Most of you will know me from previous blogs on this site, and most of the time those blogs tend towards contentious subject matter. If this is your first time reading me, welcome. My name is Tennyson E. Stead and I’m a writer and director who has worked in disciplines ranging from film finance to gaffing and grip. As a screenwriter, script doctor, and ghostwriter, I’ve written more than 50 screenplays and I’ve been paid for a sizable percentage of those. My directing and editing have won awa...

Alright, let me ask you a question. What's the hardest part of screenwriting? Is it building the plot? Crafting the theme? Maintaining story structure? In my opinion, it's developing characters. Without characters, there's no story. And everything else in the screenplay doesn't matter because the audience needs something to connect to. Knowing this, I put all my efforts into creating the best characters possible. I spent years reading books, watching YouTube videos, and scavenging the internet...

Four Practical Habits to Help Creatives Stay Grounded and Achieve Consistent Results. "It is better to take many small steps in the right direction than to make a great leap forward only to stumble backward." - Chinese proverb As actors, we all have huge dreams and aspirations: one day winning an Oscar, being on a Broadway stage, getting into Marvel-ready shape, or getting that top-tier agent. For better or worse, we think big and relentlessly pursue our goals. We sprint towards them, stum...

Hey, Creative Army! Great news! Stage 32 and our wonderful Director of Education, Sam Sokolow, were recently featured in an IBC 365 article, “WHAT DO STREAMERS WANT? SITCOMS, POLICE DRAMA AND REALITY SHOWS”. This article spotlighted Stage 32’s hit expert panel at last month’s FOCUS London Conference; FROM REVOLUTION TO EVOLUTION: What The Streamers Are Looking For Today. It was a phenomenal conversation moderated by Stacey Carr, Entertainment Consultant at Stacey Carr Consulting, and featur...

Over the last 7 years in LA as a director and producer, I feel like I've seen so many sides of the filmmaking world. I've done backyard shorts with friends and family with guerilla shooting, I've done features for over a million dollars, I've directed a big studio episodic for TV, and I’ve even funded my own short docs. As everyone in the industry knows, this work can be intense. We often have long hours. We give 120% of our brain power dissecting scripts, making shot lists, and scouting locat...

Getting your foot in the TV and film industry is not, as we all know, an easy task. I’m from Scotland and write feel-good romances for HarperCollins imprint One More Chapter. Several months ago, I stumbled across Stage 32. As soon as I saw the array of talented authors and screenwriter members, not to mention the plethora of amazing production and development executives, I knew I had nothing to lose. I was immediately drawn to checking out the pitch sessions and decided to reserve a couple o...

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, in this interview with Sofia Coppola from BFI, the filmmaker takes a look back on her filmmaking journey. Not only the many critically acclaimed and award-winning films she's made over the years but also the impact her upbringing has had on her perspective and the stories she tells. Next up,...

Can’t Find The Time? You Got To Make The Time! You have it all down. You have the story, plot points, and you may have even started the script. But you just can’t find the time to finish it. Like many of us, life just gets in the way…whether it’s work, family, or friends. What do you do when you can’t find the time to finish your screenplay? Well, here’s the good news: everyone gets a fresh batch of 24 hours to use every day. With a little planning and a lot of discipline, you can steadily c...

Hi, Stage 32 Community! Our Stage 32 Team has been working diligently to bring in as many new resources and opportunities as possible to enrich your experience here in our community in 2024! At Stage 32 you have direct access to industry professionals who’ve overseen the stunt performance, music supervision, written, produced, directed, developed, consulted on, and represented acclaimed projects like THE MEG, AQUAMAN, PLAYING FOR KEEPS, KONG SKULL ISLAND, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: SALAZAR’...

Yep. MAGPIE FUNERAL, my newest film, was almost dead on arrival. But hey, what independent film can’t say that? Here are three crazy stories about MAGPIE FUNERAL, now streaming on TubiTV, Amazon Video, YouTube, and Google Play. Story One: TIMING IS EVERYTHING. John T. Sweeney, Magpie Funeral’s producer, insisted that the production must start in mid-October of that year. I had the following January in mind. But John persisted. He explained it was imperative principal photography commenced...