Screenwriting : A screenwriter looking for management by Nathan Panfil

Hey Nathan Panfil The honest answer: you're not going to find one. Maybe a charlatan posing as one, but ask yourself why an actual producer would sign up for Stage 32 just to get mobbed by tens of thousands of anonymous newbies screaming "You've got to read my script! It's phenomenal! It's original!"

Here's what a lot of newly-minted screenwriters don't understand: you can't just find a producer at Company X, Y, or Z on IMDbPro and send them your script hoping they'll read it. Their assistant is bulk-deleting a hundred emails a day from spec writers, because legally, the company can't touch a spec script that hasn't been referred by an agent or someone already inside the industry. The liability is too high.

So go to ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude, Gemini — any AI engine — and ask it how to get your script in front of someone in the industry. It'll tell you the same things: The Black List, InkTip, film festivals, maybe Stage 32, shooting a pilot short and putting it on YouTube. There's no shortage of avenues to try. But sitting around hoping a producer is lurking on these forums looking for your script? That's not happening.

Oh, also beware. There is no shortage of script consultants who will gladly take your money guaranteeing you they'll help your hone your script into a polished, ready-for-submission, formatted perfectly. Don't trust them. They only want your money and will run your PDF through an AI-engine and feed it back to you as if they performed a miracle. Sorry to be so... uhhh, errrr ... honest with you.

Good luck!

Hi Nathan Panfil

Great question, and welcome to the community! There are a few genuinely valuable pathways I'd recommend for finding a producer AND building the kinds of industry relationships that can lead to representation.

Reach out to our Success Team at Success@Stage32.com. They're the best resource for personalized guidance on finding the right producer for your specific projects. They can help you identify Stage 32 Executives whose expertise aligns with your genre and connect you with resources for pitching, packaging, and positioning your work in front of the right people. This is genuinely the highest-value first step you can take.

Read the Stage 32 Blog daily. Our blog is published every day and is often authored by working industry professionals AND fellow Stage 32 members who are making real progress in their careers. It's an incredible free resource for learning about the industry, understanding what producers and executives are looking for, and hearing from voices who are actively navigating this business. You can find it here: https://www.stage32.com/blog

Spend time here in the Lounges. Consistent engagement in the Lounges is genuinely one of the most powerful ways to build meaningful industry relationships over time. The strongest connections form when members show up regularly, contribute thoughtfully to conversations, and support other creatives' work. When people are curious about you and your work, they will ask. That's the pathway to producers, reps, and executives noticing you.

Wishing you the best on your journey, Nathan! I'm excited to see you in more Lounge conversations.

I want to jump in here and gently push back on some of what you shared here, Robert Zwerneman, because I don't want you to leave this conversation with an inaccurate picture of what Stage 32 actually is or what's possible for you here.

Legitimate producers, executives, and reps are genuinely comfortable on Stage 32, and there are real reasons for that. We've worked hard to build a level of standard for respect, professionalism, and community within the industry that's different from broad-based social media platforms.

Members and Executives can actively control who reaches out to them through DMs. If someone isn't in your network, they can't privately DM you past requesting a network request. This helps them control those unsolicited submissions that they're flooded with everywhere else they go. We carefully maintain professionalism and standards of behavior here in the public Lounges, and we address behavior that doesn't align with those standards.

Producers, executives, and reps also know they can trust us because we've spent years building strong relationships with the industry. Stage 32 is the official education partner of Cannes Marche du Film (one of the largest and most respected film markets in the world), American Film Market, Netflix, Women in Film and Television International, the Association of Film Commissions International, and many others.

The industry has changed and evolved rapidly over the past decade, and legitimate producers have adjusted with those changes. Stage 32 has grown into one of the ways they now find new voices, because we vet the executives we work with and create structured pathways (like our Success Team, Script Services, Pitch Sessions, and Executive Consultations) that are designed to work AND that respect their time.

I'd also want to make sure you know that member success stories are real and happen often here. Members have signed with agents and managers, secured option deals on their scripts and books, gotten their projects into production, and had their films distributed on streaming services and in theaters. Last year, two films that originated right here on Stage 32 had back-to-back nationwide theatrical releases: NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH and NO ADDRESS. We share these stories with the community regularly on the Stage 32 Blog, and the members who see success tend to share a few key qualities: they're patient, open, supportive, active in the community, and consistently hardworking.

This industry is genuinely hard, but real opportunities happen here every day for members who commit to the work AND to building authentic relationships and community.

If you put the work in, have a good story, and engage on the platform then you will reap the rewards. I think Stage32 has demonstrated that it is a trustworthy platform that does the heavy lifting for screenwriters to give us a chance of getting in front of execs. I'm not at that stage yet but I know this is where my project skills will be honed to the very execs you are looking for. Good luck Nathan Panfil and welcome to the community!

Ashley Renée Smith — fair enough, let's define "producer."

I spent a couple of months on InkTip and found that the "producers" registered there were real people, just with tiny budgets. They even let film students post "pitch opportunities" — so a screenwriter with a real feature script quickly realizes the opportunity isn't what they hoped for. I left.

The Black List has more producers, sure, but access requires a minimum of two script evaluations at $100 each. Most new screenwriters end up jaded after spending $200 to get a "four" when they were expecting an "eight."

Stage 32 does have legitimate producers — I won't argue that. But you're part of the machine here, so you know as well as I do that fraud is rampant, with plenty of people posing as something they're not. I'm currently in correspondence with over a dozen producers whose budgets could support one of my features. Not one of them is on this site.

I wasn't trying to say nobody finds success here — clearly some do. I was setting realistic expectations for someone who thinks they're going to strike gold just by showing up. Maybe they will. I'm not saying it's impossible. Just keeping it real.

I think the original question was 'how do I find a producer on here?' - I'm not sure it's fair to say they thought they were going to strike gold by showing up.

Robert, thank you so much for sharing this. I appreciate your honesty AND your willingness to engage in a real conversation about this.

I genuinely agree with you on the core point: this is an incredibly difficult industry, and it can be a hard path for anyone to walk, no matter where or how they begin. It takes perseverance, hard work, resilience through countless rejections, and a community that wants to see you succeed. The guarantee I'll always make about Stage 32 is that you'll get out of it what you put into it AND that there are truly incredible people here who can become a real community and resource to help you succeed. But you're absolutely right, success is never a guarantee anywhere, and I never want to give the impression that it is. Setting realistic expectations is genuinely important, and I appreciate you looking out for fellow writers in that way.

On the internet, there will always be bad operators who try to take advantage of free platforms. That's true everywhere. However, there are also genuinely talented, reputable, and highly experienced people in this community. Unlike other spaces online where you can find script services, we make sure that every Stage 32 Executive available through our official consultations, pitch sessions, contests, coverage, etc., is a vetted working professional. We highly value transparency and require that every executive shares their professional bios on our services pages, even people who tend to keep their credits and resumes private within the industry. They can't be an executive with us unless they agree to make that information available to our members.

At the same time, any Stage 32 member can set up an account, which is what allows us to make access to these resources available to anyone regardless of experience level. That access is important to us. However, when someone reaches out to another member with an initial network request DM, that member has the ability to review and accept OR deny it. If they deny it, that person can never privately interact with them again outside of the public Lounges.

Our public Lounges are also wonderfully moderated by Stage 32 members who volunteer their time to help protect, support, and care for the members of this community, making sure public interactions are appropriate, professional, and respectful.

ALL Stage 32 members are also encouraged to report concerning behavior and accounts to us. If you or anyone on Stage 32 are approached by someone who appears to be spamming in the community OR pushing unverified services with ill intent, you can report them by emailing Support@Stage32.com or reaching out to me directly at Community@Stage32.com. We investigate and remove accounts of concern quickly. That's how we protect the trust our members put in us.

Many of the reputable and incredibly experienced producers, reps, screenwriters, filmmakers, and executives who spend their time teaching and providing services on Stage 32 also make themselves available to the community entirely for free. They interact in Lounge posts, author free blogs, host free AMA Lounge events, and share advice, tips, and insights in their own posts and conversations. When someone stands out to them, they've been known to reach out more directly, meet with members over Zooms and in-person, and those interactions have led to incredible opportunities for members of this community. It happens all the time.

To your point about the producers you're currently in correspondence with, I don't doubt at all that you're building your own network through your own hustle, that's exactly what a working screenwriter should be doing. Stage 32 isn't meant to replace the network you build outside of the platform. It's meant to complement it AND expand what's possible for you AND for writers who don't have access to the connections you've been able to develop on your own.

Thanks again for engaging with this so thoughtfully. I'm glad you shared that!

Well said, Robert Zwerneman.

I have to step in here just to give what I would consider to be a very representative experience available to anyone engaging on Stage 32.

I encountered Stage 32 last August after having completed a paid program through a company called Call Sheet Media (CSM). I had a a very positive experience there and am still in contact with industry professionals I was exposed to. My project was ultimately a PASS but the CEO did reach out to me directly with very encouraging words with actual insight to the project so I knew he was being legit and he encouraged me to seek out some social networking sites to help engage with the creative community.

That brought me to Stage 32 last August. I was immediately struck by the scope of what was offered, free to not. I felt like it was pure luck on my part to have discovered this site.

A little caveat - my wife and I have been traveling the world since 2024 and as such I have the blessing of excess time to devote to this pursuit. This is not something I am trying to find time to do - I literally have every second I want to devote to this and I understand the warping nature of that on my experience here.

I'm not gonna lie, I was immediately transfixed and intoxicated with the level of access to individuals I could verify on IMDBPro. All I had to do was put in my credit card number and they will read my script?? SIGN ME UP. A lot. Too much. After 90 days and a quick calculation I realized I needed a different strategy.

A strategy that included a more strategic use of access used in combination with engaging on the site in posts, viewing the free videos, joining the Writers Room and watching others braver than me pitch their passion projects in front of strangers.

I started contacting individuals that were interesting to me to build a network of people in similar pursuits, many of them advanced beyond where I was, They were very generous with their time and willingness to answer questions from a rookie. They were so friendly. And genuine.

As I sit here today, I just received confirmation from a $2B+ feature actor that everyone on here would recognize to email him after Labor Day to schedule a pitch of my passion project. I am working on developing this into the best version possible with the help of a Producer I met on here who I happened to ask a simple question many months ago. He was kind enough to not only give me answer but ask me some more questions and point out why my pitch 'sucked', haha.

In additon, I am working hard to craft my first feature script into a product that can be taken to market and getting personal guidance each step of the way from a different producer I met on here.

Finally, today I finalized the publishing schedule for my first ebook series My Cousin From Kentucky which will roll Memorial Day 2027.

Finally, a pilot written in collaboration with an individual I asked to join my network on here was announced as a quarterfinalist for the TV Comedy contest and we have initiated discussions with an indie ebook publisher for the rights to that series.

None of this would have happened if not for Stage 32.

All of this is 100% accurate and not in the least exaggerated. And the best thing of all??? It's not even remarkable. I'm just a hustler that understands systems and engagement. That's all you have to do if you have a good product - hustle, engage, and use the system that is there to be used.

Darrell A Pennington Charlie Hustle would be an admirer. Maybe one day, he'll be in the Hall of Fame as will you, figuratively of course. I too am self-unemployed and share your passion to bring our words to life so others can share in our creativity. Like Pete, I don't like losing and thrive on the challenge this industry presents. You can pound on the gate, but getting an invite feels good, doesn't it?

Robert Zwerneman I think I've finally found that sweet spot where I truly understand what the phrase 'it's the journey, not the destination' really means. I'm to close to all of our ultimate destination and I am trying to prolong that journey every day possible.