Screenwriting

Happy Sunday, everyone.  And for those celebrating in the States, Happy Labor Day weekend. In this edition of Coffee & Content, I have two videos I believe you'll find most informative.  First up, it's Stanley Kubrick and The Shining.  It's well documented that Stephen King was not on board with Kubrick's adaptation of his epic novel.  In this video we see how and why Kubrick made his choices in what he included, expanded upon and what he left behind. Next up, a look at the first season of T...

I had been trying for years to find someone to collaborate with on a screenplay. After all, collaboration is what filmmaking is all about, so why not collaborate on the very writing process that gets it all started. But I always seemed to run into the same problem. I would be more interested in the idea than the other writer and they would soon drop out, leaving me to finish the screenplay by myself. That all changed when I saw a post on Stage 32 by J.G. Blodgett titled 'Collaboration'. The ide...

  Hey guys. Wanted to share this photo RB posted on his Instagram account (@RBwalksintoabar) last week. It's the final proofs for his upcoming book, Crowdsourcing for Filmmakers, which is being published by Focal Press under the American Film Market (AFM) Presents banner next month.  This book was the result of over 100 interviews and 2 years of research and writing (and, boy, do we know, we had to live with it all in the office!) It will be a must read if you are looking to build or...

The most popular horror and thriller contest in the world is back! 8 of our contest finalists have been signed, optioned, placed in development or staffed! If you have the next Annabelle:Creation, It Comes at Night, Split, Conjuring, Saw, 47 Meters Down, Kidnap, The Cabin in the Woods, Atomic Blonde, The Shallows or Get Out ready to be unleashed, you need to submit your script to our 4th Annual Search for New Blood Screenwriting Contest. This is the contest that has launched the careers o...

The 2nd annual Stage 32 Comedy Screenwriting Contest brought in some incredible talent from all over the world. Our judges, who were from Paradigm Agency, Vertigo Entrainment, Lionsgate's LOL Network (Kevin Hart), Big Beach Films, Romark Entertainment, New Wave Entertainment and MXN Entertainment all told us how funny the finalist scribes were. We're excited to feature our Grand Prize Winners, an incredibly talented writing duo from Los Angeles and Las Vegas,Anthony Guidubaldi & Keith Strausbaug...

Happy Sunday to you all. Today, I have two tremendous videos for you to enjoy with your java.  First up, it's a look at some screenplay lessons from Ex Machina.  I know we have a ton of writers on Stage 32 who have very mixed feelings about this script, so I hope to see some debate in the comments section! Next up, a look at how film editors think and cut by feel.  I absolutely love this video and think you'll find it fascinating as well. Personally, I think this content pairs best with a...

This weekend we premiered the 2nd Annual Stage 32 Short Film Program in Los Angeles at the 2017 Hollyshorts Film Festival. In one word, it was inspiring. We had the pleasure of showcasing a program of 7 films representing 4 different countries - all with varying creativity. The audience included Stage 32 members and executives from Lionsgate, Samaco Films, Whitewater Films, Kodak, Legion M, CAA and more who all told us how blown away they were with the talent here in the Stage 32 community. Af...

Greetings from Hollywood. It's been an amazing two weeks at the Hollyshorts Film Festival.  Not only did Stage 32 help program a number of the informative and inspirational panels at the festival, but last night we had the LA premiere screening of our Short Film Program.  7 Stage 32 filmmakers had their films shown to a crowd peppered with industry executives.  The response was overwhelmingly positive and many of our filmmakers walked away with meetings and further interest in developing their...

As a producer/director, I'm asked to read scripts all the time. What I mostly encounter are scripts that aren't ready for production. No even close. How do you know if your script is production ready? Here are nine questions to ask yourself about your script:     1: Does your screenplay use a Three-Act Structure? The Three-Act Structure is a classic hero's journey that divides your story into three parts (or Acts); Setup, Confrontation and the Resolution. I'm recommending this approach...

If you haven't seen by now, we have launched Stage 32 Locations - Powered By Peerspace. You can find it on the top menu bar. This is an incredible new tool for our creative community that helps you find locations for your film shoots, writing groups, casting calls or production needs.   Stage 32 and Peerspace got together this week to celebrate all the new locations launched in the Los Angeles area, as well as Peerspace reaching a milestone of 6,000 new spaces for creatives to rent. Hundreds o...