Stage 32 TV Development Lab: How to Develop and Pitch Your Television Project
Other education that may be of interest to you:
Ask Me Anything with Stage 32 CEO Richard "RB" Botto: The State of the Industry - Where We are Headed (February 2023)
Hello Creative Army! Read any of the trades right now and our industry is in a rapid state of change. From streamers in the race for original content, to companies making acquisitions and, of course, the Great Content Gold Rush still in full force, it's a lot to keep up with. The entire Stage 32 team is on the phone every day to keep their fingers on the pulse of what's happening. It's exciting time for you as a content creator - whether you work in film, television or digital - and it's equally exciting for content makers because the world has opened wide to international voices traveling beyond borders. We are seeing more and more diverse voices represented in the shows and films we watch and it's only the beginning. Since 2011, the Stage 32 team has been working tirelessly to help you stay connected, creative, motivated, and informed. As always, we are committed to bringing you networking opportunities, education and mentoring from top-level industry executives and professionals, and access to decision-makers around the globe all from the comfort of your own home. ALL creatives and professionals are welcome. Looking to further your craft? Now's the time. Looking to learn more about the business? We'll get into that. Want to find out what I'm hearing from our roster of execs what's going to be happening industry wide throughout the rest of 2023? It's in here. All you have to do is register and I'll provide a couple of hours of no-holds-barred shop talk to get you ready to conquer your entertainment career. Again, all creatives and pros are welcome to join no matter your profession(s), skill level, or geographical location. As always, registering for my AMA is completely FREE! And the more the merrier, so do invite any of your fellow creative friends and peers on your social media channels, your email lists, and through your online groups to join us as well. Should any of your contacts not be members of Stage 32 already, you can send them an invite here! If you missed my last few AMA's, you can view them here! Cheers! RB
Writer-Director-Producer: How to Build Your Career as a Multi-Hyphenate
Take control of your entertainment career by becoming a multi-hyphenate writer-director-producer from an award-winning filmmaker. The entertainment industry is all about who you know, but do you ever feel like you struggle to get the ball rolling on your project by finding that person to say yes? What if you took the reins yourself by being a multi-hyphenate? If you’re a writer, you need a producer to find financing and a director to turn your script into a film. If you’re a producer or a director, you can’t do anything without a script first. Instead of allowing yourself to get stuck trying to have these three crucial elements, like so many other talented people in this business, you could bring the skills to fill all of them yourself. In this exclusive Stage 32 webinar, you’ll learn what it takes to be a multi-hyphenate writer-director-producer so that you can successfully become the architect of your own career. This is exactly what Thomas Michael has done for over 20 years in entertainment by writing, directing, producing, and starring in his own projects. After creating and starring in his own series at 17, he has made 9 feature films as a writer, director, or producer, or all three. His thriller BACK COUNTRY premiered at TIFF, sold to IFC, and went on to become their highest-grossing film of the year. Thomas has also worked with major Hollywood talent, including Mickey Rourke, Garret Hedlund, Stanley Tucci, Annabelle Wallis, and more. By being a multi-hyphenate, you guarantee yourself a seat at the decision table at every crucial step of making your film. And you’ll do this by empowering yourself with the skill of each of these roles. Thomas will share with you the dos and don’ts of being a multi-hyphenate and the pitfalls. How to market yourself and design a practical roadmap to getting your next film made by taking on these three roles. For those attending the live webcast, you’ll also have a chance to ask Thomas any questions about your career and how to jump into these skill sets. Don’t miss out on your chance to take control of your career and remove the roadblocks so that you can kickstart your career as a multi-hyphenate filmmaker.
Prepping For International Co-Productions: What You Need To Know
As the world of independent television and film continues to shift, international co-productions are becoming more common. That’s because crossing borders is often an effective way to find better funding, better locations, and ultimately a wider audience. But international co-productions are not always a slam dunk. Partnering with other countries is a complicated endeavor and brings with it challenges and hurdles you wouldn’t have to face otherwise. Potential pitfalls are plentiful, but then again, so are opportunities. It comes down to putting in the work ahead of time, covering your bases, and making sure you know what you’re doing before diving in head first. Working across countries is hard enough when you’re part of a studio or large corporation. There are still contracts to hash out, politics to navigate, and differences in cultures to understand. But when you’re an independent producer or filmmaker looking to cross country lines, it can feel impossible, an overwhelming prospect where you don’t even know where to start. After all, you don’t have the backing of a legal department and you don’t have experts on payroll. You just have you. So where do you start? Is an international co-production worth it for you? What steps should you take to get the ball rolling and how can do you protect yourself along the way? With more than twenty years in the industry, Alexia Melocchi has worked in nearly every aspect of the entertainment industry. Alexia is currently a producer at Little Studio Films, a representation and production company with more than 25 films and series credits. She serves as Partner and Producer, involved in all aspects of company operations, including distribution and co-production deals, managing production activities, and film and television marketing. Alexia is well versed in the art of international co-productions and will share the secrets, tips, and lessons she’s learned over her two decades in the industry exclusively with the Stage 32 community. Alexia will walk you through the nitty gritty of starting international co-productions and the things you need to know before jumping in. She will begin by going over the pros and cons of producing overseas, both for film projects and television, and when to determine if an international co-production is the right call. She’ll tell you the four aspects of your project you should focus on before making this call. She’ll then discuss what makes a story international and how to use this to your advantage. Alexia will then go over the advantages of having international settings in your script. Next she will focus on tax subsidies and credits in different countries, how these can be targeted, the challenges that come with claiming them, and the rules and requirements you’ll generally need to meet to qualify for them. She’ll also discuss the prospect of working with international broadcasters or producers. Then, Alexia will give an in-depth and detailed rundown of the benefits and challenges of producing in six major countries: Italy, Spain, Canada, UK, and Australia. She’ll offer a breakdown of the specific costs that go into overseas productions, as well as the legal ramifications of these projects, including how international cooperation might affect ownership of your IP and rights. Alexia will discuss what an effective timeline of a successful co-production deal might look like and will finally give you tips on how to work international markets like Cannes to find the partnerships you need. This webinar is useful to producers considering an international co-production as well as writers, actors and directors who feel their talent or material might work well on an international scale Like what you heard from Alexia during this webinar? Send your script to Alexia and speak with her for an hour by clicking here. Praise for Alexia’s Webinar: “Alexia had so much specific and helpful information that I’m going to be able to use moving forward” -Karen H. “Alexia is the best! I’m so glad I got to see this webinar” -Hannah E. “I was impressed with how much the instructor knew about this topic. I have a lot of ideas and tools I can take with me for my own projects now” -Jerry B.
The Executive Hour with Special Guest Literary Manager Scott Schulman
During this Executive Hour Webcast, we speak with with Literary Manager Scott Schulman of Schulman Management! Scott was at More/Medavoy Management for four years, representing both talent and literary clients. Prior to More/Medavoy, Schulman worked at A3 Artist Agency as a junior packaging agent. He started his career at Fremantle in business affairs in both scripted and non-scripted television.Scott recently staffed one of his clients on Season 2 of "FBI: MOST WANTED" for CBS. He also manages two upper-level producers on the smash hit "THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY" series for Netflix. During the webcast, Scott discusses how he came to be a literary manager, what writers can be doing to get their material into the market, how to overcome a pass on your material and a lot more!
Writing Horror to Scare Up the Big Bucks
Learn How To Write A Successful Horror Script From Nick Waters, The Writer/Producer Of Paramount's Horror Movie MARGAUX Take home a download of the cold open from Nick's script for MARGAUX! With the recent success of horror films such as SMILE, BARBARIAN and NOPE, it is evident that horror remains one of the most consistently profitable and exciting genres in the industry. This is because horror films can be made for a cost and still yield spectacular returns at the box office. Horror doesn’t rely on big IP, superheroes, or movie stars – what a horror movie needs to deliver is a compelling story, told well, packed with plenty of chills and thrills. However, delivering on this is far easier said than done, and many writers miss important story elements that keep their horror scripts dead in the water. In this exclusive Stage 32 on-demand Webinar, Nick Waters, the writer/producer of Paramount's horror movie MARGAUX and a producer on the horror film SHELTER IN PLACE, will teach you what makes a horror film successful, from developing a marketable and commercial plot, to unique and scary set pieces, to properly structuring and formatting your script to tell the best story possible. You will learn high-level story concepts, tips and tricks to help make your horror script scary and effective, and get an insider perspective on what concepts and types of horror films are currently selling in the marketplace. You will leave this webinar with an understanding of not only how to make your existing scripts stronger, but how to develop and come up with the next big horror hit film!
Directors: How to Get Believable Performances from Actors
THIS 4-PART CLASS IS NOW AVAILABLE ON DEMAND! As a director, one of your most important jobs is eliciting great performances from actors. Fail at that, and your film or series could crumble under the weight of bad acting. Although the best directors shape performances with a deftness that may seem effortless, it is not. In fact, becoming a great director of actors is hard work and takes years of disciplined practice. Like playing a violin, it is a skill that must be nurtured. Yet if you can achieve this crucial skill and relationship, you’ll be able to greatly elevate your films and projects and champion your actors at the same time. The film director’s working relationship with an actor starts in the first casting session, continues through the various rehearsal stages, onto the set and ends in the ADR session. Most trained actors begin by trusting the director, but if you can’t direct actors in a language they understand, you may have a difficult time getting actors to trust you. And if actors don’t trust you, you will have a difficult time blocking them on set and getting layered performances from them. It’s important to meet actors where they are, and we’ve brought in the perfect person to explain how to do this. Peter Marshall is a director and film directing coach with over 40 years of experience including 12 features, 16 TV movies, 8 TV series, over 30 episodes of TV drama, 50 hours of documentary and educational programming, and over 20 commercials. Through his career, Peter has worked with and helped elevate the performances of actors such as Peter O'Toole, Morgan Freeman, John Travolta, Kathy Bates, Michelle Pfiefer, Marcia Gaye Harden, Madeleine Stowe, Mel Gibson, Ashton Kutcher, Goldie Hawn, Judy Davis and Adam Sandler. He has also had the opportunity to work alongside and learn from other directors like John Woo, Phillip Noyce, Ed Zwick, John Badham, Roger Vadim, Dennis Dugan, Anne Wheeler and Zack Snyder. Peter’s long and impressive history has given him a deep understanding of how to work with actors of all sizes and levels and understands what he needs to do as a director to elicit great performances. Over the course of four sessions, Peter will dive deep into the relationship between the director and actors and teach you how directors can build a relationship built on trust with actors by creating a safe place for them to perform. Peter will first explore how to understand human behavior and emotions and use this to better support your cast. He will then explore the main strategies of proper script analysis you can use to help actors achieve the performance you desire, including his “9 Part Scene Breakdown Process”. In the next session he will delve into how to work with actors in prep and finally will break down the process of working with actors and getting the performance on set, including his “10 Step Actor/Director Blocking Process”. Purchasing gives you access to the previously-recorded live class. Although Peter is no longer distributing or reviewing the assignments, we still encourage all listeners to participate! Praise for Peter’s Stage 32 Class “I really enjoyed the webinar. I liked the fact that the density of material was rich enough I was always busy taking notes. Thanks for covering the artistic and the logistic side of directing.” - Brad L. “Hey Stage 32, I wanted to thank you and Peter Marshall for such an enlightening class. I have so many notes and as a new Director I have to say I feel a bit more relaxed, knowing what steps I need to take to be more prepared for a shoot. Peter is so generous with his knowledge. I have his Directors class downloaded and I'm excited to view it” - Diane L. "Very helpful, in depth and extremely well-structured." -Memi K.
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