Introduce Yourself

Maurice Cherry, welcome back to the wonderful world of creativity. I would be interested in hearing about your work, especially your voice acting. Best wishes from an American living in Germany.

Hi, Maurice Cherry. Welcome back. I like your website! Did you design it?

Welcome Kirk, nice to meet you!

Welcome Kirk;-)

Welcome and good luck! Kirk Smith Keep following that nudge to write.

Hello Kirk! Welcome to Stage 32. I am just starting out with screenwriting after writing a couple of episodic screen plays. I am an artist and have become hooked because both forms of writing allow to create stunningly vivid new worlds. I hope your screenwriting journey is filled with joy and success!

Kirk Smith if you wanna write than nothing is better than fantasy and action to write .

Hey Paul! Glad I saw your post, you’re inspiring me to reintroduce myself as well. How is Upwork going for you? I feel like I should put my services up there as well. Is the income vs work load worth it?

Welcome back!

Ryan, so far I am getting a decent amount of engagement on Upwork - I have one short film gig to rewrite that I should see a contract for in the next few days and I had a meeting for a gig as a coach for another writer - The site is well thought out and has a lot of customization options. I've only been on it a week but have had 4-5 responses to proposals. You are able to offer services that people can seek out - or you can pitch on gigs that people post. I've had better luck there than any other freelance site I've tried in the past.

Paul D. Hart seems interesting . I am a screenwriter and novelist. recently I've completed my 3 scripts .

1) genre : fantasy , action, war , fictions , thriller , romantic and many more ...

title : a boy in elven lands

2) genre : emotional , feith ,romantic and educational .

title : injured weight of silence

3) horror, thriller and romantic

Paul D. Hart I open your website but can't create account on this page ??

Willem Elzenga congrats from me as well - no small feat you've signed up for, but sounds like you have the deep personal motivation to drive you through the tasks :)

what platform are you using for podcast distribution? I read that Spotify is making a big push to increase video podcast content. cheers

You're welcome, Willem Elzenga. Thanks for letting me know. I'm looking forward to watching the videos.

Hi Willem,

Really inspiring work! I’m a writer based in Pakistan, currently exploring projects around social change and human stories. Would love to connect and see if there’s any way I could contribute.

AI is going to be big time Sebastian, I am already enjoying all its possibilities. We use YouTube with video and Spotify solely audio. I'll ask the team if they're ready for video podcast on spotify, thanks for the tip.

Willem Elzenga hey !

M a screenwriter and novelist . I am not so sure that my scripts will be completely like that as you expect but Still wanna collebrate .

thanks

Hi, Ryan OL. Great introduction video. I like how you're able to change accents so easily.

Thanks Maurice ! Yes that was a very short glimpse...I apply that skill also when narrating multi-character audio books... I wonder, should I provide link and post it somewhere on Stage32 where audio book narration is better targeted for the readership? Where would that be...

You're welcome, Ryan OL. You could post the link here in the comments, in the Your Stage Lounge (www.stage32.com/lounge/promotion), and on Your Wall.

Where is your conscience?

Five lives. Five faces of injustice.

A Jewish child. A Kurdish fighter. A Palestinian youth. A Black boy killed just for his skin. An Iranian writer.

They come from different lands, speak different languages, believe different things — but their pain is one.

These are 5 of the 10 characters in my novel Conclusion, based on real tragedies from our world.

The question remains:

Can humanity choose conscience over cruelty?

#Storytelling #HumanRights #SocialJustice #FilmAdaptation #ConclusionBook

It's nice to meet you, Mehmet Emin Yeşil. Welcome to the community. Stage 32 has a blog that'll help you navigate Stage 32 and connect with creatives and industry professionals all over the world (www.stage32.com/blog/how-to-successfully-navigate-the-stage-32-platform-...).

Stage 32 had a live Community Open House the other day. The recording will be available to watch soon (www.stage32.com/education/products/stage-32-s-june-community-open-house-...). It'll also help you navigate Stage 32 and connect with creatives and industry pros.

Areale Hanks, you are a very busy person. I would be interested to know about your hybrid novel. What exactly is a hybrid novel? Your mention of the civil (okay post) war made me think of my direct connection to the civil war. My great grandmother was born during the civil war. She held me on her lap when I was a baby. She was over 100 years old at the time and I think I was over 100 days old at the time. As for art, I was an artist when I lived in California. I would sell my abstract art at shows in San Diego. I am a writer in the sense that i have written out the various TV series and films I want to get out there. Regarding music, I am strictly a one person show on a farm in northern Germany. I do not have one style of music. I write across almost every musical genre. I find songs just pop into my head fully formed. I also find lyrics from mid-century comic books, old patent applications, even from an 1873 book of etiquette. All of my songs are written out in no more than five minutes. It has to do with my being on the extreme spectrum of creative synesthesia, and having ADHD with hyperfocus. Now maybe you can tell me more about your projects. I am including a link to a few of my songs if you ever get a chance to check them out. Best wishes for every success.

https://wymanbrent.bandcamp.com/

Wyman Brent hybrid novel meaning it's a novel written with screenplay elements to give the reader a cinematic experience, with narration of visuals and atmosphere building well keeping other elements that provide an emotional experience by allowing the reader to also understand the characters outside of dialogue. For example, with inner thoughts, journal entries, song lyrics. Mostly to challenge the depths of my writing style. I've heard and have seen that some people are liken to myself and have a fascination for period pieces as long as it tells a good story or possibly something someone can relate to. I find creative arts are a form of therapy and can help with cognitive improvements, attention, memory, language processing executive functioning, problem solving and mental flexibility. It's understandable why music/song is known as the universal language. I started posting some of my concept art on this platform as I work. But, I'm also working on scaling my slate and this requires a lot of footwork. I'm interested to hear your work. Are your project pieces archived here as well? Have you gotten any major placements? I can see you have a large body of work and that is great news.

Areale Hanks, thanks for the explanation regarding hybrid novels. I am always open to learning something new. I would like to write a hybread novel slice by slice. As for slices of history, I grew up in the south and was born a short drive from Appomattox Court House where the Civil War ended. I read a lot about the Civil War as a child. Then as I got older I started reading a lot, and I mean a lot, about World War Two. My fascination is what mostly led me to first visit Europe back in 1990. I ended up making the move permanent back in 2008. I am deeply connected to history in my own way. I am a gentile, but I founded the first Jewish public library in Lithuania since 1943. My library will be 14 this year. Now I am living on a small farm in northern Germany in a 135 year old house with a 125 year old barn, and a 71 year old tractor. As for my work, I do have loglines posted here. I have written everything out and have it stored ready for presenation if the opportunity ever comes up. As for my music, I have had zero placements so far. However, I only started creating in April of this year. I am not discouraged. I am reaching out to established musicians and up-and-coming ones as well. All in good time. I would enjoy hearing more about your writing and other projects.

Wyman Brent The concept of a hybrid novel was interesting and has benefits. Slice by slice is right. The process is long and a lot slower I would imagine in comparison to a screenplay. But after conversing with you I think I want to undertake some screenwriting courses as a more direct route to deliver and for business purposes. It sounds like your lifestyle is deeply rooted regarding historian culture. You have loglines for your screenplays? Do you actively pitch them and critique them? Having a collection of screenwritten works is a good place to be in. That's where I'm at in the stages of my writing projects. I'm currently revising and republishing my first book, then will follow up with learning how to write a pitchable screenplay to convert my current creative works too.

Areale Hanks, I am impressed that you finished any kind of novel. I love books as you can imagine, but have never written one. My work is more the short form, especially my songs which have all taken me less than 10 minutes to write. I have been told many times I should write my autobiography due to the life I have been through. As for screenplays, I do have loglines for my projects here on Stage 32. I have been reaching out regarding my screenplays in a limited way. I am not one that is good at making a pitch. I have zero fear of being rejected. That is not the problem. Just that it seems like the process always seems to be so formulaic. You are given so many minutes to sell your idea. You have to proceed in a precise manner from A to Z. It seems to me that the actual creativity is not important, but rather checking off all the "required" boxes for making a ptich. As for history, that is a lot of what attracted me to Europe. I did not come just for World War One and Two. I came for the sheer beauty to be found. Plus, there is more respect for the past in Europe in my opinion. I remember when I lived in San Diego and the San Diego Padres decided they needed a new statdium. They decided it had to be right in downtown San Diego. A building more than 100 years old was chosen as part of the site. The building was then being used as artists lofts. I used to visit there often since I was also an artist. The day the building was blown up saw a large crowd of people cheering as a piece of history exploded. They were cheering that history was destroyed and something unnecessary was to be put up in its place.

I am a total newbie to screenwriting so have no advice to share, but I do know a little bit about grief. I'm sorry you're going through this.

Travis Seppala hi Travis, I understand why you might think that, but would ask for you to reconsider. Film has the power to change people’s lives and what we need more of these days is powerful storytellers to help with that change. Don’t underestimate your gifts, they can do great things. And I’m here if you need to talk.

As someone whose entered multiple contests (and still waiting on a few throughout the end of the year), I definitely can feel like it's not made much of a dent thus far. Not sure what to do myself, but glad it seems based on your comments and everyone else's, I'm not alone in that regard.

As for dealing with grief, negative emotions can definitely affect your writing abilities. With that in mind, take the time you need, but also possibly put what you're feeling into your writing or rely on your feelings to inspire a new project. I find it to be therapeutic and maybe you will do.

But if you feel you can't write the time being, there's nothing wrong with that either.

Travis Seppala, that's a tough question to answer. I think that grief is different for everyone, while also being the hardest thing anyone can go through. And while I'm quickly approaching the 3 year anniversary (September 5th), I'm far from an expert on the subject.

I can say that I miss her every day. I think about her all the time. But I don't cry every day anymore. It will hit me suddenly and sometimes very randomly. A certain smell, song, movie, etc. can flip my entire day upside down, and I have to try to force myself to focus through it. Oftentimes it happens in public, and I just try not to be the weird lady suddenly crying in a grocery store aisle so that people don't think my husband is being mean to me or something. I definitely didn't expect to burst out crying in the very full movie theater while watching 28 Years Later this weekend, awkwardly trying not to violently sob and distract the nice lady sitting next to me, trying to enjoy the Zombie movie.

There are a number of things that I think helped me move forward, but it's about finding the right thing for each person. In my situation, my sister, my husband, and I all made a pact the week my mom died that we would find therapists in the next 3 months, and we all held to it. Jumping into therapy and having a professional to speak with and talk me through my grief helped a lot, and it helped my husband and sister also. My mom was cremated, and I took some of her ashes and put them into a necklace that I wear nearly every day, which makes me feel close to her. When I think about her, I like to hold it in my hand. My mom's death was sudden and unexpected (she was only 49), but we all spent 10 days in an ICU before she passed, and while there, I started a journal to keep track of notes from the doctors, questions we all had, etc. When she passed away, I started using that same journal to write her letters and notes whenever I needed to speak with her. I did that as often as I needed to, which was a lot in the first year. I started using it less over time, but still pull it out from time to time when I really want to talk to her about something. My therapist also had me write some letters back to myself from her, which I never would have thought to do, but it helped. For many months, those letters were the only thing I could write.

I also made some pretty reckless and impulsive decisions, none of which I regret, but a lot of people thought I was being a bit crazy at the time. Lol! I quit my job as a Development Executive, walked away from my slate of Film & TV projects, moved from LA to Austin, got my incredible job here with Stage 32, where I was able to jump into this wonderful community, and readjusted my priorities.

Then one day, almost a full year after she passed away, I woke up with the seed of an idea. It was inspired by her and the more I thought about it, the more it started to grow. A few months after that, I started to write out the concept, and it began pouring out of me. It was some of the easiest writing I've ever done. It just came in its own time.

Travis, it may be helpful to think of this "weird place" as a moment to rest and reset. Grief swipes all the pieces off the chessboard so that you can't see the point of playing anymore. I was there too, not long ago, but time will pass and you'll start to see that creating art in the face of the darkness of the world is the opposite of pointless... it's exactly the point.

This might be a good time to pause the hustle and refill your creative and emotional buckets. Watch lots of movies, read tons of stories. Look at pictures in magazines and art books. Connect with other people--not networking, just to touch lives for a moment with another human. Go for walks, sit in the sand, walk crowded cities, observe people in motion. When you're ready to dip a toe into creating again, read Rick Rubin's The Creative Act. This is a marathon, not a sprint... it's okay to take some intentional rest for a while.

Hey, Nikki April Lee. Writing over 200 short scripts and a handful of features and selling about 10 short scripts is really impressive! Congratulations!

Hi, Mackenzie Bruen. Welcome to the community. I hope you're doing great and enjoying summer!

Stage 32 has a blog that'll help you navigate Stage 32 and connect with creatives and industry professionals all over the world (www.stage32.com/blog/how-to-successfully-navigate-the-stage-32-platform-...).

Stage 32 had a live Community Open House the other day. The recording will be available to watch soon (www.stage32.com/education/products/stage-32-s-june-community-open-house-...). It'll also help you navigate Stage 32 and connect with creatives and industry pros.

Hi, Don Sill. Great to meet you. Stage 32 has a blog that'll help you connect with creatives and industry professionals all over the world (www.stage32.com/blog/how-to-successfully-navigate-the-stage-32-platform-...).

Stage 32 had a live Community Open House the other day. The recording will be available to watch soon (www.stage32.com/education/products/stage-32-s-june-community-open-house-...). It'll also help you connect with creatives and industry pros.

Welcome Don!

Hey, Dylan Lee. Welcome to the community. Stage 32 has a blog that'll help you navigate Stage 32 and connect with creatives and industry professionals all over the world. Producers, directors, writers, other composers, and more. www.stage32.com/blog/how-to-successfully-navigate-the-stage-32-platform-...

Stage 32 had a live Community Open House the other day. The recording will be available to watch soon (www.stage32.com/education/products/stage-32-s-june-community-open-house-...). It'll also help you navigate Stage 32 and connect with creatives and industry pros.