Education + Collaboration for Creatives – Stage 32

Education + Collaboration for Creatives – Stage 32

Stage 32 works with over 600 industry executives and has been recognized by Forbes magazine as the leading source for educating film, television and new media creatives through their Next Level webinars, classes and labs. Further, Stage 32 Script Services provides access to producers, directors of development, managers and agents. Stage 32 Script Services works with hundreds of industry professionals to provide feedback on scripts through script coverage, pitching, consultations and the Stage 32 Writers’ Room. To date, over 500 writers have been signed, sold, optioned or staffed by meeting through the platform. Angela and Taylor from the Stage 32 team will be joining us to discuss further. As always please bring your questions so that we can learn together.

Panelists

Sarah Marince
Angela Cristantello
Taylor C. Baker
John Kelly

Transcripts from talk

Sarah Marince:

Hello everyone, happy Wednesday. Welcome to crew talk brought to you by shoots.video. I’m Sarah and I will be your host for this evening, and we have a wonderful panel of people here to talk to you about stage 32. I’m excited to dig into it. So I’m going to go across my screen right now and kind of have everyone introduce themselves. we are going to start with Taylor. Hi Taylor. Thank you for joining us.

Taylor C. Baker:

Hi Sarah. Thank you guys. Thank you everyone for having me as Sarah said, my name is Taylor C. Baker, and I’m an actor and I’m the director of community at stage 32.

 Sarah Marince:

Wonderful. And you are in Austin, Texas, correct?

Taylor C. Baker:

I’m based in Austin, Texas. Yes.

 Sarah Marince:

Wonderful, we are glad to have you and hello again, John. Thank you for joining us again today. We are glad to have you.

John Kelly:

Great to be here Sarah. So my name’s John Kelly I’m a writer, corporate screenwriter, and I’ve been doing that most of my career. I live in the little Hamlet of snowball, Arkansas up by Buffalo national river. And it’s a delight to be here today. Thanks for having me.

 Sarah Marince:

Wonderful, Of course. And last, but certainly not least. We have Angela. Hey Angela.

Angela Cristantello:

Hi how Are you? I’m Angela Cristantello. I’m an actor and writer and I am the creative services manager at stage 32.

 Sarah Marince:

Wonderful, well, we are excited to jump into everything stage 32, but I guess my first question would be how did stage 32 come to be like, what is the history of it? I don’t know if Angela or Taylor, you want to take that? Either one of you can.

Taylor C. Baker:

Sure, I’d be happy to take that. So we are actually celebrating our 10 year anniversary this year. So we have been around for a decade and stage 32. For those of you who do not know is the largest online platform for connecting and educating film, TV and digital creatives and professionals worldwide. We have over 800,000 members and I want to say over 180 countries. So in almost every corner of the world, you can find someone on stage 32 to chat with. And it was really born. Our founder and CEO, Richard RB, Botto really created as a platform for himself to network and create connections in entertainment. we’re really working hard to democratize the entertainment industry and level the playing field for everyone, no matter where you live and RB just wanted. He didn’t see a place where he could connect with people and make authentic relationships and get access and opportunities to great ways to get your career going and entertainment. So that was really how it was born 10 years ago. And we’ve had some amazing success stories and growth since then. And we’re excited for 10 more years of that stories and growth for our members.

 Sarah Marince:

Well graduations on 10 years, that is quite an accomplishment. and I went to the website and I mean, I was like, oh wow, this is what this is. This is really cool. Like you can chat with anyone in the field on anything. and so Angela, do you want to kinda talk about your history with stage 32 and a little bit more about what you do there?

Angela Cristantello:

Oh yeah, absolutely. So I actually got started with stage 32 as an industry reader which means that if someone submits their screenplay or their teleplay to stage 32 to receive coverage, which is notes on your screen player, teleplay I am one of the readers who could potentially read your piece. I have years and years of history of doing this in the industry myself. I freelance doing it in New York for a hundred million years, but I also have done it for numerous festivals and for years. and that’s how I came to stage 32 originally. I was the number two for our script services or developmental services department for the better part of a year. it was helping out our directors script services and just was an additional liaison between all the screenwriters and the administrative end of the stage 32 for a long time.

Angela Cristantello:

And now I’m the liaison between our entire community and the administrative editor of stage 32. And that’s really fun. I love talking with all of our community members, whether they’re a screenwriter, a director, a budding producer, or what have you, it feels so nice to just be an advocate for them. as, as an actor and a writer myself, it’s always helpful to know that you have an advocate out there in the world for you. just helping you know, that like you’re doing all the right things. You’re putting yourself out there and just continue to be relentless. I know that this is hard. it’s as, as brief a description of what I do as is possible because

 Sarah Marince:

That’s great. So then is that one of the services then that stage 32 offers is they can submit their script and have somebody kind of go through it and critique for them. So what are some of the other services that you can find on stage 32?

Angela Cristantello:

So many. So these coverage options are plentiful and there’s different levels of coverage that you can do. And if he wanted if you have specifically a short script that you would like to get coverage on, there’s that option, if you want only your first 10 pages to be reviewed and to have notes on that, because it’s so important. If you’re writing the story to make sure that you have a crazy, huge hook, we have coverage specifically for that different lengths of coverage, different people who will give you coverage. We have a bajillion options, and no less than that. we also have consultations. So if you wanted to have either your pitch deck or your pitch Bible reviewed, if you wanted an industry professional, to be able to read your screenplay and then have a developmental chat with you about that over the phone or over Skype, it’s literally your choice, there’s options for those things.

Angela Cristantello:

If you are a novelist or you’ve written a manuscript and you’re like, Hey, I really want to translate this for the screen, but I’m not sure how to do that. We have consultations available for that as well. if you’re somebody who’s just starting out with writing and you’re like, I don’t really know how to begin. we have mentorship opportunities. So you can sign up with an industry professional and say, help me. This is where I’m at. I’m not really sure where I’m going, but this is where I want to be. and they will help. They will help mold you and they’ll give you a path to success. we have mock pitch sessions on the weekends. So if you’re a person who is working on refining your pitch you have different industry executives who are presiding over these pitch sessions every single weekend.

Angela Cristantello:

And they run the gamut from producers to literary managers, to development executives and financiers. And you do your five to six minute pitch in front of them. They ask you questions and then they give you a feedback scorecard shortly thereafter. And they say, what worked in your pitch and what didn’t and why? our whole idea at Stage 32. And I know that this is something that Taylor and I can both speak to a great deal is to make sure that every single person who is a member of our community just walks away from our community, eventually feeling the, the best storyteller that they can be. And that they’re at the top of their craft. We want to make sure that we’re giving everybody the most amount of education possible so that they can be the best screenwriter producer. What have you, that they can possibly be.

 Sarah Marince:

Wow. Yeah. I’m excited to dig into all of it, but I mean, it sounds like you catered to all the needs of like writers directors, just everybody, but if somebody were a new writer or kind of didn’t know where to start, what a great place to turn to and John, oh, sorry, go ahead, Taylor.

Taylor C. Baker:

We like to think of ourselves as sort of like a one-stop one-stop shop for filmmakers, actors, producers, screenwriters. What have you, because we have, in addition to the script services department, Angela was speaking to which I plopped in the chat. If anyone’s interested in any of those services, as well as our just regular website, it’s free to create a profile and start networking. we also have the education division of stage 32, and we have over 1500 hours of webinars classes, labs where you get taught by Oscar, Emmy and BAFTA nominated and winning teachers. So these are people that are like at the top of their field. I like to think of our education as all the things I didn’t learn in film school. cause we have a lot of great resources for the craft side of business of the entertainment, but we all have a ton of great education on the business side of things from like really specific things about like how to get in south America for your film, you know, like really, almost everything you could want to learn about entertainment. We like to think there’s a webinar for that on stage 32.

Angela Cristantello:

mark DP just wrote in and asked about projects already in development and documentaries. And I honest to goodness mark, like there, we have things on the educational side for all of that. I know I can think of like a series of specific webinars that are revolving around products that are already in development and how to like take those things to the next level and documentary specific things as well. So definitely check out the things that our educational side has to offer in that regard. For Sure.

Taylor C. Baker:

I just popped into education link and I’m looking specifically for the one on distribution because we have a ton of webinars about it. Dropped that in the chat for you guys.

 Sarah Marince:

Great. Thank you. And John, as a writer, what do you have to say about all of this?

John Kelly:

where was this when I was growing up, this is fabulous and, you know, it’s a cure world out there and, and querying, and, and even even getting an agent can be an arduous journey. So I’m, I’m actually really intrigued by the community that you have, because it sounds like you bond with a lot of people, especially the mentorship program. I mean, you read anything by William Goldman and the people that apprentice under him or whatever, it’s, you know, you go, gosh, I wish we had that today. And it sounds like you guys are creating that. So my question is when you’ve, when you’ve seen some of these people at the beginning, and let’s say some of those people have been placed in the industry and are actually working, are you still following those some of those relationships, so they stay with you after all this time. I’d be curious to know that. Yeah, yeah.

Taylor C. Baker:

We have a ton of success stories from, you know, one of my, my favorite one is a recent one. We had a screenwriter based in, in Kerry Ireland. It’s a small town south of Dublin. She is the most wonderful, positive, optimistic person ever. Name’s Radhika Merrill. And within one month of being a member of stage 32, she had her, she posted her log line on stage 32. You can post log lines for projects, whether they’re scripts you have completed, or just an idea you had that project has since been option. So she sold that script. She sent sold one other script and Amanda, I don’t, or Angela, I don’t know if you knew the seat, but she also is talking to a manager. So like, yeah, we, we DM on Instagram all the time. So like we love keeping up with our, our success stories and members and following their careers. So.

 Sarah Marince:

Or make you feel good that, you know, this platform that you have, people are succeeding so quickly too. I mean, that’s yeah, that’s wonderful. I know it’s going to ask John, what do you think, how do you think your career would have been different? If something like this, what are available when you were starting out?

John Kelly:

I think, I think what you’re missing when you’re going out alone, because nobody knows anything when they’re 23. And so if you had that kind of community to bounce stuff off of, and people that had had the experience and say, you know, really, let me, let me take you by the hand. And this is the path you want to do. You’ve got some rudimentary talents or skills, which you’re gonna have to work really hard and here’s the past to go, oh my goodness. That would have made a huge difference. I mean, as, as Taylor was alluding to film school, film school can teach you a lot of, a lot of a lot of things, but, but the actual mechanics of working in the relationship and just keeping your button and chair as a for writers speak, you know, and the discipline that it takes, if you had somebody that was encouraging you and guiding you huge difference, huge difference.

Angela Cristantello:

Our director of scripts or developmental services, Jason, him, he, and I often say that film school in any kind of conservatory that you can find yourself going to does a really great job of teaching you the show and of show business, but it doesn’t really teach you the business under show business. And we’re here to help fill in that very necessary gap, you know? and it feels really good to be able to, it just feels good to be able to do that.

Taylor C. Baker:

And we’re all, RB, Our founder and CEO is a producer and a screenwriter and an actor himself, Angela, like she said, is a writer and an actor. I’m an actress. And our managing director, Amanda Tony is a producer who recently sold a show, an unscripted show to a major us network. So like we all work in entertainment in addition to our stage 32 jobs. So we know exactly what you guys are going through and how it feels to be on that side of things. We definitely love hearing those stories and those successes, and we understand the hustle, something fierce.

 Sarah Marince:

I think that’s important to kind of be able to relate in that way with the people that you’re mentoring or just working with in general. That’s a really great thing. We do have a question from Charles B, how do you protect your script? It was suggested to me to have anyone that views your script, sign an NDA, and how often are lawsuits leveled for ideas that get copied.

Angela Cristantello:

Got it, so I think that having to sign an NDA, anytime you read somebody script, I wouldn’t, I personally wouldn’t worry about doing that at all. I think that if you want that security on your screenplay, the best and easiest way to go about that, it’s just to register your piece with the WGA and then it’s good to go. It’ll cost you $20 to do. and it is instantaneous. I know, you know, we obviously talked to a lot of writers all the time and there is always that fear that someone that is going to steal your story and steal your piece and steal your idea. and there’s obviously all these horror stories about it having happened. And it doesn’t, it is not a thing that happens as often as you think at all, because so often whenever a story is being read, it’s not just your idea. That’s capturing somebody’s attention. It’s also your voice as attached to that idea. And if somebody were to try to replicate it, they, they couldn’t. But if you want that extra piece of security registered with WGA online, and you’ll be completely good to go for sure.

 Sarah Marince:

John, do you have anything you want to add about that?

John Kelly:

I totally agree with that. I think I think MBA has is it is a bit overboard. I think registering with the WGA is quick and easy. And, and, and the thing is, I think there’s a fear when you, when you’re starting writing that you discover an idea and you execute the idea and you go, this is my precious thing, and I don’t want to wait to take it. It’s pretty rare in the instance when there’s actual plagiarism. Now, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen, but it’s, it’s pretty rare. But, but as Angela said, registering, it just that’s the easiest most, most, I think clearest easiest way to take care of that. So

 Sarah Marince:

Go ahead, Taylor.

Taylor C. Baker:

I’ve also, RB, our CEO does a lot of ask me anythings and I’ve heard him talk a lot about this. And he said that some executives that he’s worked with won’t even read a script. If someone sends him an NDA, they’re like, Nope, this, this writer is going to be a handful. This is too much work. You can like, like Angela said, registered with the WGA. It’s so fast. It’s also makes you feel super legit. You get a lovely like flyer that says your name and the name of that script and everything. but you can’t really protect an idea. You can protect your script. So I think what Angela said was just like so brilliant about your story is so specific to your voice. So I wouldn’t stress too much about someone feeding your idea, your story.

 Sarah Marince:

And we have a question here kind of about ideas, I think from Charles. if you can’t get clearance on a derivative idea from the company that originated the idea, do you go forward and produce it anyway, and then worry after the, after the fact about the company approaching you?

Angela Cristantello:

Oh boy. So are you, are you referencing something, for example, like if you were to do your own take on like a Marvel story, for example. Yeah. I, okay. I would always make sure that you get clearance from that company, because if you were to go ahead and produce it without them giving you permission to go ahead and produce this thing on your own, I can’t begin to imagine the amount of financial trouble and legal trouble that you would get in for doing something like that without their permission. and in addition to that financial trouble, it’s just something that would, that would maybe very potentially destroy your career, which I would hate to see happen to you. So it is ready to get to a place in the sixties. And I, okay. I, yeah, just the same. I would probably, I would seek out their permission. it’s the same idea, any kind of existing IP or any kind of idea that belongs to somebody else. You always want to make sure that you get the permission of who whomever created that idea first, before you go forth and try to produce it yourself.

Taylor C. Baker:

I Actually have an interesting story about this. if anyone’s familiar with Rocky horror picture show from a theater standpoint, no one can do that show in Los Angeles because the author of the original right, does not like LA. And even if you submit a request to officially do it, you cannot do it. I was in a show that was a parody of that show, which should be protected by parody law. and we got a very angry cease and desist immediately. So if you have anything or you’re trying to promote your project tied to like Marvel based characters or Harry Potter, or like any of those big IPS, especially it does happen. You can get cease and desist and if you actually cease and desist, it could stop and you won’t have any financial ramifications, but it, it is tricky trying to do things based on other IP without, especially without permission.

Angela Cristantello:

I know that about Rocky horror. That is yeah.

 Sarah Marince:

What a random thing like a place. So it’s not going to happen here. Power too. That’s a power move. That’s that’s funny. so, okay. We had another quick question in the box that says, what if they, the studio asks you to sign an NDA?

Taylor C. Baker:

Yes. Sign it, sign that. Yeah. That’s a whole different thing.

Angela Cristantello:

Well, I run into situations like that auditioning all the time and it’s like sign this nda. Yes. Okay. And you can’t sign it quickly enough, but yeah, it’s a different deal if it is, if it’s with your screenplay, because here’s the caveat with when you’re a screenwriter, you have to be able to share this story in order to know that your story is working and that your piece is working. You just want to make sure that you’re sharing that story with trusted eyes and experienced eyes who are going to be able to give you the notes that you need that are going to be able to take your story to the next level. And it is that trust is such a hard thing to find. And storytellers are all hyper vulnerable people because with your art, you have to be, but you also have to make yourself vulnerable to be able to share it. and it’s the only way that your stories are going to get as strong as they potentially can be. it’s, it’s a really, it’s a tough, it’s a tough dance to dance, but it’s something that you have to do for sure.

Taylor C. Baker:

Baby birds got to fly the nest and we give those names some air Michael hol. if I may, Sarah asked another question. This is a great question. I’ve worked for stage 32 for two years, and I often get excited about the vast amount of content on here. So Michael asks, given the vast amount of content on stage 32, what is the best way to get in front of the right eye? Thanks. Thanks in advance all. Well, thank you, Michael Hall. And I looked at your profile delightful. I’ll send you a network request. So the very first thing I would recommend any stage 32 member doing is going to the introduce yourself lounge, which I’ll post in the chat shortly and introduce yourself, say hello, where you live, what you’re passionate about writing, performing, directing, and there is a delightful experience this weekend.

Taylor C. Baker:

We do once a month on the third weekend of every month called introduce yourself weekend. So it is the busiest time on the site bar. None. We have thousands of people from all over the world, check in, introduce themselves and just topping the, introduce yourself lounge either this weekend or any time and comment on other people’s posts. They’re doing engage with what they have going on. And specifically to you because of getting in front of the right eyes. That sounds like perhaps a screen screenplay thing. I will, we’ve talked about Jason, a lot, our director of script services. We call him our screenwriting Shannon. he helps carry all of our screenwriters to the right eyes. I will put his email in here. You can email him at [email protected] because there are so many pitch sessions services that it can get a little overwhelming and he can help you find the right person for your project. So just send him your genre and your log line, and he can help point you in the right direction.

Angela Cristantello:

And he loves to. like, he loves doing this so much. So definitely shoot him an email.

 Sarah Marince:

Thanks for dropping his email in there. That’s that’s awesome. so I know you said you, you have the online I forget what you called it, like get to know you or introduce yourself, introduce yourself. So are you planning any in-person events in the future?

Taylor C. Baker:

Sure. So I’m just pulling up our introduce yourself lounge right now to drop it in the chat. we are, as I mentioned, celebrating our 10 year anniversary this year and our CEO’s teased some potential events and we’ll get back to you before the world shut down. We did regularly. We hosted meetups in different cities all over the world and we would do in-person events. And we’re also partners with a lot of great festivals and film markets, like the American film market and Marshe du film at cannes. And series Fest, which is going on next week so were partners with a lot of really great festivals. So we have a lot of the in-person experiences sort of take place with these best in tandem with the festivals. so at current I don’t have any exciting in-person events to, to tell everyone, but stay tuned.

 Sarah Marince:

So people will be able to find those on the website on the stage 32 website. And also I noticed you have a very large Instagram following. And so he, you post stuff on there as well for in-person events or just anything that’s coming up correct?

Taylor C. Baker:

Absolutely. I think Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, all of those things were at stage 32 and at stage 32 scripts. So you can definitely find any updates for those kinds of events there.

 Sarah Marince:

For sure. Awesome. What a great networking opportunity. I miss all of that in-person stuff. Over here It’s been just on zoom, which is great. but yeah, the in-person stuff, there’s nothing like it. so what are some of the changes and challenges that you’ve seen over the years at stage 32 or just in video production in general?

Angela Cristantello:

So the biggest change I would say is that it, the, the filmmaking world, the filmmaking industry has just become so much more virtual, obviously over the past 16 months out of necessity. but also just because, I mean, it’s, it’s convenient. You know, the, I think the industry is realizing that not all screenwriters and not all producers and not all directors are based in either New York city or Los Angeles they’re everywhere. And so they want to make sure that they open the industry up to everyone everywhere. It’s why we have community members in, like Taylor said 180 countries. It’s like we we’ve had writers get options at Ireland. We’ve had writers get option in the middle east. There are people who are active in central America and south America and Africa. And it’s amazing. you shouldn’t have to feel like you should pick up and move your life to one of two cities to feel like you’re active in TV and film and stage 32

Angela Cristantello:

is here to help everybody out who doesn’t necessarily live in those two cities. so I think by virtue of the industry becoming that much more virtual and having more talks like this over zoom and having more meetings over zoom and auditions over zoom and things like that, I think it’s just benefiting more people. And I only see the industry becoming more virtual over time which is very exciting, you know? I think that the biggest challenge is also one of the biggest gifts is that there is no clear cut weight into the industry anymore. There are so many different routes that you could take to be able to find your way in and find some measure of success in the industry. And because you have all these different routes, I can see how easily overwhelming it can be. but that also means that you have more things to try and you have more ways to like, you have more things to throw at a dartboard until something eventually sticks. That was not a great metaphor. And I apologize for that. there are so many ways in that I have to think that if you’re an artist of any kind, whatever it is that you do in the industry, the longer that you stick it out, the more that you put yourself out there and the more things that you try to get your way into the door, eventually you’re going to do it. You just, will.

 Sarah Marince:

Yeah. John, what do you, what do you think just with the changes you’ve seen or experienced over the years, where do you see it kind of going.

John Kelly:

Boy, that’s a good question. I I’ve pretty much agree pretty much with when Angela said I see a tendency for, in some storytelling wise, some shrinkage to just IP, as long as there’s a recognizable IP, then people want to do that. And it’s getting harder and harder in some, some ways to have an original, original story, but hard to make a Kramer vs Kramer today. It’s just who’s to, you know, you have very small budgets, even micro budgets, and you have very, very large budgets, but you have very, very few films that have the medium budgets. And so I’m, I’m a big proponent of, of films because I those original stories, cause I think there’s a scarcity of them, but there’s also, there’s a scarcity of coach from I’m generalizing here. studios take a chance on those because they forget that those original stories that became blockbusters were original stories to begin with. So, but everybody’s so scared. They’re like, well, we know this IP, people recognize this, so we’re going to make a movie of it, but there’s just such a wealth of storytelling out there that I’m, I’m hopeful that there’ll be a turning of the ship back to some of those original stories.

Angela Cristantello:

Oh, I’m so sorry to cut you off.

John Kelly:

Does that make sense? I’m saying absolutely.

 Sarah Marince:

Yeah, absolutely. Angela, what were you going to add?

Angela Cristantello:

I get so excited talking about this. so I agreed and there is such a huge demand for existing IP and turning that into and turning that into screenplays. And I think that a lot of people do think that that’s kind of the only way in right now. but I know that there is also an increasing demand for diverse voices to be telling stories and therefore diverse stories that are going to be coming out of that. So the, the industry right now is looking for female voices more female writers telling more female led stories. We’re looking for more black voices. We’re looking for more voices from the LGBTQ plus community. And I think thank goodness, right? Like more people telling more stories that we haven’t heard before. and I do think that that demand is going to continue to grow. And I know that there’s also an increasing demand for genre blended things.

Angela Cristantello:

I know that like get out kind of helped to pave the way for that because it was a horror comedy and very much so it was both of those things. and so now there’s all these studios that are looking for more like absolute blends and things because there is really no clear cut. This is only a horror anymore. This is only a scifi thing anymore. and there’s a billion different directions that you can go in that regard. so yeah, I mean, I think, I think IP is one thing, but I think that there’s also all of those options as well. And I’m excited to see those demands grow.

John Kelly:

we should mention that there’s probably now more than ever. There’s so many more venues for storytelling because there’s a hunger for content. So it’s not just the theater, it’s all these streaming platforms, it’s all in these other areas. So, so in that sense, there’s more opportunity than ever. So, I mean, I’d be remiss if we didn’t say something about that.

 Sarah Marince:

I have a question. So say I’m a beginner. Like I D I want to log on to stage 32. I want to join first of all, is there any criteria that I need to have to join stage 32? Okay. So, okay. Dinner, I’ve been doing it for years, renewing it forever and I can join. And is there a cost to join?

Angela Cristantello:

It is free.

 Sarah Marince:

Oh wow. Okay. That’s, that’s really cool. So I make my username, I log in. and how does it work once I’m in? So I know you have the introduce yourself. So what it’s called, introduce yourself, introduce yourself lounge. And then from there, where do I go? If I’m a writer, like where do I go? What do I do? How do I make it work to my advantage.

Angela Cristantello:

Do you want to take this one?

Taylor C. Baker:

Sure. Well, first and foremost, we like to encourage everyone to set up their profile, include a photo fill out your bio. You can have places to fill out your log lines, links to other projects, YouTube channels, Instagram, what have you, you can upload videos if it’s your real, a trailer for a short you shot. so fill out your profile as fully as possible, because I know a lot of us, myself included. If I get a network request from someone who doesn’t, it’s just like that plain avatar image that you naturally get, and there’s no bio, I don’t accept it. Cause I’m like, I don’t know anything about you. So you want to like set yourself up for success and set up your profile. Number one. And then, like I said, go to the, introduce yourself, lounge, introduce yourself. We also have lounges for acting post-production cinematography, directing filmmaking, like all of the different facets.

Taylor C. Baker:

So you can go in there and network with people that work in your same field or alternatively, if Angela and I were actually just talking about this, about how actors often always know a bunch of other actors, but maybe as an actor, go into the filmmaking lounge and try to meet some directors, because those are the people who are going to cast you in projects. God love your actor, friends who are also acting, but you want to also network with people that work on all sides of the entertainment industry. you mentioned writers specifically. We have we haven’t actually talked much about this yet. but I think it’s, maybe we’ll talk about it later, but we have the writers room, which is a lovely service. That is a great way to meet with writers. Once a week, often actually like three times a week, they have all these breakout rooms now where they do pitch practices amongst themselves and all these other great ways to kind of just like continue getting in the rhythm of writing consistently.

Taylor C. Baker:

And then if you’re looking for to learn something specific, you can head over to our education section and there’s all the webinars and classes. If you’re looking for something more in depth. and we also have our blog, I run our blog, which has tons, and I think we have almost 3000 articles and you can search by if you’re looking just for acting or if you’re looking just for composing, film composing articles, I have, we have a bunch of great articles there. So there’s a lot of different ways just like Angela was saying, there’s a lot of different ways to make it in the industry. There’s a lot of different ways to navigate stage 32.

 Sarah Marince:

That’s awesome. I’m definitely gonna join. I want to check it out, like check out everything for sure after this that’s something I’m gonna do, but could you tailor talk a little bit more about the education portion that you mentioned earlier?

Taylor C. Baker:

Sure, sure. So, like I said earlier, we have, we’ve been saying over 1500 hours for like the last year. So at this point I feel like it’s probably over 2000 hours, at least two webinars a week that are live. And then we have a library of all of our past webinars on demand. So any webinar, if you can’t make it in person in person, as in like live virtually, you can watch all of them on demand. After the fact one of our most popular ones was actually a free webcast, which was our Netflix TV pitch workshop. we partnered with Netflix’s Christopher Mac, who is a wonderful, very talented he’s the, his wild title, lead director of creative talent, investment and development at Netflix. And he spent three hours talking about how to pitch to Netflix, what they’re looking for, how to structure a story for the Netflix audience. so we have a ton of just so, so many webinars and resources within stage 32. And like I said, they’re all taught by people who are working in the industry and have like real experience with whatever they’re teaching.

 Sarah Marince:

Wow. So I can imagine that anything Netflix that you put out is going to be popular. what are some of the other trends that you see happen on stage 32

Taylor C. Baker:

Within education? Especially we have a lot of education on screenwriting, a lot of developing for specific niches. We’ll have, you know, webinars on how to write horror specifically, or like a TV pilot for horror or a TV pilot for streaming, because that’s a little different than like a cable show. So there’s a lot, a lot of content for screenwriters. there’s also a lot of great things about producing your own work. like I think we have something for an as we have an actor from better costs saw who teaches a webinar about how he wrote his own pilot and how he shot started producing his own content. so there are a lot of trends within stage 32 about what people are really interested in. and networking is a big part of it too. We, we ended up talking about networking because that’s really the, with all of the amazing colors and facets of stage 32, our route is always in networking and connecting with people authentically and to continue teaching people how to make these lasting relationships. because I find that people in networking tend to be a little, I like to refer to it as like me, me instead of being you, you, what can I bring to you? How can I help you? Cause that is really how you create relationships that foster a long career.

 Sarah Marince:

It’s funny that you said that how people can be Me, me when really it needs to be like, what can you do? And I think in the beginning, when we started doing these webcasts, somebody on the panel said this quote, and I have it taped on my thing right here, and it says, add value or offer to add value before you ask for value. And I was like, oh, I, I think that’s so smart. And like, so right. And so it’s funny that you said that because it reminded me of that right here that we heard on crew talk a really long time ago. but I totally agree.

Taylor C. Baker:

I would love actually to give you a little sneak peek where this introduce yourself weekend upcoming, we’re doing a spin on it where we’re doing introduce your friend weekend because it kind of takes the pressure off of like having that pressure to be like, look how awesome I am. Here’s all these great things about me. And instead you get to present how awesome someone you love is and how great they are at something. And we did this once before and somebody wrote in to our community manager. K and they just wanted to read this to you. Cause I just thought it was so interesting. she said, I just wanted to take a moment and say, thank you for inviting me to introduce yourself weekend. I had such a great time getting to know some fabulous people. And without your challenge, I don’t think I would have felt emboldened to participate.

Taylor C. Baker:

and then she goes on to say, she references an app that she uses for meditation. And there is, she says, it turns out that science has to a thing or two about connection in one research experiment participants were given a certain sum of money. Half of them were asked to buy something for themselves. The other half were asked to spend it on others. The ones tasked with gifting, the money gifting, it reported higher levels of satisfaction and wellbeing. and she couldn’t help, but connect to that to introduce your friend weekend, but just inherently giving is so much better than taking and people in networking, especially in entertainment, have a little bit of a challenge with that. So I just wanted to share that cause I, that blog is going to go live on Friday. And when I read that, I was like, it’s such an interesting way of looking at it.

 Sarah Marince:

That’s a great way of looking at it great way. We do have two questions that came through on the chat box from Charles, does a script have to include look book beats, look book beats to create the entire package. What is enough to make it worth producing is a script enough?

Angela Cristantello:

I think that, I think it depends. I think that the more especially once your screenplay is hyper refined the more materials that you can have to back that script up the better a look book, a deck, a Bible is always a great way to go because ultimately when you’re pitching it, you’re going to be pitching both the piece itself and also the lookbook. So the vibe of what the overall story is going to be like your color pattern and your tone and like your ideal casting, all those things. you want to have as many materials to back up your story and back up your vision as possible when you’re going in to pitch. However, do know that your script is ultimately the most important piece of that puzzle. So it’s great. If you have a really sick look book, that’s awesome that look book on it on its own.

Angela Cristantello:

Isn’t going to get you in the door and isn’t going to get your piece picked up. So you want to make sure that you have a really, really, really great script to accompany it. If all you have is that script. I suppose if you could get attention, you would probably get that much more attention. If you had a known, like show runner attached to help get that script off the ground with you. and that’s just really, it’s certainly doable, but it is that much more difficult to do if all you have is that script. so I would say try to get as many materials together as, as possible before you are taking it to studios and industry folks. but don’t discount the fact that you, you could just do it with only that script.

 Sarah Marince:

Okay. And John, I’m going to direct another question here to you from Charles. Does it make sense to refine your script because it’s going to get rewritten over and over right through development and production anyway.

John Kelly:

Yes. I think you have to make your script as good as it possibly can be as I mean, and that means rewriting and rewriting because after all writing is rewriting, I think you have to, yeah. You can’t go, well, I think this, this first draft is probably good enough because you know, they’re going to change it anyway and it doesn’t work that way. So we’d have to, we’d have to make it, you know, a Pearl as much as you can before you let it out of your hands. So, so I would say even then you’re always like, oh wait, I could have, but it is so okay.

 Sarah Marince:

And we had another question from Michael from within stage 32. What percentage generally, speaking of well-crafted and produced shorts find feature development deals, the whiplash model, if you will.

Taylor C. Baker:

That’s a great question. and sort of like we’ve been saying there’s no one path to entertainment success or within stage 32. So it’s hard to give you a percentage because not everyone has produced shorts, many people just go with the script model. I will say specific to something we did recently in the wake of specifically when south by Southwest got canceled last year, it was sort of the first domino to fall. we launched something called stage 32 screenings, which was our answer to a virtual way for filmmakers that had, were affected by the cancellation of in-person festivals to still screen their work in front of big executives. We have, you know, like Angela was mentioning all of our script services. We have over a thousand development executives, literary managers, producers directors, all these people that work with stage 32. And so we started stage 32 screenings to where we had, we partnered with certain festivals like south by Southwest Tribeca.

Taylor C. Baker:

We’ve got Vail film festival in their series Fest and a collection of other festivals and those filmmakers that were official selections. And those festivals last year were able to submit their projects to stage 32 screenings, where they could screen directly to these development executives and all of those films that were in there. We had three features get picked up for distribution. And we had, I think over a hundred meeting requests between filmmakers, with agents and other producers and everything. So it’s hard to give you an exact percentage especially because that specific example is not reflective of everyone on the site. but definitely a lot of people making move and getting connections.

Angela Cristantello:

We actually have a an additional new way in consultation wise. We have something that we’ve created called our reel review. We’ve only had it around for a couple of months. So it’s like one of our newest babies on developmental surface side. but it’s a way for if you have, if you’re an actor and you have a reel, or if you have a sizzle reel or if you have a short film and you want one of our industry pros we have on our roster to be able to look it over and give you some feedback before you like send it out to the world to either get representation or set off the festivals, or what have you, you can submit your short film and have a consultation around that. And these pros will tell you what’s working and what’s not, you know, you actually, you can probably do a way with these three minutes that are right here. but that’s another way to network with, you know, if you want to have this consultation with a producer, it’s another way to network with them and to introduce your material to them before you take it out into the world. So it’s kind of, it’s a half step. and, but it’s, it’s another way to get your material out there and to see if it has a future as a future of becoming a feature eventually. For sure.

Taylor C. Baker:

Yeah. We also have a short film contest if you’re specifically talking about in the range of short films we just announced the winners of our sixth annual short film contest and all of the winners, they get to screen with our partner festivals, Holly shorts, which is an Oscar qualifying festival. So that’s super fun and exciting. And now that it’s coming back in person, it’s at the Chinese theater and a LA I screamed in that, that theater before, and it is wild being there. It’s really cool. and also RainDance film festival in London, and many of our pasts we’ve had this year. We had eight films eight shorts when, and we usually have between six and eight films that are winning group. And we’ve had a lot of those filmmakers have gone on to get managers, representation, our grand prize winner last year, wen joy, she’s an amazing director that she’s from France originally based in Argentina. And she got an LA manager who’s helping develop her career internationally. And so she’s working on projects all over the world. So a lot of times people will not necessarily do the whiplash method of getting funding to go forth and make their feature. But they’ve now since because of these opportunities been hired to direct other features or hired to produce other projects. So there’s, again, just no one path everyone’s got something unique going on on stage 32.

 Sarah Marince:

Yes, everybody. I mean, in any field, I guess you have to take your own unique path. That’s what makes your story. Yeah. So Angela, you mentioned that the feature you were just talking about is a new feature with I forgot what you called it reel something, reel review. So that’s new. Are there any other new and exciting features coming out on stage 32 in the near future?

Angela Cristantello:

So both our adaptation review that I had mentioned earlier, and the reel review are probably our two newest features that we have, and they’re both a couple of months old respectively, but we are the one community that we feel like we aren’t representing quite as much on stage 32 is actually the acting community. So we are looking to create more services developed or curated specifically around actors and figuring out, okay, what can we do for you? How can we help you out with your career? And so we are currently in the process of brainstorming what exactly those things are and what they look like that I’m incredibly excited to, to offer more things to the acting community in the future. And hopefully in the very, the very near future. For sure.

 Sarah Marince:

What about voice actors?

Angela Cristantello:

I mean, absolutely 100% there are, I mean, I can see these panels on your wall.

Angela Cristantello:

So I know this. so we already do have some voice acting at webinars through stage three to education that you can 100% do. If you’re looking to build your own studio, if you’re looking to start your own podcast, things like that, we have webinars and classes that are geared specifically around those things. So those things exist already. We just want to have more of those things, I think acting community. And I mean the voice acting world it’s, it’s like become increasingly larger over the past couple of years. And I have a feeling that it’s getting ready to actually explode. And I am so excited for that. Of course, we will be doing voice acting.

 Sarah Marince:

There’s lots of us. Awesome. That’s very cool. so we kind of went over the website, what you do when you log in for the first time and kind of how to meet everybody and the really cool features. but what are some of your favorite features that people can utilize on stage 32?

Taylor C. Baker:

well, I I’m, I’m a blog baby. I, the blog is my baby and I, I run all the blog and it’s all user generated. So members write the blogs and many of my member, my members that have written blogs for me have gone on to get hired on projects. So one of my favorite stories is a, a German need-based screenwriter wrote a blog for me, and she connected with a Palo Alto, California based author who read her blog on stage 32 and was like, this is it. I found the person who I want to adapt my novel into a screenplay. And now she got hired by her and they’re working across time zones and international waters to work together. so that’s something that I personally love about stage 32 just the, the vast voices you can hear from the experience and things that they’ve learned on stage.

Angela Cristantello:

Agreed. I, I love that so much. I also, I love our lounges so much because it is it’s it’s just a space for artists from across the world, literally across the world to connect with one another. And there are people who are asking questions, one another about the industry all the time. Like how do you feel using adverbs in your action lines? Do you think this is a great idea? Or do you think this is a terrible idea or hi, I just wrote my first feature. I just finished draft free of my feature. What exactly do I do next? Like, they’re literally asking questions of one another. what’s your favorite action movie? And there are people from all over the world chiming in with this because there’s so many different voices from around the world that are active in these spaces. They’re also finding ways to become friends and collaborators in these spaces as well.

Angela Cristantello:

And what a great thing. I just bank on what Taylor said. I am consistently impressed and just so delighted by how many people find ways to collaborate with each other on our platform, because collaboration is everything. It’s something that we don’t speak about enough as storytellers, but we can’t get anywhere unless we find people to collaborate with. It’s not a one person deal. You have to find a community. we’ve heard Taylor and I probably refer to ourselves as a community, like a billion different times in just this chat, but it’s true. Like that’s, we, that’s the kind of environment that we wanted to cultivate at Sage 32, because you can’t get anywhere unless you have a community behind you. and I also love just speaking from the administrative end of things, how accessible, I feel like we’re able to be to the people in our community.

Angela Cristantello:

There are so many different resources and so many different things that you can do on just our site alone. But if you need advice and if you need specific advice or you just want to vent to somebody who has been in your shoes or is currently in your shoes, we on the administrative end of things are always there and always available for you. And it, it just feels so nice. And it does my heart so much good to feel like, and the venting wall, if you need it, or I’m an advocate if you need it or both. yeah. I think those are probably my favorite things about the platform, for sure.

 Sarah Marince:

Those are some great things, go ahead Taylor,

Taylor C. Baker:

Yeah, I was going to say like within the blog and then that like really it’s just like celebrating each other. So like there’s some, there’s so many even avenues for success stories. We have a whole section of our blog, which is members success stories. We have a whole lounge, like angel was saying, that’s we call it your stage. And this is where you can be like this great thing happened. I got into a festival and I’m so excited. and we had to

Angela Cristantello:

And will try to be like, congratulations, congratulations, congratulate.

Taylor C. Baker:

yeah and we have a running list of just success stories where people submit testimonials it’s just magical. Like Angela was saying, seeing the amount of different ways people find these collaborations on stage 32.

 Sarah Marince:

Wonderful. We have another question. and I don’t fully understand it. Maybe you guys will, are the studios going to follow the Manhattan beach stage called the volume?

Taylor C. Baker:

That’s I know there’s an Manhattan beach studios but I’m not a hundred percent certain what the volume is.

Angela Cristantello:

I’m not either actually

 Sarah Marince:

John stumped you as well. Well, I guess we’re stumped on that one. John. I was going to ask, what piece of advice do you have for someone who’s just getting started besides joining stage 32?

John Kelly:

II think, I was talking to my wife about this just the other day about things I wish I had done when I was first starting out. And I think part, part of that is getting as much training. And in this case, in writing, writing, writing, and being disciplined about it consistently, and, and reading, reading, if you’re going to write and you have to read a lot and reading over a wide breadth of material, because that, that just naturally is through osmosis absorbs your, your being. And so you, you, you instinctively start to see what, what makes a good story, what doesn’t different styles, different rhythms, things like that. So I would, I would tell any, I would tell myself again, or anybody else say write, as much as you can, because the first step you write, isn’t going to be very good. You’re going to think it’s brilliant, but it’s really not. So I can get all that out and leave as much as you can and keep writing and keep writing and keep writing. And pretty soon through that process, you find your own voice. And once you find your own voice, then you’re on track to really tell some, some unique stories. I think.

 Sarah Marince:

So read and write as much as you can. Wonderful. Taylor and Angela and John as well. Where do you see the land, the future landscape of the industry going, I guess Taylor, we can start with you cause you’re first on my screen.

Taylor C. Baker:

Sure. Well, I think we’re still going to be living in this virtual world, you know, from an acting perspective, I heard someone recently say like, there’s never going to be another in-person audition. I don’t necessarily think that’s true. I think in-person auditions are going to come back and I could not be more thrilled about that personally. but I do think the virtual landscape has opened up the doors to so many more people all over the world and the talent pool has gotten so much bigger. And, you know, from someone who I lived in LA for five years and I loved it, but I’m really excited to live in Austin now and be closer to my family. And so there’s so much more opportunity, no matter where you live and sort of to speak to that. I mentioned our Netflix TV pitch workshop earlier.

Taylor C. Baker:

That was a big thing that Christopher Mac talked about is that on a huge studio level, like, or streamer level, I suppose you could say like Netflix, they are consistently looking for local language content and they are wanting to shoot that content in that place with local crew and local talent. And they’re so big on a big level, like Netflix, people are continuing to look for content that is true to specific places, which gives, again, just the pool is so much wider now and you don’t have to live in traditional markets like LA or New York, or I suppose, even London. So I think it’s really, and it’s a really exciting time to be an entertainment. And I think there’s more opportunities than ever to break in. Wonderful.

 Sarah Marince:

John, what about you?

John Kelly:

Well, these two, these two are brilliant. So I mean, I landscape much better than I do, but I think there’s going to be room for four for stories that have emotional resonance and by and by, and by that, I mean, stories that stay with you, that people talk about, and those are always the stories that I want to tell them. Those are the stories that I want to watch. And I think those come from original voices, those come from diverse voices. And I think we’re going to see more and more of that. So that is what I look forward to in the future. So.

 Sarah Marince:

Exciting. Awesome. Angela, what about you?

Angela Cristantello:

Oh boy, just to, just to bank off of what Taylor and John said, I think there’s just going to be more room for everyone and more room for every story and it’s about time, right. I think that, you know, there are a lot of writers that we’ll talk with all the time who have a fear that there’s just kind of the same stories that are being told and the same stories that are being told over and over again. Well, that’s been happening for centuries. That’s been happening since the Dawn of time. There’s like there are a series of like less than a dozen basic frameworks for any kind of story. So it’s up to you as a contemporary storyteller in this day and age to figure out how to turn that story that we all know on its head and give it a twist that we haven’t heard before and give it a different kind of voice and a different kind of feel that we haven’t heard before.

Angela Cristantello:

And that’s where these diverse stories are. These diverse voices and diverse stories are coming in. And it’s just so necessary. And I’m so excited about it. I feel like I get more and more excited about how much the industry is opening up for new voices and new stories, literally every single week. Like I can’t wait. I can’t wait to be knocked off of my seat by, I think we’re in the golden age of television, I think is going to become more golden. I think that the films that are coming out of this past year are going to be mind blowing and I can’t wait to hear what stories they tell. and I just think we’re kind of, we’re only going up as far as I’m concerned.

 Sarah Marince:

Well that’s wonderful and very exciting to hear you crave content. so I can’t believe an hour has passed already. I know it’s time to wrap up, which is crazy. but I think it went so quickly because we’re having fun and you guys are just all spilling some great information. but thank you to the three of you for being here today. And I always go around at the end and kind of have everyone say their name again, and just where people can find you, whether it’s on Instagram or your email, if you are comfortable, whatever you’re comfortable sharing you. Go ahead and do that. So, Taylor, again, I will start with you.

Taylor C. Baker:

Hi again, my name is Taylor C baker. I am an actor and the director of community and stage 32. you can find me on stage 32 at stage32.com/taylorcbaker. if anybody is interested in writing a blog for stage 32 or sharing any of their information, insights, education, things they’ve learned or is interested or knows anyone that could be good for our brand ambassador program, which I didn’t talk a lot about today,

 Sarah Marince:

Can you quickly talk about that.

Taylor C. Baker:

Sure. So we’re launching an international bland brand ambassador program where we’re going to have people all over the world that are going to be really curating individual communities within their countries, states cities as well as sharing on social media and, you know, getting more, we’re trying to hit a million members by next year. So we’re going to have you guys join us in that adventure. but you guys can email me at [email protected]. I’m on Instagram @taylorcbaker. And I also, if you guys like baking and the great British bake off, I’m baking my way through the great British bake off on YouTube.

 Sarah Marince:

No way, sorry. I’m like, that’s amazing. I love that show. Like no one else knows what soggy bottom means, but like if you watch the great British bake off you totally know. Yeah. Oh, that’s awesome. Okay. I’m going to have to check that out. Everybody check that out. Awesome.

Taylor C. Baker:

Youtube.com/c/taylorcbaker, or just look up Taylor C. baker on youtube.

 Sarah Marince:

It’s appropriate. Your last name is Baker.

Taylor C. Baker:

I’m trying to live up to my name sake. because I’m a decent baker, but I’m not the fancy amateur bakers they are on the show that somehow know how to make these insane desserts.

Angela Cristantello:

I will never understand it.

 Sarah Marince:

It’s, it’s so entertaining to watch. I love that show. John, wanna wrap things up for us with where people can find you?

John Kelly:

Sure, my name’s John Kelly, you can find me at my website JKellyWorks.com. And all my information is there. And thanks again because I learned so much from these things. I’m just, it’s been a real pleasure. Thank you.

 Sarah Marince:

Oh, no, thank you for joining us and Angela.

Angela Cristantello:

You can find me on Stage 32 and i’m the only Angela Christiantello that exists on stage 32, you can also find me on instagram @ange.cristantello, and I’m also on @stage32scripts all the time on Instagram. and you can also shoot me an email at [email protected] and I will answer any and all questions that you ever have. Or if you just want to say hello, say hello to me there, I’m active on there all the time. and I would love to say hello to you.

 Sarah Marince:

Well wonderful. Thank you. The three of you for joining us, this was so informative and I know everyone who is tuning in learned a lot. Now go, all of you, enjoy stage 32. I will see you guys next time. I’m Sarah Marince. So you can find me on Instagram @sarahmarincesarahmarince.com For all your voiceover needs. And I will see you guys next time. Bye everyone.

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