Inspirational

If branding is a demonstration of what we consistently do, then the heart of my professional brand is “Builder of Safe Spaces to Foster Growth & Creativity”. Looking over my track record, I consistently create safe spaces for people to talk and grow. As a massage therapist, during film school as a casting director making auditioning more fun, as a producer making directors feel more supported, my early days in television where I helped to create an internship/mentorship program for college stude...

Our fearless leader, Richard 'RB' Botto, has a brand new article over on Medium and we've got a first look for you here on the Stage 32 Blog. Check out this preview of his latest piece, and be sure to click here to read the full article.  If you struggle with procrastination, don’t beat yourself up. We live in a world designed to distract you. From the emails and newsletters that fill our inbox, social media, push notification, telemarketers, and so on, everything around us is working overtime...

As a working actor, I am often asked: How do you balance your acting career with the rest of your life? It usually comes from those who aren't actors/artists or those who are actors but are struggling to find that balance. This got me thinking about balance and I asked myself whether "balance" is just an abstract idea or something practical to have in your life. More importantly, is it even possible to have balance with all the things we have going on, all the tasks we have to perform every...

At age 17, my artist-father was taught a mantra. ‘Near enough isn’t good enough. It has to be perfect.’ So he hustled for his mentor, re-doing work over and over again until one day, the mentor was moved to tears and whispered; ‘now it’s perfect. And that’s near enough.’ But the damage was done. With over 60 years of painting, dad couldn’t bring himself to have an exhibition. Nothing was perfect. It robbed him of so much joy and satisfaction and held him back from moving forward in life. I...

Before lockdown, it seemed easier to break into Film and TV. Once in, it seemed easier to get your next job. You just had to be a hard-working and dependable human pinball. But in this post-pandemic WFH world, how can you be a human pinball, creating and networking and getting your work in front of as many people as you can, when there are no other people around you, for you to bounce off? It was easy to be a pinball when I was starting out. My first job was as a production assistant on PBS...

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. It's Oscar weekend so there has been a pile of great content coming up online, and one of the best pieces came from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert's interview with Steven Spielberg and John Williams. They've been collaborating for decades and it shows in their interactions. Williams has created numer...

There is no Business like Show Business. And possibly that is true, as there is no place, other than politics, that a good or bad reputation can travel faster than a supersonic jet. You have to treat your reputation as your most prized possession in Hollywood. There seems to be a misunderstanding about what reputation truly means. A solid reputation is built on professionalism but even more so on how good a human being you are on a solid ground of authenticity and I, for one, quote more than...

Last year, Stage 32 was kind enough to publish several blog posts, in which I described my career path, going from an unknown writer in a small country to now being able to have a career in filmmaking. And Stage 32 did what it does best - it sparked connections. A producer based in LA noticed a few of my blog posts, and then noticed my insight on a topic. He decided to get in touch via Stage 32, asking what I was working on. And then, magic happened. Within a month, I had a meeting with...

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. The 95th annual Academy Awards are scheduled to air live on ABC on Sunday, March 12, from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay were announced on January 24. Check out the trailers for the nominated scripts below and email success@s...

Many writers want to know how long their scripts should be. And the answer is almost always, “Shorter than you think.” This is especially true, dear creatives, as we start out our careers. The other day on Instagram, writer/actor Shawn Parikh laid to rest the excuse “but Aaron Sorkin gets to do it” – namely, write massively long scripts – by reminding us, gently, that we are not Aaron Sorkin. For us mere mortals, 90-110 pages will do just fine. But why is this the case? Why can’t we push it...