emma's blog is a reminder that the audience you build is the thing no gatekeeper can take away from you. So for our final week, let's look forward: to the audience you want, the momentum you're carrying out of July, and the next chapter you're walking into. Here are your three challenges for Week 5:

• Comment on this blog below to tell us what stood out to you most about Emma's insights and advice.
• Post in the Stage 32 Filmmaking Lounge and share what's next for you after JFC. What's the one creative move you're committing to in August to keep the momentum going?
• Post in the Stage 32 Distribution Lounge about the kind of audience you want to build around your projects, your brand, and your future, and how you plan to work toward that over the next year.

Complete all three challenges this week, and you will be entered to win a free Stage 32 Contest entry, our own competitions designed to get your work in front of industry professionals.

What a month it's been. Thank you for showing up, for sharing your work, and for lifting each other up all July long. See you in the Lounges.

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Ashley at blog@stage32.com and let's get your post published!

Please help support your fellow Stage 32ers by sharing this on social. Check out the social media buttons at the top to share on Instagram @stage32 , Twitter @stage32 , Facebook @stage32 , and LinkedIn @stage-32 .

I hope your weekend has been a creative one so far. Whether you have been writing, filming, editing, or sketching out the next spark of an idea, I have something today that will give you a boost. So grab your coffee, and let’s dive in.

This week's featured video comes from FilmStack- When an Actor Saved His Career More Than Once.

Ben Affleck’s career is one of Hollywood’s most fascinating examples of reinvention. After co-writing Good Will Hunting with Matt Damon and becoming the youngest Oscar winner for Best Original Screenplay, Affleck quickly found himself pushed into blockbuster leading-man roles. As the hits became more uneven and his personal life dominated headlines, his reputation suffered and many people wrote him off.

Instead of waiting for Hollywood to redefine him, Affleck took control of his own story. He stepped behind the camera, directing acclaimed films like Gone Baby Gone, The Town, and the Oscar-winning Argo, proving himself as a filmmaker while rebuilding his credibility as an actor. Even after more personal and professional setbacks, he continued evolving, focusing on projects that mattered to him, reuniting creatively with Damon through Artist Equity, and finding fulfillment by making the work he genuinely wanted to make.

What struck me most about this video wasn’t simply the comeback itself. It was the reminder that careers rarely move in a straight line. Reinvention isn’t something that happens once. It’s often something creatives do throughout an entire career.

That brings me to a question I get quite often here at Stage 32: How do we choose the executives we work with?

People are sometimes surprised when I tell them that we actually turn away more executives than you would imagine. Not because they’re bad people or unsuccessful professionals, but because our responsibility is to this community. Our goal has never been to simply put executives in front of you. Our goal is to provide access to professionals who are actually in a position to help move projects and careers forward.

That means we’re looking for executives who are actively seeking material, actively packaging projects, actively financing films, or actively expanding their client rosters. Whether they’re producers, managers, agents, development executives, financiers, or production companies, they need to be working in today’s marketplace with real opportunities available to the creatives they meet through Stage 32.

Every executive who works with us goes through a vetting process. We look closely at what they’re currently working on, what kinds of projects they’re looking for, their recent credits or job positions, their relationships within the industry, and whether they can genuinely provide value to our members.

That’s incredibly important because access only has value when it’s connected to opportunity.

Of course, once we’ve created that opportunity, the next step belongs to you. Your script still has to deliver. Your pitch still has to be compelling. Your project still has to match what that executive is actually looking for.

That’s why I always encourage everyone to pay close attention to an executive’s mandates before submitting your work. Read what genres they’re looking for. Understand their preferred budget ranges. Learn what kinds of projects they’re actively developing. The more aligned your submission is with what they’re genuinely seeking, the better your chances of making a meaningful connection.

Success in this industry isn’t just about getting in the room. It’s about getting into the right room with the right project at the right time.

One of the biggest mistakes creatives make is assuming every executive can help every project. That’s simply not how this business works. The more strategic you become about who you’re targeting and why, the stronger your opportunities become. Just like Ben Affleck discovered throughout his career, success often comes from taking ownership of your path instead of waiting for someone else to define it for you.

When you’re looking for industry connections, what matters most to you? Finding the right creative fit, finding someone with the right industry relationships, or simply getting your work in front of as many people as possible? Let me know in the comments.

As always, here at Stage 32, we love sharing stories and knowledge with our fellow film fans. Know someone who would love this content? Share it with them. You can keep up with all of our videos by subscribing to the Stage 32 YouTube Channel. For more inspirational, educational, and motivational content on all things entertainment industry, follow me on Instagram and X @rbwalksintoabar.

Wishing you a very happy, healthy, and creative Sunday.

Cheers,

RB

FilmStack | When an Actor Saved His Career More than Once

RBWalksIntoABar | How Do You Vet Execs You Work With on Stage 32?

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Ashley at blog@stage32.com and let's get your post published!

Please help support your fellow Stage 32ers by sharing this on social. Check out the social media buttons at the top to share on Instagram @stage32 , Twitter @stage32 , Facebook @stage32 , and LinkedIn @stage-32 .

Your phone.

The end.

Now that’s probably the shortest blog ever, so I’ll elaborate. Your smartphone is an incredibly powerful tool, and if you have nothing else in your arsenal, your phone can do just about anything. There are three important aspects needed to create good content. You need to be clearly seen, clearly heard, and clearly understood.

1- Be Clearly Seen (Video, Lighting)

If you’re an actor, you’ve probably heard this phrase from any casting director workshops you’ve attended regarding your self-tapes. You need to be well-lit with as crisp of an image as you can muster. When you’re just starting out, as I mentioned before, your phone, regardless if it is an iPhone or Android, has excellent cameras. They keep competing with how many cameras they can slap on the back of them these days. The front-facing camera works great, but the rear camera produces a clearer, crisp image.

Now, you need something to hold your phone. There are plenty of successful content creators who hold their phones in their hands. It creates camera movement which is interesting for an audience, but maybe you have content ideas where holding a phone isn’t feasible, so you’ll want to invest in a tripod. When I first started creating content I bought a cheap $15 tripod from Amazon, it’s been 4 years and it still works great! It also collapses to a very small size, making it easy to take with me when I need to shoot in different locations.

When you’re first starting out, you really don’t need much, but if you want to up your game you can invest in a DSLR Camera. A good camera can range in price from $400-$650. The camera I recommend is the mirrorless Canon EOS M50, which shoots in 4k. However, returning to how amazing your phone is, you can download the FREE Blackmagic Camera App and get just as many control features as you would with a camera.

Now let’s move on to lighting. When I first started I used natural light from my window. I still use it today as diffused sunlight can produce some amazing video quality. Sometimes, though, the weather doesn’t produce the ideal lighting, which is why you’ll want a couple of softbox lights. The lights I use are from NeeWer which is around $50 for a pair. Separately I use different light bulbs that have intensity and color changes to create different moods for each video. Softbox lights are also a necessity for green screen use.

2- Clearly Heard (Audio & Music)

Some of the best-performing social media videos defy language barriers, where knowing a language is not necessary to understand the video concept. You’ll notice, if you’re on TikTok that many videos just use music, but if that’s not the kind of content you want to create then you’ll need your voice to be clearly heard. Now a phone’s built-in microphone can do a decent job but it struggles when shooting content outdoors. Inside, you can control the room tone by unplugging your fridge or turning off any noise-making devices, but outside you can’t very well tell the wind to stop blowing. That is when you’ll want to invest in a Lavalier Microphone.

I use the Hollywood Lark M1 wireless microphone, which comes with two lav mics. It’s a bit on the expensive side and I’m sure there are many more affordable options out there. Friends of mine use the Rode brand microphones, which are arguably more expensive, but you get what you pay for, and if you know anything about movies, having crisp audio is non-negotiable.

For my DSLR, I use a combination of the lav mic and a small portable Rode boom microphone. All microphones come with cord attachments to be used with smartphones as well.

To make your content more accessible to diverse audiences, you always want to provide subtitles on all your videos, which can be added in editing software or manually in the apps you wish to upload your content to.

Music is also a welcome addition to any video. It adds to the tone and emotion, but you also want to make sure the music you use is properly paid for, royalty-free free, or created by yourself if you have that gift. It’s always important to make sure everything you use in your videos will not be flagged for copyright. A great place to look for royalty-free music and sound effects is Epidemic Sound, they offer monthly and yearly subscription options.

3- And Clearly Understood (Editing Software)

You’ve written and filmed your content, now you need to piece it all together; which is why you need reliable editing software. I personally use Adobe Premiere Pro which has a monthly subscription (which you can write off on taxes), there is also Davinci Resolve, for desktop editing. Stage 32 will actually be giving away 3 FREE DaVinci Resolve licenses this month to members who participate in their July Filmmakers Club challenges!

I personally prefer editing on a desktop computer, better for the posture, but with all these wonderful technological advancements, there are editing software apps for your phone. Adobe has a phone app, but I think CapCut, which is free, is the superior phone editing software.

Apps like TikTok and Instagram also provide basic editing if you’d like to film within the apps. Personally, I find their tools a bit lacking, but they can be useful if you’re using any of the filters provided in the apps.

So that’s the long version. All you truly need to create content is a good idea and a phone. Find what drives you, tell the stories that fulfill you, and you will have a new creative outlet. Creating content for social media is a fun venture for any actor, you can hone your on-camera techniques, learn what makes a good edit, and gain confidence in your ability to create a character. Who knows, maybe it’ll be an avenue for you to one day write your own short or feature film. Best of luck to you, happy creating.

Have You Joined In On Stage 32's July Filmmakers Club?

If not, what are you waiting for? You already have what you need to start creating. The same is true of Filmmakers Club: you already have everything you need to jump in, and this week's challenges are all about looking outward at the global creative world and connecting with the community building alongside you.

There is still time to complete this week's three challenges before Week 4 closes tomorrow:

Comment on this week's July Filmmakers Club blog and share a film, filmmaker, or story that has shaped how you see the global creative landscape.

Post in the Stage 32 Filmmaking Lounge and tell us about a project, your own or someone else's, that wouldn't exist without a global perspective. What did it teach you about the kinds of stories that travel? Bonus points if you can include a video link, trailer, scene, or image so we can see what you're talking about!

Post in the Stage 32 Distribution Lounge and share a film marketing or release campaign that stuck with you. A trailer that made you buy a ticket the moment you saw it. A poster you couldn't stop thinking about. A release strategy that surprised you. What made it work? Bonus points if you can include a video link, trailer, image, or campaign visual.

Complete all three, and you will be entered to win three free months of the Stage 32 Writers' Room, with the winner announced in Monday's blog.

Grab your phone, grab your ideas, and come create with us. We will see you in the Lounges.

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Ashley at blog@stage32.com and let's get your post published!

Please help support your fellow Stage 32ers by sharing this on social. Check out the social media buttons at the top to share on Instagram @stage32 , Twitter @stage32 , Facebook @stage32 , and LinkedIn @stage-32 .

In short, our little weekly LIVE event has always sounded more like a document you receive - REPORT.

But what do we really do? We share our work, we exchange our feedback, and we WORKSHOP options for how to implement the most important notes. It’s not a judgement, but rather a starting point to grow from.

Honestly, the Coverage Report has always seemed like a red-headed stepchild: admired at a distance but difficult to want to adopt. Because here is where we get the work done.

I'm not saying there is no work to be done when pitching, there certainly is. But what is the point of pitching a script you aren't comfortable sharing yet because you haven't received enough feedback and done enough iterations? I'm not saying there is no work to be done when studying other scripts or asking questions from professionals, but analysis paralysis is real. Too much studying can stunt a project's progress when we discuss theory more than we draft.

The real work of screenwriting? Pre-writing, drafting, submitting for feedback, receiving and digesting that feedback, implementing that feedback, iterating the next draft, which will be subject to feedback, which needs to be digested, implemented, etc. until the draft is considered "polished".

And THAT? That is what the Script Coverage Workshop facilitates.

Already a Stage 32 Writers’ Room Member? Join us for the Script Coverage Workshop either:

MONDAYS at 6pm PST OR THURSDAYS at 12:30pm PST!

Zoom Link available via the Writers’ Room Portal!

Not a Writers’ Room Member yet? Click here for a FREE MONTH on us to check out this amazing weekly workshop!

So, What IS the Script Coverage Workshop?

Essentially, it is a "guided script exchange". At no additional cost to Writers’ Room members, each SCW participant must read others’ scripts in order to earn the ability to in turn, have their scripts read.

So, after reading at least three (3) others' scripts AND providing written notes, a writer's project will be added to the waitlist to be reviewed by fellow writers. This is for logistical reasons - we need enough readers for everyone to get a well-rounded selection of feedback all at once - but it’s also in the spirit of reciprocity.

When you receive feedback from the Script Coverage Workshop readers, you receive tens of hours of free work (2-4 hours per coverage x 10, 20, 30 readers - it adds up!). The way to honor their time and effort is to show up and offer the same in return. That exchange rate is also hard to beat - 12 hours of reading and giving notes for at least 20 hours of notes on your work-in-progress? Such a good deal!

What Happens During a LIVE Script Coverage Workshop?

1) We start by reading the 1-page synopsis LIVE

That way, everyone who is attending can still participate in giving verbal feedback, regardless of whether they were able to read before the meeting starts or not.

2) Readers raise a digital hand to offer what we call a "5-minute Positivity Sandwich"

• Start with what we really liked about it
• Then go into what was unclear or not working as well
• Finally, end with what we'd love to see more of in future iterations. This allows us to be encouraging at the same time as delivering constructive criticism.

3) The writer is then able to ask their reader any clarifying questions

So they have the best possible idea on how to implement those notes, should they choose to.

4) Throughout the LIVE event, the hosts act as guides to contextualize these “Positivity Sandwiches”

Yes, the “note behind the note” is discussed before attempting to digest your feedback on your own!

For example, any notes that harp on formatting are likely going to be given the "implement it and move on" or "wait until you're done shaping the story and then worry about formatting" context note because story or character notes are far more likely to require more time and attention to adjust and implement. Formatting, in comparison, is a fairly easy adjustment.

5) Finally, the writer will receive the recording of the event for their own reference

Not to be shared publicly - or even within the Writers' Room (unlike our Wednesday Webcasts, which can be replayed). This is so no one misses any moments of brilliance, but no writer has to worry about someone else deep diving into their concept without their permission.

PRO TIP: When receiving notes, especially verbally, try to resist the urge to explain your reasoning for writing what you wrote.

Defending your writing doesn't necessarily change how someone responded based on what is on the page. It is your job to craft an emotional experience for the audience. It is NOT the audience’s job to “get” what you were attempting. Now, if you can manage asking an "If... then..." question to contextualize your explanation, then it's possible you can make it into a clarifying question, which we allow and endorse.

Best practice? Grab a pen and paper and scribble down the BEST ideas as they come up!

Okay, but K-Dawg - WHY no defending your writing?

Ultimately, because no one giving you feedback is invested (yet) in your project. As such, they also don't care about what notes you implement and which ones you don't. So... for everyone's sake, please don't argue with your readers. It's about as useful as arguing with your audience. They either get it or they don't - move on.

What Materials Do We Require a Writer to Submit?

We ask for a 1-page Story Synopsis, including the ENDING, and then at least the first 20 pages of the script. If you have the full script available, even better! We only require readers to read the synopsis and the first 20 pages because reading and giving feedback is extremely time-consuming. With the synopsis, a reader can more easily give "big picture" notes to address whether or not the story as a whole works, from beginning to end.

This is a huge advantage for any writer submitting an early draft (or is an early career screenwriter) where there may be a lot of notes in the first 10 pages that are more concerned with formatting, character development, and set up of plot. Of course, when submitting, we welcome any guiding questions from the writer for our readers.

If you really need to know if that 2nd act mid-point is working, let us know! We can address concerns like this specifically upon request.

SYNOPSIS DISCLAIMER: When writing a synopsis, there can be a disconnect between what is on the page versus what is in the script. But when you get notes on your synopsis, the answer cannot then be "well, just read the script'. Nope!

The point of the shorter form is to entice a busy reader, like a producer, to stop and want to read it. If you cannot whittle down a 90-page feature into a 20-page Pitch Deck, a 10-page outline, a 1-2 page pitch document, or a 1 paragraph story summary (all of which include variations of a SYNOPSIS), then you will have little to no chance of handing off that script to anyone who can move forward with it. It actually forces them to figure out your story for you, which is a monumental task to ask of anyone. So... don't. That all being stated, when you get a story note on your synopsis, you have to answer for yourself - is this a note I have to implement in my synopsis (because it is not yet faithful to my script) OR is this a note I have to implement in my script (because it is faithful to my script)?

And don’t forget - anything you change in the script, eventually has to be rewritten as a new synopsis. YAY, iterations!

The Most Underrated Benefits of the Script Coverage Workshop

• LIVE Human Interaction = FASTEST way to discover what works and what doesn’t, PERIOD!
• Written Notes + Verbal Notes = Much More Thorough Review than just one or the other
• More Readers on the Same Draft = identifying CONSENSUS and outlier feedback
• A Single Coordinated Time = Quicker turn Around Times for all feedback, which means faster turn around times for iterations
• We Read Revisions, Too! = Readers who stick around and read the next iteration of a script can also give feedback on how writers are implementing their notes, which gives writers feedback on their PROCESS!
• Feeling prepared and confident going into consultations, pitch sessions, and notes calls with professionals and executives.

Finally, with the guidance of Script Consultants & Producers (your hosts), we like to offer "actionable feedback", i.e. a PLAN for implementing notes. This will often include which notes to address first, how many iterations are implied with the range of notes being given, and what might be best for that next iteration (i.e. does it come back to us, or get submitted to contests, or go straight into crafting a pitch for it).

Variations that keep us FRESH!

Produced Script Coverage Workshop:

This is where we'll read and review a script that has already been produced - so that we don't start mimicking scripts in development. Then we deliver our "5-minute Positivity Sandwich" as if a reader delivering their coverage to a producer within a company (which is the original purpose of "coverage"). This helps readers practice their summarizing skills (which they can in turn use when they have to write their own synopses), but also study what "writing for production" looks like. As we like to say, "Screenwriters don't write for perfection. We write for Production." And reading things that have already been produced helps us to remember that.

SPECIAL Synopsis Coverage Workshop:

This is where we'll open submissions to any and all synopses, everyone gets written notes, but the top three (3) will be chosen to be read out loud LIVE for us to give verbal feedback. SOMETIMES we'll even invite guest executives to join us and choose their favorites to review live. This is a HUGE exercise to show how effective story notes alone can be. This is also a zero-sum event, so no need to read others’ synopsis before or after - only during.

HAPPY HOUR:

We introduce ourselves, share what we're working on and struggling with, and readers and writers can connect beyond just the exchange format. LOTS of collaborations have happened because of these more candid conversations!

Our Most Recent Triumph: The Vertical Microdrama Screenwriting Challenge

For the lifespan of the Script Coverage Workshop, we’ve worked like a revolving door. Scripts, feedback, and members come and go, but there was never a definitive entry point or conclusion. Until recently. When studying to write my own vertical series, I realized that we could use one of our “special editions” to workshop outlines and script pages the same way we review synopses and the first twenty (20) pages. So… we gave it a go!

The results? In a matter of a few weeks, challengers figured out:

• If their concept is vertical-worthy
• If they enjoyed their concept as a vertical
• What tropes the concept was best suited for
• What relationships the concept was setting up (and were they juicy enough!)
• How best to end the series, should they move forward
• How best to start/tease the series in the first 10 episodes

The Definitive Deliverable. Writers Walked Away With:

• 1 one-page pitch document
• 1 one-page synopsis
• 1 draft of the first 10 episodes

Even for the few who did not need to complete their deliverables, the workshopping process helped them to understand the format, determine if it was an option for them, and move on in record time. This “stress test” is the seed of our latest triumph!

But don’t take my word for it! Check out what members of the Writer's Room are saying by clicking below!

Ultimately, I believe your pages deserve real eyes and a real conversation. Perhaps we’ll even do another thrilling challenge soon!

I hope you can join us for our next Script Coverage Workshop, but until then, here is a link to try your first month of the Writers’ Room FREE!

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Ashley at blog@stage32.com and let's get your post published!

Please help support your fellow Stage 32ers by sharing this on social. Check out the social media buttons at the top to share on Instagram @stage32 , Twitter @stage32 , Facebook @stage32 , and LinkedIn @stage-32 .

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Ashley at blog@stage32.com and let's get your post published!

Please help support your fellow Stage 32ers by sharing this on social. Check out the social media buttons at the top to share on Instagram @stage32 , Twitter @stage32 , Facebook @stage32 , and LinkedIn @stage-32 .

Hey Stage 32 Community!

Ever dreamt of seeing your Sci-Fi & Fantasy script come to life on the big screen or stream on flat-screens in living rooms across the country? This is your chance to turn that dream into reality! We're proud to announce the 10th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Screenwriting Contest to help discover the next great Sci-Fi or Fantasy script!

Our Grand Prize Winner will win a Career Accelerator prize package valued at $4,000 that includes script & career development, writer branding and an education package and will be first in line for VIP MENTORSHIP meetings with Producers who have worked on iconic movies and shows like SEVERANCE, SILO, IT'S WHAT'S INSIDE, WORLD WAR Z, and more!

Science Fiction and Fantasy endure throughout entertainment for their rich ability to introduce audiences to new worlds. From the intensity and action of RINGS OF POWER, to the totally wild and original concept of SEVERANCE, to the dangerous power plays and high stakes of HOUSE OF THE DRAGON, audiences can’t get enough exciting Science Fiction & Fantasy storytelling. This year alone, Sci-Fi films like PROJECT HAIL MARY and DISCLOSURE DAY proved the genre can still smash at the box office. The appetite for amazing Science Fiction and Fantasy projects is insatiable, and we want your story to be the next smash hit!

Stage 32 is proud to present the 10th Annual Sci-Fi & Fantasy Screenwriting Contest!

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Ashley at blog@stage32.com and let's get your post published!

Please help support your fellow Stage 32ers by sharing this on social. Check out the social media buttons at the top to share on Instagram @stage32 , Twitter @stage32 , Facebook @stage32 , and LinkedIn @stage-32 .

You know how the story goes. A film premieres, an award is won, a name suddenly appears in every trade publication, and the coverage breathlessly announces that a star has been born. Out of nowhere. Fully formed. As if they simply walked onto a set one morning and into history by evening.

Except that is almost never what happened. Behind nearly every "overnight success" is a decade or two… or more of work that nobody was watching. And in my experience, when the person at the centre of the story is a woman or a gender-diverse person, the overnight framing is applied even more readily, because so much of the work they did to get there was invisible in the first place.

My mum often says that I am going to be "an overnight success, just 20 years in the making". But it’s worth noting that I started studying film back in 2007 and have been working in this industry (with a few side quests) ever since. I released my first feature film in 2023, and my career has spanned film, television, online content and millions of dollars' worth of advertising.

Mum was joking, mostly. But it stuck with me, and it is something I think about a lot: the twenty years I have dedicated to this career are real, yet somehow they feel invisible. This month's blog is not about blame. It is about visibility, and that is something all of us, whatever our gender, have a role in changing.

The long nights behind the overnight

Consider a few of the industry's most celebrated "sudden" arrivals.

Ava DuVernay spent more than a decade as a film publicist and marketer, founded her own agency, and self-funded her early features before Selma made her, in the eyes of many headlines, an overnight sensation. She had been in and around film sets for the better part of fifteen years.

Viola Davis trained at Juilliard and spent over two decades on stage and screen, winning two Tony Awards along the way, before How to Get Away with Murder introduced her to audiences who assumed she was a fresh discovery. She was 49.

Kathryn Bigelow made her first feature in 1981. She became the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Director in 2010, twenty-nine years later. Twenty-nine years of directing, and the coverage still carried a note of surprise.

Michelle Yeoh began her career in Hong Kong action cinema in the 1980s, performing her own stunts and carrying films for four decades before her Oscar win at 60 prompted a wave of "where did she come from?" coverage. She had been right there the whole time.

Greta Gerwig spent years acting in and co-writing independent films, and had already co-directed a feature in 2008, before Lady Bird was widely hailed as her directorial debut nearly a decade later.

Regina King started acting at 14 and worked steadily for over three decades, quietly directing television for years, before her Oscar win and her "debut" feature One Night in Miami were greeted as a remarkable new arrival.

Different countries, different disciplines, different generations. The same pattern: years of craft, compressed by the retelling into a single lucky night.

Why the myth is not harmless

It would be easy to shrug this off as a quirk of headline writing. But the overnight success myth does real damage, and it does it in every direction.

For the women and gender diverse practitioners being celebrated, it erases the body of work that earned the moment. A career becomes a fluke. And flukes do not get second films greenlit; proven track records do. If the industry cannot see the track record, it cannot invest in it.

For the women coming up behind them, it distorts the map. If you believe careers happen overnight, then your tenth year of unglamorous, unrecognised work feels like failure rather than what it actually is: the road nearly everyone travels.

And the data tells us this is not simply a perception problem. According to the most recent Celluloid Ceiling report from San Diego State University's Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, women made up just 13% of directors on the top 250 grossing films of 2025, and only 10% on the top 100, a figure that actually declined from the previous year. Dr Martha Lauzen, who has run the study for nearly three decades, put it in a way that has stayed with me: "Visibility for a few has not generated employment for many."

In other words, celebrating a handful of extraordinary women as miraculous exceptions is not the same as building an industry where women's work is consistently seen, credited and hired. Sometimes the miracle framing is precisely what lets the wider numbers stand still.

This is about all of us

I want to be clear about something, because it matters. This is not an argument against men, and it is not a competition. The overnight success myth flattens plenty of men's careers too, and the solution is not to diminish anyone's achievements. Equality is all of us working together, equally, and visibility is something we can give each other every single day.

The producers, executives, mentors and collaborators of every gender who championed the women above were part of those stories. The fix here is collective: notice the work while it is happening, not just when it wins.

So what can we actually do?

A few habits, small on their own, that compound.

Credit the timeline, not just the triumph. When you talk about someone's success, mention the years behind it. "She has been building towards this since 2007" is a more truthful sentence than "she came out of nowhere," and it changes how the next opportunity gets weighed.

Make the invisible work visible. Recommend the editor whose name doesn’t make the poster. Share the short film. Tag the cinematographer. Visibility is not only bestowed by trade publications; it is built, post by post and conversation by conversation, in communities exactly like this one.

Tell your own story honestly. If you have been at this for ten years, say ten years. There is no shame in the long road. There is only proof of persistence, and someone earlier on that road needs to see it.

Hire the track record you now know exists. If you are in a position to staff, greenlight or recommend, look past the "discovery" framing and at the actual body of work.

Now it is your turn

I have shared a handful of names, but I know this community holds hundreds, if not thousands, more examples, and I would genuinely love to hear them.

Who is a woman or gender diverse screen practitioner in film or television, famous or not, whose "overnight success" was actually years in the making? It might be an icon whose early career deserves more recognition. It might be a colleague grinding through her second decade right now. It might be you. It's definitely me.

Drop their names and their stories in the comments. Tag them if you can. Let us spend this week making the long road visible, together, because the more clearly we see the work, the harder it becomes for anyone's success to be mistaken for luck.

Parting thoughts

Before I go, I would love to hear your thoughts on one more question: how else can we increase visibility for all screen professionals? How do we celebrate each other without waiting for awards and accolades to do it for us?

Because here is what I truly believe: what counts as success is yours alone to define. You get to set your own goalposts, and you are allowed to let the riff raff of the media swell go. Yes, you still need to be practical and commercially minded, and to build towards a sustainable career so you do not burn out. But our industry is a genuinely difficult one to navigate. It is up and down, it is here and there, it gives and it certainly takes. But, if you can find your rhythm, be recognised (and paid) for your contributions, and walk away from each project happy and satisfied, then you are already succeeding, whether or not anyone ever calls you an overnight anything.

And if your journey is taking longer than you would like, take it from someone who has taken the scenic route. Every side quest - working as a travel agent, in cinemas, in hospitality - has made me the producer and advocate I am today. Nothing on the long road is wasted. Every detour teaches you something about people, about stories, about persistence, and all of it comes with you.

So take the scenic route if you need to. Keep working, keep creating, and keep lifting each other into the light. You are not building towards a single miraculous morning; you are building a body of work. And one day, when someone finally calls you an overnight success, you will know exactly how many nights it took.

Last Week's Winner Spotlight

Before we jump into this week, let's celebrate. Congratulations to our Week 3 July Filmmakers Club winner, Leonardo Ramirez!

Leonardo Ramirez is a screenwriter, author, voice actor, and producer who writes stories about what it means to be human, always with a thread of hope running through them. His worlds are full of action, awe, and wild invention, but for Leonardo it is never just about the thrill. His stories explore the quiet battles people fight inside themselves, the cracks they carry, and the hope they sometimes forget they still have, so that audiences walk away feeling they can come out of the fire stronger than they were before.

Growing up in a single-parent home, Leonardo experienced extreme poverty and even homelessness, hardships that fueled his resilience and shaped a deep love of family he cherishes above all else. His scripts, including HAVEN OF DANTE, THE JUPITER CHRONICLES, and AGENTS OF C.O.W., have earned recognition from Stage 32, ScreenCraft, Barnstorm, the Inroads Fellowship, the Nashville Film Festival, and The Red List, where his short screenplay HOMELESS ranked number one for fantasy shorts. A 4th-degree black belt in Karate and a proud Puerto Rican who will happily correct you that plantains are not bananas, Leonardo brings discipline, heart, and a fighter's persistence to every page.

Connect with Leonardo by clicking here!

For completing all three of last week's challenges, Leonardo has won a free Stage 32 Career Development Call with an executive of his choice.

The goal of the Career Development Program is to help you take the next step in your craft, career, or project with advice from a seasoned film or television professional. Ahead of the call, you can submit an overview of your work for your executive to review, a portfolio of titles and loglines, your bio, a sense of where you are in your career, details on a current project, links to your work, and three questions about what you are trying to accomplish. You then have an hour-long call with the mentor of your choice, giving you complete transparency about exactly who you are learning from. Whether you are just starting out or are a seasoned veteran, it is always valuable to get guidance from someone who has already navigated the territory you are heading into. This is access and expertise you cannot get anywhere else.

Could this be you next week? Complete this week's challenges below for your chance to be featured right here in next Monday's blog.

This Week's July Filmmakers Club Challenges

Lauren's blog is a powerful reminder that the work behind any success is real, even when no one is watching it, and that visibility is something we can give one another every single day. This week, let's do exactly that: look outward at the wider creative world, celebrate the stories and the people who make it, and lift each other into the light. Here are your three challenges for Week 4:

• Comment on this blog below to share a film, filmmaker, or story that has shaped how you see the global creative landscape.
• Post in the Stage 32 Filmmaking Lounge and tell us about a project, your own or someone else's, that wouldn't exist without a global perspective. What did it teach you about the kinds of stories that travel? Bonus points if you can include a video link, trailer, scene, or image so we can see what you're talking about!
• Post in the Stage 32 Distribution Lounge and share a film marketing or release campaign that stuck with you. A trailer that made you buy a ticket the moment you saw it. A poster you couldn't stop thinking about. A release strategy that surprised you. What made it work? Bonus points if you can include a video link, trailer, image, or campaign visual.

Complete all three challenges this week, and you will be entered to win three free months of the Stage 32 Writers' Room, with the winner announced in next Monday's blog.

We can't wait to see what you share! See you in the Lounges.

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Ashley at blog@stage32.com and let's get your post published!

Please help support your fellow Stage 32ers by sharing this on social. Check out the social media buttons at the top to share on Instagram @stage32 , Twitter @stage32 , Facebook @stage32 , and LinkedIn @stage-32 .

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 yourself. Your next great opportunity could be just one connection away. Now, let’s grab that coffee and dive in…

This week's featured video comes from People, and it is pure joy for anyone who loves the craft: Disney Composer Alan Menken Breaks Down His Most Iconic Songs.

In it, the eight-time Oscar winner sits at a piano and walks through the songs that shaped a generation, from The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast to Aladdin, Pocahontas, and beyond. What makes it worth your time is not the nostalgia. It is watching a true master reveal how the magic actually gets made. He breaks down how "Part of Your World" was almost cut after a test screening, how a single melodic idea becomes a character's entire emotional arc, and how decades of iconic work came together one song, one collaboration, and one revision at a time.

And that is exactly what I want to talk to you about today. Because when you watch someone at Menken's level, it is easy to assume they always knew they belonged. But that catalog was not built in a single triumphant leap. It was built one song at a time, often through doubt, revision, and the occasional number that almost did not make it. Which brings me to something every single one of you has felt.

Everyone Has Imposter Syndrome. Here Is How You Beat It.

Let me tell you a truth that might make you feel a whole lot better this morning. Everyone has imposter syndrome. Everyone. And everyone, no matter how successful, takes hits to their confidence along the way. So if you have ever felt like you do not quite belong in the room, welcome to the club. It is a very crowded, very talented club.

The good news is there are two real ways to get through it, and I want to give you both.

The first is to recognize and celebrate all the little micro goals on the way to your macro goal. So much of the anxiety we feel comes from staring at the giant prize, the sale, the deal, the greenlight, and feeling like we are nowhere close. So stop staring at it all the time. Stay in your smaller lane and focus on the next step in front of you. Finish the scene. Send the email. Take the meeting. Do the rewrite. When you celebrate those small wins, you start to see something powerful: you are making progress. You are moving. And progress, not perfection, is what quiets that voice telling you that you do not belong.

The second way is the one I believe in with my whole heart. You have to surround yourself with a like-minded community. This is why I always tell people to sign up for Stage 32. It is free to join, and to be clear, I do not make a dime off of you signing up. I tell you to join and get involved because community is a genuine difference-maker for a creative career. When you are plugged into the right community, you have support around the clock, all year long.

When you are in a community, you see other people wrestling with the exact same things you are. The same doubts and rejections. The same "I was sure I had that one and it didn't work out." You hear someone say, "I went on this audition, I thought I had it, and I didn't get it," and you realize you are not broken and you are not behind. You are just a creative professional, like everyone standing beside you. And it goes both ways, because you also get to share in the wins, yours and theirs, and see that the successes are real and reachable too. That is a beautiful place to be.

So the next time that voice creeps in and tells you that you are not good enough or that you do not belong, do two things. Look back at how far you have already come, one micro goal at a time. And look around at the community standing right beside you, feeling every bit of what you feel. That is how you keep going. That is how catalogs like Menken's get built. Not in one leap, but one song, one step, and one honest conversation at a time.

And really, there is no better weekend than this one to take that second step. That is what Introduce Yourself Weekend is all about. So if you have not yet, go introduce yourself, and start building the community that carries you.

So let me ask you this, Creative Army. What is one micro goal, one small, specific step, that you are committing to this week on the way to your bigger dream? Write it down in the comments and make it real. And while you are there, if someone else's goal resonates with you, cheer them on! Let's celebrate the small wins together.

As always, here at Stage 32, we love sharing stories and knowledge with our fellow film fans. Know someone who would love this content? Share it with them. You can keep up with all of our videos by subscribing to the Stage 32 YouTube Channel. For more inspirational, educational, and motivational content on all things entertainment industry, follow me on Instagram and X @rbwalksintoabar.

Wishing you a very happy, healthy, and creative Sunday.

Cheers,

RB

People | Disney Composer Alan Menken Breaks Down His Most Iconic Songs

RBWalksIntoABar | Tips for Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Ashley at blog@stage32.com and let's get your post published!

Please help support your fellow Stage 32ers by sharing this on social. Check out the social media buttons at the top to share on Instagram @stage32 , Twitter @stage32 , Facebook @stage32 , and LinkedIn @stage-32 .

So, in this, I can understand the difference between recorded information and that elusive cinematic exposure. Most wedding photographers are required to cut together a cinematic trailer of the wedding event. This concept is what we can start to define as cinematic. It is a controlled situation, the planned-out execution of what you do to make something feel grander. When it comes to Cinematography, there are specific ways that the camera can play its part in the construction of a grand ole Cinematic time.

There are a lot of decisions that have to be made at the start of the filmmaking process that are going to have lasting ramifications on everything else. The most important to the camera is the decision of aspect ratios. A lot of the younger members of our community and audiences aren’t going to understand this, but there was a time when we were purchasing at-home movies that were adjusted cuts for our standard 4:3 televisions or the Widescreen, or letterboxed, version that would put black bars at the top and bottom of the film to give us the viewing of 16:9, the standard movie theater aspect ratio.

Many people don’t realize that there are other aspect ratios as well. My personal favorite is 2.4:1, though I’ve been told that is a “cheating aspect ratio” because it’s really easy to get dynamic framing with that wide of a picture. Additionally, the classic 4:3 ratio still has its place in modern content, just look at Zack Snyder’s Justice League cut.

Ultimately, it’s your script that should dictate what aspect ratio you choose. Probably the most famous example is the Jurassic Park franchise. You might want to shoot in 2.4:1 because it’s the most visually stunning frame size, but if you make that decision, you’re going to struggle to show small humans and big dinosaurs in the same frame together.

The decision on ratio dictates the entire decision process of the rest of the movie. How things are choreographed, how two people who are kissing are arranged, and how close the camera can get to the two characters’ hands being held. This is an important decision and not one to be taken lightly. It’s truly the first step in establishing a cinematic experience.

Meanwhile, there are a lot of other decisions people are going to make at this stage in the game which will have major cinematic impacts on the film being produced, but as the Cinematographer, you have to make the decision as to what lens(es) you’re going to use. Are you going to use a set of vintage prime Cookes? That will change the stylized look of your film. A Variable Zoom Lens? If you plan on having a Zolly Shot in your film, you’ll need that.

On a side note, I really think that shot should be called a Doom Shot because, since its inception in Vertigo, it’s only been used to increase heightened senses of doom. Sorry, I digressed.

Getting back on track, one of the things that make a film cinematic is the control over the image itself. Being able to open your lens to a 1.4 /f and throw a .9ND filter in the matte box and go to the lowest possible ISO setting is an incredible advantage to being stuck at an f/16 because you weren’t prepared.

The next decision you have to make is a production decision that’s ultimately going to be decided by the Director, and maybe you are wearing both hats. Are you shooting a Kevin Smith movie or a Michael Bay movie? Those are going to be two very different experiences in terms of your camera movement. If you’re working on Clerks 4 with Kevin Smith, your camera movement is probably going to be very tame. Smith doesn’t enjoy moving the camera. In stark contrast, Michael Bay doesn’t seem to stop.

A dolly is different than a truck. When you Dolly, you go back and forth; when you truck, you go side-to-side. Similarly, a pan is different than a tilt. Left-to-right versus up-and-down. Decisions…decisions. Just imagine a shot where you’re arching around an actor from left-to-right and booming up with a right-to-left pan. That’s a fun shot, just for the record.

You may have noticed that there is a choice I have purposefully left out of the decision process. That choice is what camera you use. While I will say you should try to avoid shooting on a cellphone, even that’s not out of the question. The reality is that the differences in every camera on the market are so technically specific that they all do what is necessary to capture a professional image. Your lens choice is much more important!

So, let’s try again to answer the question we started with. What is Cinematic? Well, friends, at the end of my education, I was able to settle on an answer. “Cinematic is a combination of sight and sound elements generated for the purpose of telling a story, in a highly controlled environment, with the specific intent to create an emotional response in the viewers who witness it.” I got an A on that answer, but it’s important to note that the answer can be different for everyone.

Personally, I think I really pinned the tail on the donkey with that one. Does anyone play that game anymore? Blindfold a kid, spin them around and around until they’re dizzy, put a sharp needle in their hand, and send them stumbling into a wall…How would you shoot that?

More importantly, how would you make it cinematic?

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Ashley at blog@stage32.com and let's get your post published!

Please help support your fellow Stage 32ers by sharing this on social. Check out the social media buttons at the top to share on Instagram @stage32 , Twitter @stage32 , Facebook @stage32 , and LinkedIn @stage-32 .

The marketing.

But when you write a book, you’re also starting a business. And no business can succeed without marketing. In my work as a ghostwriter and book coach, I’ve had to push myself to learn more about the marketing side so I can help my clients’ work stand out. And in that process, I’ve found six free tools that every author should have in their tool belt:

1) Buffer:

Super easy way to schedule out your social media posts. They have both a web version and phone app. Buffer lets you have 3 social channels for free. (More than that, and if you have to pay…) But for most authors, 3 is PLENTY. If you’re trying to market and engage on more than three socials at once, it’s really easy to burn out.

Pro Tip: Make sure they are socials you will actually engage on. No social media platform likes it when you post and ghost, so it’s best if you schedule your post for when you know you’ll be on that platform. You can stagger the posts too…no need to do them all at once.

Example: Post on Instagram goes live at 8:00 PM and you engage. Post for TikTok goes live at 8:30 PM and you engage. Post for Facebook goes live at 9:00 PM and you engage.

2) QueryTracker:

If you’re querying agents, QueryTracker is a must. The free version lets you search for and filter literary agents who represent your genre and then submit your query letter to them.

Pro Tip: Many agents only use QT for reviewing queries, so you might as well have it anyway. But maybe you’re wondering, “How does this count as marketing?” Because you’re marketing yourself to agents, and sharing your query journey in real-time on socials is a great way to drive engagement.

3) Substack:

You can build an email list and send out a newsletter with Substack…totally free. Oh, and I’ve heard from literary agents directly that Substack is more and more becoming a platform they use to gauge an author’s marketability.

Pro Tip: If you want to set up paid subscriptions for your followers, Substack takes their cut and gives the rest to you. But you’ll need to find ways to deliver some real value to people for them to be willing to hand over their hard-earned $ for your words.

4) ForWord.io:

Full disclosure, I created this web-based app because of how confusing book marketing advice can be. Fill out a profile about yourself and your book and then it drafts a free 30-day marketing plan full of tasks specific to you, your genre, your goals, and your preferences.

Pro Tip: You don’t have to finish the tasks in 30 days. That’s just a suggested timeframe. So if you need more time, no problem.

5) Canva:

I’ve been a fan of Canva since 2014 and used their free version until 2022. You can do a LOT with their free version, especially if all you need are easy templates for creating carousels for social media, flyers, or even promotional stickers for your book.

Pro Tip: Though it’s not free, you can print promotional stickers or flyers through Canva so that you don’t have to deal with going somewhere like Office Depot and waiting in a line to pick up your order. (No offense to Office Depot.)

6) ACX:

With a decent microphone and basic audio editing software, you can use ACX to create and then distribute an audiobook. And if you choose to have exclusive distribution through Audible, ACX lets you generate free promo codes to give out to people (US and UK only). These make great giveaways in your newsletter or as “thank you” gifts for your launch team.

Pro Tip: You can only get the free promo codes if you have exclusive distribution through Audible. But ACX also just rolled out a new royalty model that helps audio authors get more exposure.

No matter what, book marketing is hard, but at least these tools will help you make some serious headway without having to spend a ton of money upfront.

Which of these have you already tried? Which ones are you going to try? Tell me in the comments!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Ashley at blog@stage32.com and let's get your post published!

Please help support your fellow Stage 32ers by sharing this on social. Check out the social media buttons at the top to share on Instagram @stage32 , Twitter @stage32 , Facebook @stage32 , and LinkedIn @stage-32 .

That moment is what this event is built for.

I am thrilled to announce the return of the Stage 32 Representation Pitchfest, running Saturday, July 25th through Wednesday, July 29th. We are bringing you managers, agents, and literary representatives from across the industry, professionals who are actively building their rosters and looking for the next writer they want to champion.

Why Representation Changes Everything

A great script opens a door. A great representative opens the building.

Your manager or agent is the person who gets your work in front of the buyers you cannot reach on your own. They are the ones who package your project with talent and financing, who put you up for open writing assignments, who fight for you in rooms you are not standing in, yet. They know which executive is looking for exactly what you have written, and they know when to send it. That is access, strategy, and advocacy, and it is the difference between a script sitting in a drawer and a script sitting on a desk.

Here is the challenge every writer knows too well: most of these representatives do not accept unsolicited material. There is no submission portal. There is no cold email that works. The traditional path to their attention runs through referrals and relationships that many writers, especially those outside of Los Angeles, simply do not have.

That is precisely why we built this event.

This Lineup Signs Stage 32 Writers

I want to be very direct with you about something, because it is the reason I am so excited about this particular lineup.

The representatives coming to this Pitchfest do not just listen politely to Stage 32 writers. They sign them.

Chris Coggins of Heroes and Villains Entertainment recently signed a Stage 32 writer. Spencer Robinson of Art/Work Entertainment has signed multiple screenwriters he met through Stage 32, including Shannon K. Valenzuela, whose project he is now packaging with talent and financing, and he is currently taking projects from Steven Maidment and Dion Smith out for packaging as well. Stephan Dubreuil signed Stage 32 writer Mark Furley after they met during a consultation. Eileen Cope has signed shopping agreements with five writers she connected with here. Jon Hersh has worked with dozens of Stage 32 writers and signed Aaron Benjamin to his roster directly from a pitch session.

That is not a promise of what could happen. That is a record of what has already happened for our Stage 32 Community.

Who You Will Be Pitching

Across these three days, you will have access to representatives whose clients have worked on ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY, THE WITCHER, THE BEAR, THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY, REACHER, VACATION FRIENDS, DEAD BOY DETECTIVES, and many more. You will be pitching to top industry executives who have placed writers with Netflix, HBO, MAX, Amazon, Disney+, Hulu, FX, Showtime, CBS, NBC, and beyond.

Every one of these representatives is open to all genres of feature film and television scripts, so whatever you have been building, there is a home for it in this lineup.

Here is who is coming to the table...

Saturday, July 25th

Vivek Kolli- Literary Manager, Kolli Management

1:00 pm-3:30 pm PT

His clients have worked on film and television shows including ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY, the action/thriller film FORCE OF NATURE for Lionsgate, the action/adventure series THE WITCHER for Netflix, the animated series NINJAGO: DRAGON'S RISING for Netflix, and the comedy/action/adventure series DC's DOOM PATROL for MAX
Vivek specializes in all genres of Feature Film and TV scripts.

Click here to book with Vivek!

Chris Coggins- Literary Manager, Heroes & Villains Entertainment

1:00 pm-3:30 pm PT

Chris specializes in all genres of Feature Film and TV scripts. She has over two decades of experience in feature film, television, and digital series development and production. She currently works as a manager at Heroes and Villains Entertainment, representing writers and directors. Heroes and Villains' client highlights: THE OFFER (Paramount+), INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE (AMC), ABBOT ELEMENTARY (ABC).

Previously, Coggins worked at Luc Besson's EuropaCorp, procuring projects including the untitled Jennifer Aniston superhero project, Fae, and the English-language remake of the Japanese blockbuster Shield of Straw. Prior to that, she served as Head of Development at Rock Paper Scissors Entertainment, where she built a production slate, produced the PSA Take Yourself on a Date, and oversaw development on the company's new media projects for The Oscars, HBO, and Amazon.

She recently signed a Stage 32 writer!

Click here to book with Chris!

Spencer Robinson- Manager, Art/Work Entertainment

6:00 pm PT

Spencer specializes in all genres of Feature Film and TV scripts.

Spencer has signed screenwriters he's met through Stage 32 including Shannon K. Valenzuela and he is now packaging her project with talent and financing. He is also working with Steven Maidment and Dion Smith going out for packaging on their projects! Writer George Perez, who wrote a script with Spencer during a Stage 32 lab he taught was chosen for the Sundance episodic lab with that script!

His clients have worked on feature films with directors Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, Clint Eastwood, Gore Verbinski, Jeff Nichols, and more. In the TV world, his clients have worked on shows for Netflix, HBO, MAX, Amazon, Disney+, HULU, The CW, Cinemax, CBS, NBC, FX, Starz, Nickelodeon, EPIX, TBS, Peacock, Netflix, Freeform, TNT, AMC, Showtime and many more.

Click here to book with Spencer!

Sunday, July 26th

Andrew Kersey- Manager, Kersey Management

8:00 am-10:30 am PT

His clients wrote VACATION FRIENDS starring John Cena and Lil Rel was Hulu's biggest 3-day weekend opener for an original in the streamers history. A sequel, VACATION FRIENDS 2, was fast-tracked and also released on Hulu. NEVER TOO OLD TO DIE with Sylvester Stallone.

Andrew specializes in all genres of Feature Film and TV Pilot scripts.

Click here to book with Andrew!

Stephan Dubreuil- Literary Manager & Agent, Woolf+Lapin

8:00 am-10:30 am PT

Stephan recently signed Stage 32 Mark Furley after they met during a consultation!
Stephan specializes in all genres of Feature Film and TV scripts and is currently reading Horror, Thrillers, Drama, Rom-Coms, Comedy, Western, and Sci-fi.

His film/TV projects are with Robert Hloz (RESTORE POINT), RKSS (TURBOT KID, WE ARE ZOMBIES, WAKE UP), Martin Girard's DUSK FOR A HITMAN (Crépuscule pour un tueur) and mini-series LAC-NOIR, and Creative Technologist Fezz Stenton (AI project Living Intelligence). He is currently a co-producer on the GRAND PRINCE, which will be directed by Oscar-nominated Timo von Guten.

Click here to book with Stephan!

Eileen Cope- Producer, Mark Creative Management

9:00 am- 11:30 am PT

QUEEN OF THE AIR for Warner Bros. which stars Margot Robbie. Eileen has also recently signed shopping agreements with five writers that she connected with on Stage 32! Eileen specializes in all genres of feature film scripts and books and is currently reading drama, thriller, biopics and sci-fi.

Click here to book with Eileen!

Jack-Henry Kay- Manager, Levity Talent

10:00 am-12:30 pm PT

Jack-Henry specializes in all genres of Feature Film and TV scripts and is currently reading Drama, Comedy, Horror, Thriller, Action, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Animation. Notable clients include Fortune Feimster and Taylor Tomlinson.

Click here to book with Jack-Henry!

Davina Hefflin- Literary Agent

10:00 am-12:30 pm PT

Her clients work on television hits such as DEAD BOY DETECTIVES for Netflix, CRUEL INTENTIONS and I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER for Amazon MGM. Davina specializes in all genres of Feature Film and TV scripts and is currently reading Drama, Comedy, Horror, Thriller, Action, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, True Story, Biopic, Faith, and Animation.

Click here to book with Davina!

John Thomas- Literary Manager

10:00 am-12:30 pm PT

John specializes in all genres in Film and TV scripts. John Thomas is an independent talent manager with over a decade of experience representing writers, directors, and actors in their creative pursuits. He began his career at Paradigm Talent Agency and most recently honed his expertise at LBI Entertainment, working with some of the industry's most accomplished voices.

Click here to book with John!

Mark Myers- CEO, Manager & Producer, Citizen Skull Productions & Management

11:00 am-1:30 pm PT

Recent projects include the Emmy-winning STREET GANG, GLORIOUS starring J.K. Simmons, COLLISION for Netflix, HEARTTHROB for Netflix, cult favourite 12 FEET DEEP, MANSON FAMILY VACATION, and EXPERIMENTER with Winona Ryder.
Mark specializes in all genres of Feature Film and TV scripts.

Mark also founded Citizen Skull Management, a boutique management company born out of his own experience as an actor who saw too many creatives underserved by the industry. With a roster spanning literary, talent, below-the-line, and voiceover, Mark offers the kind of common-sense, hands-on guidance he wished had existed earlier in his own career. Citizen Skull has since expanded to include Citizen Kids, focused on animation and family content and Citizen Dame, dedicated to bringing the stories of formidable women to the screen.

Click here to book with Mark!

Korin Williams- Producer/Manager, Kronicle Media

11:00 am-1:30 pm PT

Her clients have worked on hit shows like A MILLION LITTLE THINGS (ABC), THE WONDER YEARS (ABC), THE NEIGHBORHOOD (CBS), and FBI MOST WANTED (CBS), as well as projects for studios and networks including Sony/Tristar, Paramount, Lifetime, Hallmark, and Netflix. BEING MARY JANES, ROOTS, Korin specializes in all genres of Feature Film & TV Scripts and is currently reading Drama, Comedy, Holiday, Faith, Action, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy.

Click here to book with Korin!

Brennan O'Donnell- Manager, Untitled Ent

2:00 pm-4:30 pm PT

Clients have worked on NCIS: LOS ANGELES (CBS) and REACHER (Amazon). Brennan specializes in all genres of Feature Film and TV Pilot scripts.

Click here to book with Brennan!

Nicholas Sean Bogner- Head of Literary / Manager, Affirmative Entertainment

3:00 pm-5:30 pm PT

Nicholas has been the Head of Literary of Affirmative Entertainment for over a decade. Under his stewardship, he has had numerous movies made including WEDDING SEASON for Netflix, INFINITE STORM, COME PLAY for Amblin and Focus Features and has sold television pilots to just about all of the majors from network to streamers. In addition, many of his writers have been staffed at various levels of successful shows over the years including a supernatural thriller sold to Paramount, announced on Deadline.

Nicholas requested 5 scripts from his last session!

Previously, Bogner served as Vice President of Original Programming for the network’s TNT Originals franchise. Bogner worked on several high-profile projects including Steven Spielberg’s twelve-hour mini INTO THE WEST as well as Stephen King’s SALEM’S LOT.Bogner spent four years at Cruise-Wagner Productions (Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner), where he spearheaded the acquisition of material, supervised writers and collaborated with directors and talent on such films as MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: 2, VANILLA SKY, and THE OTHERS.

Click here to book with Nicholas!

Chris Sablan- Literary Manager and Producer, Avenue 220

6:00 pm PT

Chris's clients have been all over the news including the film DOUBLE BOOKED which is Adam Scott's directing debut, announced in Deadline, the horror film TOOTH FAIRY picked up by Netflix, announced in Deadline, the fantasy series ANALOGOS announced in Variety, a female-led sci-fi action movie CONTROL ROOM which was announce in Variety, and many more! BATES MOTEL (A&E), MET GALA HEIST (New Line), THE GARDEN (FOX Animation). Chris specializes in all genres of Feature Film and TV scripts.

Former Agent at APA & Gersh, Chris also executive produced the film I SEE YOU starring Helen Hunt, which opened Number 1 on Netflix.

Click here to book with Chris!

Jon Hersh- Literary Manager, Night Drive Management

6:00 pm PT

Jon has sold his clients projects or staffed them on writing jobs at Universal, Paramount, Lionsgate, Atlas Entertainment and Gidden Media and more. He's worked with dozens of Stage 32 writers and signed a couple to his roster Aaron Benjamin from a pitch session.

Client credits: THE MAGIC ORDER (Netflix),THE BEAR (FX),PRETTY LITTLE LIARS (ABC). Jon specializes in all genres of Feature Film and TV scripts.

Click here to book with Jon!

Wednesday, July 29th

Mitchell Bendersky- Manager, Expectation Management

1:00 pm-3:30 pm PT

Mitchell specializes in all genres of Feature Film and TV scripts. His clients have worked on projects such as ACAPULCO (Apple), ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK (Nickelodeon), CALL ME KAT (FOX), THE CHI (Showtime), THE GORDITA CHRONICLES (Hulu/Max), HISTORY OF THE WORLD PT. 2 (Hulu), PHYSICAL (Apple), RIVERDALE (CW), Academy Award-winning film WAR IS OVER!, and many more.

Click here to book with Mitchell!

David McInerney- Literary Manager and Producer, MaCromanagement

2:00 pm-4:30 pm PT

David specializes in all genres of Feature Film and TV scripts. As a producer he has an A-list project with Richard Potter (SCREAM franchise, PHANTOMS, MIMIC) in development with a large production company and several independent film projects currently attaching casts.

David's career has been on the agency side where got his start in the industry at powerhouse agency William Morris Endeavor and moved on to several other agencies including Jon Klane Agency, The Linton Agency, and ACME Talent and Literary. He eventually moved from agencies to development working for Sony Pictures studio.

David has years of experience in representing A-list writers and is always looking for new projects and writers.

Click here to book with David!

What You Can Expect

At Stage 32, we know how difficult it is to break through the noise, so we do more than simply connect you. We curate the experience.

Each session gives you the chance to pitch your project directly, receive live feedback from the representative on the other side of the table, and ask the questions you have been carrying around for years. You will learn what is working in your pitch and what is not, straight from someone whose job is to sell material exactly like yours. And if your work resonates, you have a direct line to a conversation about representation.

This is a focused, high-caliber opportunity to put your career in front of the people who can move it forward.

Why Now

Representatives build their rosters carefully and deliberately. They sign the writers whose voices they believe in and whose careers they want to invest years in building. When a manager is actively looking, that window is open. When their roster fills, it closes.

Every representative on this list is at the table because they are looking right now.

You have done the hard part already. You wrote the script. You did the rewrites. You prepared your pitch. You built the voice that only you have. All that is left is to let the right person hear about it.

Do not self-reject. Do not talk yourself out of the room before you are even in it. The writers who signed with the representatives on this list were, at some point, exactly where you are sitting right now: script finished, nerves up, wondering if it was worth booking the session.

It is worth it.

Your representative is out there. Go find them.

One More Thing Before You Pitch

Interested in learning more about how to have a great pitch or executive meeting? Stage 32 Thought Leader, Producer, and Film Executive Henry Hereford wrote a fantastic blog full of advice and hard-won tips from his years of experience on both sides of the table, as an actor walking into audition rooms and as a producer listening to writers pitch. It is exactly the preparation you want in your corner before you step into one of these sessions.

Click here to read it now!

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Ashley at blog@stage32.com and let's get your post published!

Please help support your fellow Stage 32ers by sharing this on social. Check out the social media buttons at the top to share on Instagram @stage32 , Twitter @stage32 , Facebook @stage32 , and LinkedIn @stage-32 .

Most people, inside and outside of the industry, have familiarity with the primary "above the line" crew positions and the creative forces behind a project. Yet many of the "below the line" crew positions that are integral to an efficiently run production set are overlooked and misunderstood.

While film buffs may stay after a film concludes and watch the credits scroll all the way through, noting all of the different professionals who added value to the final film, most people don't. It's likely that many of you have yet to work on a professional set and may not be aware of all the crew positions available for you to explore and learn about. You may even discover that some of these roles align with your other skillsets and interests, presenting a pathway to work on a set that you've never considered before.

So let's dive in.

Stage 32 Certification has Individual and Master Certification courses on almost all of the roles outlined below! You can learn more and register for these wonderful courses HERE. Once you become Certified through Stage 32, you will be entered into a global database searchable by over 60 global film commissions, streamers, studios, production companies, independent producers, and financiers for work-placement opportunities around the world.

What Does "Above the Line" and "Below the Line" Mean?

These are two terms that get used a lot when discussing production, and specifically crew hiring. Stemming from production budgeting, "above the line" and "below the line" help to differentiate between the two most common types of payroll accounting. Over time, they've been embraced as terms that represent the hierarchy of a set and are used widely across the industry.

"Above the line" positions are paid according to pre-negotiated rates agreed upon contractually when the person is hired or attached to the project. Typically, these roles are all involved early in the creative process, either in development or at the start of pre-production.

Examples of Above the Line: Writer, Director, Producers, Principal Cast, Casting Director, and similar creative leads.

"Below the line" positions are hired as needed and work at hourly or daily rates determined by the project or by guild/union rules.

Examples of Below the Line: Assistant Directors, Director of Photography, Production Designer, Gaffer, Best Boy, Grips, Hair and Makeup, Wardrobe, Props Master, Sound Mixer, Boom Operator, PAs, and many more.

A quick note, since it trips people up: the line is a budgeting distinction, not a measure of importance or talent. Some of the most senior, most skilled people on a production, your DP among them, sit below the line. Every role here matters, which is exactly the point of this guide.

So let's take a closer look at these important roles, broken up by production department, and what each brings to the table.

Story and Development

Writer/Screenwriter- Where every film truly begins. The writer creates the screenplay, the blueprint that every other department on this list will eventually bring to life. Long before a set exists, the story has to work on the page.

If the writing side is where your heart is, this is worth knowing: the Stage 32 Writers' Room is a year-round home built specifically for YOU. Membership opens the door to Open Writing Assignments, real opportunities to submit your material to producers, reps, and filmmakers, along with weekly webcasts with working executives, feedback exchanges with your peers, live pitch practices, and a community that never stops showing up. It's one of the best ways to strengthen the very foundation this whole process stands on.

You can get a free month to check it out for yourself by clicking here!

Development Pros-

Before a script ever becomes a shooting schedule, development professionals are often the first people to believe in a project and the longest to champion it.

Working under titles like Creative Executive, Director, or Manager of Development, Development Coordinator, VP or EVP of Development, and sometimes Creative Producer, they help shape a raw idea or early draft into something ready for financing, talent, and production. They give notes, guide rewrites, help assemble the right team, help perfect the pitch and pitch materials, and make sure the foundational work, chain of title, releases, and more, are handled properly. Much of this happens long before a camera is ever rented, and often before a writer is even attached.

If you want a full breakdown of what development actually involves, I wrote a dedicated guide you can read HERE: Understanding the Development Process.

Directorial

Director- In the world of film production, the Director is looked to as the primary voice and is responsible for the overall vision of the project. They're the head of the production's creative hierarchy, the person responsible for guiding every department, keeping things running smoothly, and keeping the goals and direction clear and aligned from pre-production all the way through the end of post.

Second Unit Director- On larger productions, the Second Unit Director leads a separate crew that captures shots not requiring the principal cast or the main unit: establishing shots, inserts, certain action or stunt sequences, scenic footage, and more. They work to match the look and intent of the main unit so the footage cuts together seamlessly.

1st Assistant Director- The timekeepers. Responsible for overseeing the daily production schedule, managing the set, and keeping everything on track. They facilitate communication between all the departments and help keep things running smoothly.

2nd Assistant Director- Responsible for distributing the next day's vital information, including handing out call sheets, wrangling the cast to be where they need to be on time, and occasionally directing background performers and extras. Some larger productions even require a 2nd 2nd Assistant Director.

Script Supervisor- The continuity overlord. The Script Supervisor makes sure the continuity of every scene and shot is maintained across the board. They track every prop, every bite of food, every touch of a performer's face, every line delivery, so that everything within a shot is carried through and replicated to keep coverage and scene continuation seamless. They keep extensive notes, and this attention to detail is crucial to making a film feel professional and intentional.

Producers

Executive Producers- On the business side of filmmaking, the true Captain of the ship is the EP. They're typically the originators of the project, having acquired the IP for adaptation, the script on spec, or developed the original concept and pitch with the writer. Oftentimes they also put the initial creative team together, seek out or provide funding, and act as the go-between for the creative team and investors, studio execs, and beyond.

Producer/Associate Producer- Work under the EP and alongside the Line Producer to manage all operations on the business side. They oversee the budgets, schedules, and any business needs.

Line Producer- Works under the EP to manage all things BUDGET. They break down the script from a production perspective to build the initial budget, then oversee it throughout the full production process. One of the most important roles on set, they're also involved in crew hiring and scheduling, and they're the boots-on-the-ground problem-solver as needed.

Unit Production Manager (UPM)- Works under the Line Producer to ensure that the primary production paperwork, such as contracts, reports, schedules, budgets, payroll forms, call sheets, and memos, is all completed, signed, and organized.

Production Coordinator- The support for the Line Producer and UPM, organizing all of the paperwork and administrative duties, and supervising all Production Assistants.

Casting & Cast

Casting Director- Manages the overall casting process of a film, from organizing casting calls, auditions, self-tapes, and chemistry reads, to seeking out particular talent through their professional relationships and finding the best-fit talent for every role. Great Casting Directors even push to have specific actors considered for roles that seem like a departure from their previous work, or that may look different on paper than the director and producer's original concept. They're the champions of giving the best talent a chance at the role.

Principal Cast- Sometimes referred to as "major speaking roles" or "primary talent," the principal cast is made up of the actors portraying the scripted roles integral to the story. The hierarchy of the principal cast is determined by many factors and outlined in the cast list on the daily call sheet. The most important actors will always be listed first, and the order descends from there.

Background Actors (Extras)- Typically non-speaking roles, or roles with one or two simple lines, that help fill in the story, location, or background of a scene. They're supervised by the 2nd Assistant Director and costumed to fit seamlessly into the world of the story.

Hair, Makeup, and Wardrobe

Makeup Artists- Design and apply all traditional makeup needed on the cast throughout a shooting day.

Special Effects Makeup Artist- Oversees the design and application of prosthetics, fake blood, or anything that transforms the cast through makeup.

Hair Stylists- Design and style each cast member's hairstyle and maintain those looks throughout the film's production.

Costume Designer- Designs and approves all costumes and wardrobe for a production. They sometimes create the costume designs themselves, or collaborate with tailors, cobblers, and professional shoppers to source specific pieces.

Wardrobe Supervisor- Responsible for organizing all of the wardrobe pieces and keeping them maintained.

Art Department

Production Designer- Head of the art department, responsible for designing all sets and set pieces for the film. They also oversee the set dressing, props, and overall style or aesthetic of the physical, tangible world of the story.

Art Director- Brings the Production Designer's plans to fruition and oversees the department crew on set or location.

Location Manager- Ensures that all locations are prepared and secured for shooting days. They're responsible for identifying nearby parking, bathrooms, and power sources, and they secure permits and close off public areas as needed.

Location Scout- Seeks out locations that fit the story, the director's vision, and the production schedule and budget.

Construction Coordinator- Oversees the actual construction of all set pieces, facades, and anything else the Production Designer needs physically built.

Set Decorators and Dressers- Discover and place the room and setting decorations, such as furniture, art, rugs, bedding, curtains, photos, and personal belongings, that fill a space in a way that aligns with the characters, the director's vision, and the Production Designer's plans. I like to think of them as the wizards who transform a set into a relatable, lived-in space.

Prop Master- Creates, acquires, tracks, and maintains all props used in the film.

Camera and Lighting

Director of Photography / Cinematographer- The head of the camera and lighting department, responsible for creating the overall visual style and look of the film to best fit the Director's vision. One of the most senior creative roles on any set.

Camera Operator- Physically operates the camera during takes, executing the moves and holding the framing that the DP and Director call for. On many smaller or independent productions, the DP operates the camera themselves, but on larger sets this is a dedicated role.

First Assistant Camera / Focus Puller- Responsible for keeping the subject of each shot in sharp focus, pulling or adjusting focus between subjects as a shot demands, and making sure the camera's settings are dialed in correctly for every setup. It is one of the most technically demanding and high-pressure jobs on the entire crew, since a soft-focus take can be unusable no matter how good the performance was.

Second Assistant Camera (Slate)- Responsible for operating the slate that identifies each individual take with updated details, organizing all of the camera gear and lenses, and keeping records and notes of all needs and changes.

Digital Imaging Technician (DIT)- Responsible for the digital workflow on sets using digital cameras and gear. They make sure the camera settings are correct, that the colors and look of the shot align with the DP's intentions and stay consistent for continuity, and they manage all of the digital dailies.

Grip and Electric

Gaffer- Head of the electrical department, reporting directly to the Cinematographer to coordinate the proper lighting of every scene according to the project's vision and the camera department's needs.

Best Boy (Electric)- Works directly under the Gaffer to oversee all electrical cables, generators, and electrical crew. They're directly involved in crew hiring, organizing the necessary gear, and overseeing the day-to-day operations of the department.

Electrical Technicians and Generator Operators- Responsible for running all electrical cables to the lights and to the in-studio or on-location generators, and ensuring everything is set up and run properly so as not to blow fuses or cause electrical problems.

Key Grip- Works under the Gaffer to oversee all non-electrical gear and equipment. They supervise the Grip department in rigging lights, camera gear, stabilizers, and more, and they're responsible for the overall safety and procedures of their department.

Grips and Rigging- The brute force and power on a set. Grips are responsible for rigging, moving, and setting up all equipment. Anything and everything that needs to be moved is moved by a Grip. On location, they also oversee and organize the Grip Truck with all of its gear and supplies.

Sound Department (On Set)

Sound Mixer- Oversees the audio recordings on set and on location. They ensure they're properly capturing and mixing all of the dialogue, necessary background noise, and even room tone and ambiance. If something is missed or improperly recorded, it's their job to speak up and make sure another take is filmed to capture it correctly.

Boom Operator- Responsible for holding, handling, and caring for the boom microphone, and for keeping it perfectly positioned to capture clean dialogue while staying out of frame.

Stunts and Special Effects

Stunt Coordinator- Designs and plans all of the stunts necessary for the film's production, and hires the skilled stunt crew and cast needed to accomplish them as safely as possible.

Fight Choreographer- Designs and carefully choreographs all fight scenes.

Stunt Performers- Trained to carefully perform all stunts in place of the actors in the film.

Special Effects (SFX) Coordinator- Oversees practical, in-camera effects created live on set, such as controlled fire, weather, breakaway elements, and mechanical rigs. Not to be confused with VFX, which is created in post.

VFX Supervisor- Oversees the capture of all visual effects shots on set and ensures the proper equipment and reference are present to do so, then helps guide those shots through post-production.

Post-Production

The work is far from over when the camera stops rolling. An entire second act of the filmmaking process happens in post, where the footage becomes an actual film.

Editor- Assembles the raw footage into the finished film, shaping performance, pacing, tension, and story. The editor is one of the most important storytellers on the entire project, often called the final rewrite of the film.

Assistant Editor- Organizes and manages all of the footage, media, and project files, syncs sound, and keeps the editing room running so the Editor can focus on the cut.

Colorist- Sets the final color and tone of the film, balancing shots for consistency and crafting the mood and visual signature of the finished piece through color grading.

VFX Artists and Editor- Build and integrate the visual effects, from invisible fixes and set extensions to full digital environments and creatures, and cut them into the film.

Sound Designer- Creates and curates the film's sound world, the effects, textures, and atmospheres that make a scene feel real and immersive.

Foley Artist- Performs and records everyday sound effects in sync with the picture, from footsteps to clinking glasses to rustling fabric, adding a layer of tactile realism.

Dialogue Editor- Cleans, edits, and smooths all spoken dialogue, and oversees ADR (re-recorded dialogue) when lines need to be replaced.

Re-recording Mixer- Blends every audio element, dialogue, music, effects, and Foley, into the final balanced mix audiences hear.

Composer- Writes the film's original score, one of the most powerful tools for shaping how an audience feels in any given moment.

Music Supervisor- Sources and licenses the existing songs and music used in the film, and manages the rights and relationships that make that possible.

Transportation

Transportation Captain- Oversees all transportation, drivers, and equipment needed to get crew, cast, and gear to set and locations. They coordinate a plan, schedule, and even a budget to make sure it's all handled properly and no mistakes are made.

Drivers- Responsible for physically transporting cast, crew, and equipment safely to and from set or location.

Production Assistants

Production Assistants are the primary support staff for all departments! There are Casting Assistants, Set PAs, Sound PAs, Art PAs, Location PAs, Office PAs, and more. This is the most entry-level production crew position available on a set, and it's where almost anyone can start in the industry. It's a way to learn an enormous amount in a condensed period about all areas of production, and it's one of the best on-ramps there is.

Additional On-Set Roles

Production Accountant- Responsible for tracking and issuing all expenses, budgets, and payroll.

Intimacy Coordinator- Works with the director to choreograph intimate scenes so they're handled safely and, most importantly, consensually, and so the actors feel comfortable and supported throughout. Now considered an essential part of a professional, respectful set.

Craft Services- Keeps the cast and crew fed and fueled throughout long shooting days with snacks, drinks, and sustenance. Never underestimate how much a well-run craft services table does for morale and stamina on set.

Still Photographer- Responsible for taking behind-the-scenes and unit photos throughout the production process, which are later used for publicity, marketing, and continuity reference.

Set Tutor- Any ongoing set with children under the age of 18 is required to have an on-set tutor so those children can be properly educated while working. This ensures they keep up with homework and exams and aren't left behind while away from school for weeks or months at a time.

Set Medic- A trained paramedic or EMT available on set to provide necessary medical assistance to cast and crew as needed.

Finding Your Place on Set

Here's the beautiful thing about a film crew: it takes every single one of these people, working in sync, to bring one story to life. There is no such thing as a small role on a set. And somewhere in this list, there may be a role that fits your skills, your instincts, and your interests better than you ever expected.

If any of these positions sparked something in you, here's how the Stage 32 community can help you take the next step:

Stage 32 Certification offers Individual and Master Certification courses on nearly all of the roles above, and becoming Certified enters you into a global database searchable by film commissions, studios, production companies, and producers for work-placement opportunities around the world. It's real training with a real pathway to work. Explore the courses HERE.

Stage 32 Education has webinars, classes, and labs taught by working professionals across every department, from cinematographers to editors to line producers, if you want to go deeper on a specific craft or industry. Click here to explore our world-leading 3,500 hours of on-demand education.

A Stage 32 Career Development Call connects you one-on-one with a seasoned professional who can help you map out your next step, whether you're trying to break in, switch departments, or level up in the role you already love. If you want curated advice about the best Executives to connect with on Stage 32, you can email the Success Team at Success@Stage32.com. Tell them about your interests, goals, and projects, so they can help match you with an experienced professional best suited to give you guidance.

And the Stage 32 Lounges are where the community lives every day. Head into any discipline Lounge to ask questions, swap on-set stories, and connect with people who do this work, many of whom have held the very roles above for years.

Wherever you see yourself on this list, know that the whole community is here to help you get there. Now you know who does what. The next step is finding your place among them.

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Ashley at blog@stage32.com and let's get your post published!

Please help support your fellow Stage 32ers by sharing this on social. Check out the social media buttons at the top to share on Instagram @stage32 , Twitter @stage32 , Facebook @stage32 , and LinkedIn @stage-32 .

Dominoes Versus Networked Chaos

Traditional screenplays map causality like a line of falling dominoes. One pushes the next. Our world doesn't work like that anymore. We operate in networked chaos, where causality is non-linear and consequences are distributed. The 2022 film Everything Everywhere All at Once attempts to map this new reality. Its structural logic is closer to what the philosopher Gilles Deleuze called a rhizome. A rhizome has no center, no true beginning or end; any point can connect to any other point.

But the screen demands honesty. Directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert do not abandon us to pure structural anarchy. They smuggle in a very traditional humanist anchor to keep the narrative comprehensible: the emotional reconciliation between a mother and daughter.

The Necessary Trojan Horse

Does this disprove my whole argument? Are these writers just brilliantly subverting an old formula rather than inventing a new one?

The answer is both. Radical work relies on the ghost of the old structure to make its deviations meaningful. These new forms do not exist in a vacuum. They gain their power precisely because our brains are wired for the very domino logic they are dismantling. The mother-daughter anchor in Everything Everywhere is the necessary Trojan horse. It is the payment you give the audience to keep them grounded while you completely warp the structure around them.

Building Traps Instead of Ladders

Even when contemporary screenwriters stick closer to the old blueprint, they use it to build traps rather than ladders. Think back to the golden age of prestige TV that paved the way for the current era. Shows like Breaking Bad or The Sopranos still relied heavily on escalation. Walter White climbed a ladder of violence. Tony Soprano circled a drain of anxiety. Both used modified three-act structures across their seasons.

Jesse Armstrong's Succession (2018 to 2023) uses those exact same mechanics to expose individual agency as a lie, but the real target of his critique is the audience.

The three-act structure trains us to expect a satisfying payoff for individual grit. We spend four seasons watching the machinery of a definitive climax being built, eagerly anticipating a singular winner. Armstrong uses our own expectations to set a bear trap. When Tom Wambsgans wins through total passivity and systemic inertia, and Shiv Roy immediately reverses her decisive third act choice in the back of a car, Armstrong isn't just denying the characters catharsis. He is denying it to us. He proves that individual choice is a fiction when you are trapped inside a system, and he uses our deep-seated faith in the three-act structure to make us feel that trap closing.

Time as a Space You Can Scroll Through

The 2022 adaptation of Pachinko discards linear chronology entirely. Watching it feels like keeping too many browser tabs open. You exist in 1910s Korea and 1980s Japan simultaneously. History does not march forward here. It just exists. It hovers in the margins of the screen.

Director Kogonada discards the strict, forward moving chronology of traditional screenwriting for what we might call an algorithmic chronotope. The show bounces between eras not to build toward a twist or a temporal reunion, but to treat time as a space you can scroll through. A jar of kimchi in the 1980s mirrors a moment in the 1930s. The structure mimics the way we actually process history and memory now. We jump between contexts based on thematic resonance rather than chronological sequence. There is no central climax because the show is not built on escalation. It is built on accrual. The turning points are not actions taken by the characters, but visual intersections that shift our understanding of the family's trauma.

Toward Topological Screenwriting

So where does a working screenwriter go from here? If the three-act structure is failing us, what do we replace it with?

We need to start thinking about topological screenwriting. Topology is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties that are preserved through continuous deformation.

Think of a coffee mug and a donut. Structurally, they are the same shape because they both have one hole. You can stretch and mold one into the other without tearing it.

In a topological narrative, the shape of the story can stretch, warp, and loop across timelines or dimensions, but the underlying emotional fabric holds together. This requires a fundamental shift in how you outline. In a traditional script, a turning point is an action. The protagonist makes a choice. The plot pivots. In a topological script, a turning point is an intersection. It is a sudden realization of scale.

Imagine you are outlining a thriller. A traditional three-act approach dictates that the midpoint raises the stakes by introducing a new obstacle. A topological approach dictates that the midpoint pulls the camera back. It shows the protagonist they are not moving down a straight line at all, but are trapped inside a loop or a system. You do not advance the plot. You reveal the shape of the prison. You stretch the donut into a mug, but the emotional truth remains intact.

Your Audience Is Already Ready for the Donut

Screenwriting theory is currently stuck in a defensive crouch. Development executives still ask for page-ten inciting incidents and page-fifty-five midpoints because it provides a false sense of security. But the writers creating the most vital screen work of the past decade are already bypassing this structure. They are warping it into a trap in Succession, stretching it across multiple timelines in Pachinko, and grounding chaotic webs in simple emotional anchors in Everything Everywhere All at Once.

The audience is already primed for these new structural logics. They scroll through non-linear feeds every single day. Their brains are ready for the donut. It is time our screenwriting pedagogy stopped forcing the clay into a rigid, outdated mug.

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