Anything Goes

Well, I’m a happy man! How about anyone else?

Over the course of this 10 week writing lab, you will develop your series idea into a professional pilot episode outline and then you will actually write your pilot episode.

Guiding you on your writing journey is multi Emmy nominated television writer and showrunner Todd Slavkin. Todd will teach you about about story structure, scene structure, scene description, dialogue and everything in between and you will walk away from his lab with the first draft of your completed teleplay for your pilot episode.

You will work with Todd and your fellow writers in a virtual class setting, with ample time for Q&A’s, and you will also have one-on-one sessions with Todd where he will give you constructive notes and share his thoughts on your story, outline and script pages.

These sessions will mirror the experience you would have working with a showrunner on your pilot and allow you the opportunity to be mentored by a top professional to get your script written.

Payment plans are available - email edu@stage32.com and we can help! Sign up link: https://www.stage32.com/education/products/stage-32-screenwriting-lab-de...

A film or tv production is a collective effort. Learn what is expected from you as a cinematographer during pre production and on an average day on set so you are prepared, respected and set you and the entire production up for success.

Fulfilling your duties and understanding set etiquette will help create a positive and efficient work environment . This will not only will help you build a solid work reputation which will lead to other jobs but there are many costly mistakes one can make that could negatively impact you and other on the crew. Not understanding what you are responsible for, the proper lines of communication, not being prepared which can cost the entire production time and money, or not delivering the vision expected are all things that could sabotage the experience. With this class you will gain many tips on both what to do and what not to do.

Email edu@stage32.com with any questions!

Writing may seem like a solitary occupation, but all writers need guidance from an experienced professional. Especially TV writers. TV writers work in rooms, work with showrunners, producers, managers and executives giving them feedback. They belong to writers’ groups. If you don’t have those support systems guiding you through your rewrite (or even if you do and need a fresh perspective), this lab is for you. Let’s dive in together!

In this exclusive Stage 32 8-part screenwriting lab, you will rewrite your existing TV pilot script under the guidance of an industry leader to guarantee your next draft is not only an improvement of your work, but ready to go to market. Guiding you through the rewriting process for your pilot is Anna Henry. Anna is a producer and development executive who has set up projects at AMC, Amazon Prime, Starz, HBO, Sony, Fox, EOne, ITV America, and OddLot Entertainment, among others. She’s worked at CBS, ABC, Nickelodeon, and multiple production companies, as well as in management at Andrea Simon Entertainment where she worked with writers. Anna is also an instructor for Netflix & Stage 32 Creating Content for a Global Marketplace Program.

Payment Plans are available- email edu@stage32.com with any questions!

Diggin’ back into my archives. One of my first jobs. An illustration/backdrop piece I did for a client/educational organization. Was working in education/after school, and illustration/mural/storyboard jobs would come in on top of what I was doing. This was for a Halloween/Haunted House event.

I wanted to put my passion/ influences into this piece, even to the point I was using a toothbrush to create splattering effects with the paint. Also, atmosphere. Try to get a gothic feeling in the colors, the tones, as if one was looking at an old faded image of yesteryears.

The success, for me, was not only getting paid to be creative, but also to dig deep with my art and my passion and mash it up with a tribute to the great actors such as Karloff and Lugosi, along with film directors Murnau and Whale. Long live the timeless classics, the artists that created such classics and that inspire us. We walk on the roads they paved and we stand on the shoulders of giants.

I like to read widely and have a love of reading about the Quantum Universe. I love books like Danah Zohar’s ‘The Quantum Self’ and ‘Quantum Society’. Then there’s the book I’m reading at the moment called ‘Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics’. Now, I must admit that I’m not a theologian, my interests lay more in spirituality than religion.

There does however, seem to be a strange similarity between Stage32 and the Quantum Universe. I can hear you either gasp or choke on your doubt, so please bear with me. There is a principle in Quantum Theory called ‘The Potential for Self-Organisation’, by Diarmuid O’Murchu. (I would also say that it bears a similarity with the principles of any creative endeavour - whether you’re a screenwriter, musician, graphic novelist).

Here’s what got me excited about this Potential for Self-Organisation and how that any activity cannot be isolated to a local phenomenon, but has to be understood cosmically or universally.

“The ability to self-organise seems to be a function of invisible fields, associated with all matter, from the tiniest subatomic particles to the most complex creatures, humans included. When atomic fields interact and join together, a molecular field is evoked; the interaction of molecular fields leads to the creation of a mega-molecular field, creating new patterns of interaction that become cells. Cells form several complex combinations — under field influence — to create organisms. Organism fields interact to form species fields. The fields of several species interact to form ecosystems. Ecosystems interrelate and thus create bioregional fields, which are influenced by the planetary field of the earth itself. The earth, in turn, is influenced by the field of the solar system, which itself is affected by the field of the Milky Way galaxy. Galaxies interact gravitationally throughout the entire universe.” [p. 104]

It is often said that we humans like to ‘be a part of something bigger’; well I think the above quote tells us that we already are! We are not really alone and floundering, we are connected to these web of ‘fields’ at all those various levels, from subatomic particles to the Milky Way and beyond.

The British scientist, Brian Cox, maintains that having not come across any other intelligent life-forms in the Universe shows us just how insignificant we are as a species. I however, through extensive research and the passing of much alcohol under the bridge of life, think it’s the opposite — it shows us just how significant we are!

Here’s another quote from O’Murchu:

“All visible organisation arises out of invisible fields. Everything and everybody are the subjects and beneficiaries of field influence. All of us belong to a web of interrelationships, empowered by an intricate and mysterious life force. And it is the ability to self-organise, more than anything else, which promotes and enhances life in our universe…Self-organisation is a generic concept. It also happens according to laws and principles which humans neither devise or control.” [ibid]

That last sentence alone should give us a sense of humility in the light of my previously cited ‘significance’, but I believe it should also animate and empower us to connect with one another and create something which has an impact on life on earth. Whether we knew it or not, we are already part of something much bigger than ourselves — we are not alone.