Latest Blogs

Happy Wednesday Creative Army! As you know, Stage 32's continued mission is to democratize the entertainment business and the industry is taking notice in a big way. We are incredibly proud and honored that Stage 32 has been featured recently in Forbes Magazine, Business Insider, Inc. Magazine, and now for the second time in recent history, in The Wrap. Senior Entertainment Business Reporter Diane Haithman recently featured Stage 32 and myself and in her article 'The Next Ted Lasso': After a...

I've made a lot of movies. I started off as a Runner and worked my way up. I worked on 13 movies as a 1st AC & 2nd AC and Director of Photography before I became an award-winning Director & Writer in my own right. Having gone from Runner to director I have experienced the whole gauntlet of film making from the biggest shoots (Harry Potter and James Bond) to tiny micro-budget one-man crew shoots. I have seen many ways to do things effectively and simply. There are 6 main areas of filmmaking for...

Music has always been a part of me. When I was kid, I used to get in trouble at school for banging beats on the desk, or playing rudiments with my pencil instead of taking notes. I recited every line from Nas' Illmatic and soaked in all the RPG scores/themes. My love for writing came from Soap Operas, oddly enough. I would sit in my 7th-grade Literature class and writing write scripts to improve different storylines and scenes. However, despite my love for music and screenwriting, it wasn't unti...

Happy Sunday Creative Army! Have you had a creative weekend so far? I have some content here for you that is sure to get the creative juices flowing, so grab your coffee and let's dive in. First up, Backstage shares an amazing and in-depth interview with Jason Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt on the Making of Apple TV's TED LASSO. With a whopping 20 Emmy Nominations (including best comedy series and best writing in a comedy), there is a lot to learn from these talented folks. Both Brendan and Jason...

“Stay in your lane.” Stings, doesn’t it? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it. There are plenty of people in the industry who will, though. Studies, such as the Asch Conformity Experiments, exemplify the power a group of people can have over an individual’s decision-making, especially if the desire to be accepted by that group is strong. Like storytellers who wish to join the “entertainment industry”, for example? These four words can quickly kill the spark of enthusiasm and ingenuity that drives all...

I moved to Atlanta a couple months before the pandemic hit to pursue acting and producing. Without knowing nearly anybody in the area, but with a newly created Stage 32 account, and the one-time experience on set as a PA, I found the way to self-produce my first short film. These are 10 things I learned during the process of pre-production and production. 1. Make Meaningful Connections I met the director of my short film in Stage 32! Chaun Lee is a member of The Writers' Room at Stage 32 like...

Greetings, Stage 32 Creative Army! I want to personally invite you to the 13th Annual Burbank International Film Festival (BIFF), which will be returning in person this year to the Burbank AMC 16 Theaters for live screenings and events, running from September 9-12, 2021. The festival has chosen Mads Mikkelsens’ award-winning film RIDERS OF JUSTICE (courtesy of Magnolia Pictures/Magnet Releasing), as their Opening Night feature to launch this year’s event on Thursday, September 9, 2021. ...

What's up Creative Army? As many of you know, we recently partnered with Netflix to host a TV Pitch Workshop that has since been viewed by over 90,000 entertainment creatives (screenwriters, filmmakers, actors) and professionals (managers, agents, development execs, producers) from over 175 countries. Christopher Mack, the Director of Talent Investment and Development at Netflix, provided over three hours of exclusive insider information and tips on how to pitch to Netflix and what they look f...

“No, no, no, no, no … stop talking. Give me the shot. Tell me your film in one sentence,” the producer interrupted. “Like, this meets that …”. Up until that moment, I was roughly thirty seconds into an elaborate exegesis of the multiple reflecting layers of subtle psychological resonance and sociological importance inherent in my first feature film script, YOU’RE THE ONE. Fifteen seconds prior to that, I was standing behind the producer and holding a pretend conversation with the side of anoth...

My name is Danika Maia (Perman, but who uses last names these days?) and I'm originally from the Bay Area in Northern California. I have always been interested in writing and storytelling, since I was a small child. I studied digital media and marketing in college, but wanted to pursue a career in media and journalism afterwards, which I started to do with VICE in 2013 while I was still studying. As the digital media industry began to feel more and more like a job in advertising, I lost my pa...