Animation

Congratulations on being one of the ten finalists, Pamela Winfrey! Reach out to the Success Team at success@stage32.com. Geoff and his team can help you connect with managers.

Pamela Winfrey congratulations on being one of the ten finalists! That's huge, I wish you the best of luck on your quest to find a manager.

Thanks Cyrus! Appreciate you!

Hi, Mirac Yenici! Welcome to the community. Stage 32 has a blog that'll help you navigate the platform and connect with creatives and industry professionals all over the world. www.stage32.com/blog/how-to-successfully-navigate-the-stage-32-platform-...

And Stage 32 had its monthly Community Open House last Wednesday. It'll also help you navigate the platform and connect with creatives and industry pros. You can watch the free recording here: www.stage32.com/education/products/stage-32s-january-2026-community-open...

I suggest adding a profile picture of yourself. People will feel more comfortable networking and collaborating with you if they know what you look like. And if you have a picture, your profile will show up when someone searches for you. You can upload a picture by clicking the gear symbol in the top right-hand corner and selecting “Edit profile” in the drop-down menu, then clicking the red button underneath your location and choosing "Update profile picture."

Reach out to Stage 32’s Success Team at success@stage32.com. Geoff and his team can help you connect with executives, producers, and more.

Do you and your partner have a pilot script written?

Thanks Maurice Vaughan and no we don't have a pilot script written yet but we look forward to write it or develop our script with the studio that we want to collabrate. I will try to reach out the success team that you told.

You're welcome, Mirac Yenici. It'll probably be easier to get a studio/producer interested if you two have a pilot script.

I just signed up for this :O

Hi there, just had the first class this morning and it was a great energy, I'm excited for the rest. Evan mentioned giving us some handouts/examples of pitch decks. Is there a repository somewhere or should i expect an email? cheers :)

Hi James Lagrimas! Is this the location of the lounge or is there a separate link for that?

Tim Rancie I was in his last class, and he sends out emails in a day or two.

Hi, everyone. I agree with Tim. Great energy and a lot of exciting story ideas. I look forward to working with all of you.

Thanks for sharing the article, B.A Sins. I don't know a lot about anime, but it sounds big for the industry! "Together with MAPPA, Netflix aims to bring more original anime from Japan to the world1, broaden opportunities for creative collaboration, and pioneer new frontiers in anime expression." I hope that'll be true!

You’re very welcome, Maurice. I shared it because it feels like an important moment for anime as a global storytelling medium. It’s much bigger than people sometimes realize today, especially online and it’s become a major influence across the industry, reaching both younger and older audiences.

Yes I did my first last month and it was pretty useful, just have two things in mind that I was told and really helped: 1- have clear stakes, not abstract or simbolical, something that will literally destroy not only the status quo but the life of the main characters and 2- Make the producer feel the movie in their head, if they can read it and see the movie or series in their minds, like imagining scenarios and all of that, you've got it. I will try a second time soon, but for now that's what I learned from my last interaction, though I'm not sure yet if the producer or agent taking the pitch will actually do something with it, it's a good experience to enhace your creative intents with a story. Good luck!

Hi, Jerome Shaw. Stage 32 has two written pitch examples (one for a show and the other for a movie). Stage 32 also has a verbal TV pitch beat sheet and a verbal feature pitch beat sheet. You can get them by emailing success@stage32.com.

Here's three Lounge posts with pitch advice:

www.stage32.com/lounge/screenwriting/Pitch-Advice

www.stage32.com/lounge/screenwriting/Pitching-44

www.stage32.com/lounge/screenwriting/Why-Pitching-Matters-And-How-to-Mak...

The Pitch Practice in the Writers’ Room is the best pitching resource in my opinion. Pitch Practice is every Thursday night at 5:30 P.M. PST/8:30 P.M. EST. You can sit in and listen to members practice their projects and give them feedback. You can pitch your project too, but you have to sign up. The hosts, Noel Thompson and John Mezes, take names during Pitch Practice for people to pitch the following week. You have to sit in and listen at the practice one or two times before you can pitch. You can sign up for your first month free here: www.stage32.com/writers-room/plans-vip

The Pitch Tank in the Writers’ Room is an incredible pitching resource too. The Pitch Tank is where you pitch your script to an executive and get feedback. The Pitch Tank is once a month.

Stage 32 has a free webinar called "How to Write a 2 Page Pitch for Your Television Series" (www.stage32.com/education/products/free-stage-32-webinar-how-to-write-at...).

Stage 32 has a free webinar called "How to Create a 2 Page Pitch For Your Feature Film" (www.stage32.com/education/products/how-to-create-a-2-page-pitch-for-your...).

Stage 32 also has a free pitch webinar: www.stage32.com/education/products/pitching-tips-from-the-pros-your-blue...

Send it on!

I remember a time when I thought I might have wanted to learn Blender Ashley Renee Smith. It's such an invaluable tool. But alas, there are only so many hours in a day!

That's incredible, Ashley Renee Smith! I've been thinking about learning Blender or another software to make pitch material for my scripts and projects. After watching the video on your Post-Production Lounge post and reading this post, I'm going to go with Blender.

Laurie, beautifully said. Animation really is where writing becomes a living, breathing collaboration — the page evolving through boards, performance, rhythm, and emotion.

Roger Allers’ ability to pitch story as energy and joy is such an enduring lesson for writers — not just in animation, but in how we communicate story at every stage. Thank you for sharing both the craft insight and the human story behind it.

Thanks for sharing the info and video, Laurie Ashbourne! "In fact, the screenwriter often has to REWRITE the pages based on what the story artist creates- dialogue and all." I didn't know that. That's great to know as an animation screenwriter!

I think this is my first time seeing a story meeting for an animated film. Roger made the meeting feel so alive and fun! That's perfect for pitching some animation projects and live-action projects too.

Thank you for sharing this. I am writing two animated features, so this article is very timely.

You're welcome, Serhan Yorganci. I tried to look up Square Heads on Apple TV through the Amazon Prime Video app, but I couldn't find it. Do I need to watch it on the Apple TV app?

Congratulations on getting your movie intro a platform, that must be awesome haha, I can't really give You advice since I've never recieved coverage for a movie, only scripts and something that I've learned is that everyone react different to a piece of media, that's why I usually take the advice that seems more objective or structure driven more that the subjective one, like pacing, structure, maybe dialogue, but again, I'm just a random still haha. Good luck with your projects and enjoy this victory.

Alex Olguin Thank you, I really appreciate that. You’re absolutely right, everyone responds differently, so I also try to focus on the more objective, structure-driven feedback. Thanks again for the kind words, it means a lot.

Serhan Yorganci Congrats on getting your film on Apple and for the coverage at AWN. In the past, the coverage I have received has given the project and me legitimacy within the industry. I used it as you are using it now, as conversation starters on your other platforms, like Stage 32, LinkedIn, and Facebook. I don't know that trade coverage leads to sales, but it never hurts to be exposed to more viewers, wherever that may be.

Bob Harper Thanks, I really appreciate you sharing this.

That’s actually been my experience so far too. The coverage helps start conversations and gives the project a bit more weight, even if it doesn’t directly lead to sales. For an independent film, that kind of visibility still matters a lot.

Thanks again for the encouragement, it means a lot.

Indeed it is Maurice Vaughan, I might rewatch it soon. It aged incredibly well.

I just added Paranoia Agent to my watch list, Banafsheh Esmailzadeh. Thanks. I'm looking forward to checking it out!

Good stuff Maurice Vaughan, I think you'll enjoy it. Let me know what you think!

Ok, I will, Banafsheh Esmailzadeh.

That was pretty surreal. I like surrealism it has this odd aura.

That's a really cool music video. New genre to me, but I'll have to check it out more.

Isn’t it just, Michael Dzurak? I remember AMVs were more of a thing in the early 2000s and they were pretty simple compared to this. I can only imagine how long this one took to put together.

Maurice Vaughan I would also add backup. Place on a physical hard drive but always backup to the cloud. Keep me posted on how it goes.

Charmane Wedderburn of course! Hope it helps you in your journey!

Great idea, Cyrus Sales! Thanks. I'll keep you posted.

Thank you, Cyrus — I really appreciate that.

It’s probably a lot of things, but one that I definitely feel like I need more of is focus. There’s so much I wanna do but my focus is not boundless ^^;