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Nick Phillips is Stage 32's Executive Liasion, he has worked as a studio executive, an award-winning producer & filmmaker. His career in the entertainment industry spans nearly three decades, working on some of the most iconic films of our time across all genres and formats. Most recently, Nick was Head of Production for prolific producer Yale Entertainment. While there, he produced four films – BUCKY F*CKING DENT, written and directed by and starring David Duchovny; ALL YOU NEED IS BLOOD, with Mena Suvari; THE FOG OF WAR with John Cusack and Mira Sorvino; and BARRON'S COVE, starring Garrett Hedlund, Stephen Lang, Brittany Snow, and Hamish Linklater. Before that, Nick served as the Head of Production for the feature startup studio/streaming platform CreatorPlus. CreatorPlus produced, financed and released two features – JANE, starring Madelaine Petsch, Chloe Bailey, and Melissa Leo (distributed by Blue Fox Entertainment) and DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH. He also executive produced a slate of five short films as part of CreatorPlus’ Flip The Script Short Film Program. Nick co-founded and served as Executive Vice President of Revolver Picture Company, a fully financed independent production label in conjunction with Kelly Wagner Osborne. While at Revolver, Nick produced HAUNT with Jacki Weaver and Ione Skye; the award-winning BENEATH with Jeff Fahey (both released by IFC Midnight) and DEVIL'S BACKBONE TEXAS for Fox Digital Studios. Revolver’s last feature, PET, starred Dominic Monaghan, Ksenia Solo, and Jennette McCurdy and premiered at the SXSW Film Festival and was released through Samuel Goldwyn Films. Revolver also co-produced and co-financed the horror reality series Fight of the Living Dead for YouTube Red, which ran for three seasons. Full Bio »
Watch a special edition to THE BREAKDOWN webcast with producer and Stage 32 Executive Liaison, Nick Phillips, as he breaks down the script for the Best Picture Oscar Winner, OPENHEIMER. Find out why it took home so much gold at this year's Academy Awards AND get a FREE copy of the script! We are excited to breakdown OPPENHEIMER and focusing on a different aspect of writing every webcast.
The Breakdown
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As we enter the final month of 2021, it seems appropriate that we breakdown the final of the three acts. The Third Act can make or break your story. During this webcast we will use clips and scripts from your favorites to uncover what makes a 3rd Act work.
We're back in the Writers' Room for the Breakdown Webcast: Tackling Tone. Tone is the most elusive element of screenwriting. Particularly because much of the tone of a project is conveyed by much more than just the script. Tone is really the culmination of every artistic and aesthetic choice made during the production process from the screenplay, the angles of the camera, the choices the actors make, cinematography, pacing of a scene, music, costume design, and more. During this webcast, we discuss how to capture tone on the page in ways that you are able to convey a vision that can be interpreted by the other artists who will come to work on the project. We examine some of our favorite films and television series to see how tone was captured on the page and then realized on the screen. We also discuss tips on how you can achieve balance and clarity in your tone.
We're back in the Writers Room this afternoon for The Breakdown Webcast with Matt Ember! Matt Ember is a writer/producer who has worked on over 20 feature films and television shows including THE CONNERS on ABC, THE WAR WITH GRANDPA with Robert Deniro, GET SMART with Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway and FAILURE TO LAUNCH with Matthew McConaghey and Sarah Jessica Parker and many more.
Dark comedies intend to make light of events that would otherwise be considered too painful to discuss. The hope is that viewers will gain a cathartic experience, or simply laugh at some absurd situation. During this webcast, Jason Mirch discusses the 6 principles of how to make Dark Comedies work, while showing clips of some of the best dark comedies as examples.
We're back in the Writers' Room for the Breakdown Webcast: The First 10 Pages! The first 10 pages - or the opening sequence of the script - is so important and a good "First 10" will establish the tone and genre, introduce the main character, clarify the world of the story and the status quo, indicate the theme, and above all set up the dramatic question. That is why we will be breaking down some of the most memorable scenes and sequences found with the first 10 pages of our favorite film and TV series. We will also explore 7 types of openings and how they can launch your narrative - without falling into the trap of being cliche or derivative. As part of the webcast, you can download the complete scripts we discuss by clicking here. Once you have wrapped up the webcast, make sure to head on over to the Private Writers' Room Lounge to discuss your favorite opening scenes from film and television. And let us know why!
Writers' Room Members! Much more than a Breakdown Webcast, our special guest, Story Analyst for AMAZON Studios, Michael Schulman, will be going to discuss how Spec Scripts get shopped by Agents & considered by studios using examples he worked on: GROUNDHOG DAY, THE SIXTH SENSE, REGARDING HENRY, and MUNICH. Our LIVE audience will get the experience of being in a producer’s meeting where the goal is to dissect the draft and get the project ready to submit to the studio. This is a deep, creative scrub that will provide a specific game plan for a rewrite that will help position your project in the sweet spot of what the studios and streamers are looking for. Michael began his career at the William Morris Agency as an agent trainee, then at ICM, as an agent in the motion picture literary department, Michael began representing emerging screenwriters, directors, and producers, brokering the deal for Danny Rubin’s screenplay GROUNDHOG DAY to director Harold Ramis. Michael also spent years on the buyer side of film as VP of Development for Alec Baldwin’s company at Orion Pictures and subsequently for Dennis Quaid’s company at TriStar, and worked at Barry Mendel Productions, where he was involved with the acquisition, development, and production of Oscar-nominated THE SIXTH SENSE and Spielberg's Oscar-nominated MUNICH. Michael spent two years as head of development for Michael Mann’s company, where he worked on Oscar-nominated ALI, 5-time Oscar-winning THE AVIATOR, and was a former story analyst/script consultant for Netflix in the Original Independent Film (OIF) division. Invaluable knowledge is being shared with our Writers' Room Members, right here on Stage 32!