Stage 32Reviews 102

This is my response to them offering me a new executive to read my script for $300!
Y feeling is you work for commission. And you want to make one off of me. That's the heart of your message. I spent some $800 I couldn't afford trying to promote my stories with your operation. The result I got from Michael Wormser is indicative of all the submissions I paid to have read. Stage 32 promotes these professionals newly listed with an extensive bio & the promise of getting our stories noticed
Michael has such a bio. I feel he did read the whole story, because he was excited about the ending. He had no suggestions for improvement, statitng he liked everything about it. "Well can you help me promote it then?" "OH no. I can't do that. All I can do is offer suggestions." This is Twilight Zone stuff.
Octavia comments suggested she only read the first 3 pages.
I paid Regina Lee to review a 6 1/2 minute trailer we filmed. She said it should be called a teaser. OK. Then she went on about not finding a break btwn 1st, 2nd, & 3rd acts. In a short trailer for crying out loud! Then she repeated this 5 times. I hung up half way thru the call and told her I've got better things to do than listen to her repetition.
There were others. But you get the feel for where I'm going with this. All the while I was on your site, 32 would send some 3 or 4 promotions daily to my inbox, all promising the same success. I took to sending all these to spam. Eventually they stopped. But you are a new contact & slipped thru. I think you guys are criminals who take advantage of ppl who can least afford it...like me. And I share this view with every one who will listen.

They charged me $32 but gave nothing in return at all. They also spam me even though I have unsubscribed several times

Given the background history of the founder of the Stage 32:website, I would be very wary about filling out ANY survey requested by him. Maybe he's been losing money because of the industry strikes because fewer members are signing up and paying for pitches and classes. So now perhaps he maybe resorting to gathering data from membership to sell to a data mining company. If you believe the founder is sincerely interested in your mental health, please think this over carefully and do some research on his background.

Stage 32 is heads and shoulders above any other screenwriting platform in the world. It's founder, Richard "RB" Botto, is a screenwriter himself, so truly cares about writers. Nowhere else do writers get Skype meeting with top industry executives and pros. For $35, you can pick and pitch a professional open to your genre. There's also a ton of free educational material, and its the best social networking platform for creatives that exists today. Are there scammers on S32. Yeah, for there are over a million members and the S32 staff is made up of only 25 employees (the staff is trying it's best to catch up with their astounding growth in membership), so each writer must do due diligence when communicating with others on the site; for example, Katherine Bigelow sent me a Network Request, like a FB Friend Request, the other day. Did I believe the great Katherine Bigelow was really sending me a Network Request? No, I'm not stupid, so I reported the scammer to the S32 staff, and they immediately removed the account. Will this scammer try again? Of course, he or she will. Is that S32's fault? No! I pitched Tatianna Kelly last month on Skype, which was a thrill, for she is one of my favorite producers and one of the nicest people. S32 creatives are wonderful, and we are so supporting of each other, because S32 maintains a positive atmosphere. Richard "RB" Botto in a tremendous leader that has created a platform that has given creatives from all over the world access to industry pros. Long live S32. By the way, membership is free.

I've been a member of Stage 32 for 6 years now. I think there were about 100,000 people on the platform when I joined and now there are over 1,000,000, so I've had a front row seat for the incredible growth and expansion. As a filmmaker who took up screenwriting later on, I can't stress enough how much Stage 32's education, services and hands on approach with me and my work has accelerated my career path.

For starters, I was a finalist in their short film program in 2019. They set me up on more than a dozen meetings which led to me getting interest from a major producer to set up my next film as a director. Even better, the exposure on the platform helped me secure my financing, and quick!

About 3 years ago, I moved into screenwriting. I connected with a manager on the platform who told the powers that be at Stage 32 that I had massive potential and that my script should be workshopped. Stage 32 set me up in one of their labs and I worked with Anna Henry to shape my script. Once the script was deemed market ready, I was reintroduced to that same manager who now reps me thanks to Stage 32.

It's rare in today's vitriolic world to find a community and a staff that is so kind, so empathetic and so willing to help, but the people in the Stage 32 community and those working for the company are exactly that. If you follow their CEO, Richard "RB" Botto on social media and on the platform, you can see he walks the walk and leads by example. Everything is just so positive and uplifting.

I cannot stress this enough, if you are serious about a career in film, you need to be on Stage 32. They'll provide you with all the tools. I owe my career to them.

Hey folks,

I just gotta share my experience with Stage 32. Recently, I jumped into Michelle Alexandria's 4-part class "How You Can Attract Financing To Your Feature Film While Spending Less Than $3,500," and, it's been a revelation. Michelle Alexandria is a powerhouse of insightful and actionable knowledge.

Hats off to Stage 32 for providing industry pros who know their stuff. The mentors and execs I've come in contact with are like guides who've been through the trenches and know the lay of the land. I know there are naysayers out there, but they're the folks who'd rather moan than roll up their sleeves. Stage 32 isn't some kind of magic wand; it's a tool, a resource. You've got to put in the work and those who have reap the rewards.

Webinars and classes aside, I've found my tribe within the community of creatives on the platform. Life's thrown me some curveballs, personally and professionally, but without all of the free networking, lounge discussions, and blog posts on the website, I would not be where I am on my writing journey.

I know I'm probably rambling but long story short - Stage 32 is the real deal.

I'm a UK based writer/director. Anyone who has lived in the UK and, honestly, throughout Europe can speak to how difficult it can be to penetrate the U.S. market. I could write a book about it, but let's just say the barriers are many. That's where Stage 32 came in for me. This is a platform that breaks down every barrier from an educational standpoint absolutely, but even more so from allowing someone like me to get in front of U.S. executives who match my work.

Due to Stage 32 and the efforts of their fantastic, caring staff, I know how a U.S. literary manager through meetings I made on the platform. Further still, I am in talks with an agent on my filmmaking which was completely facilitated through Stage 32. I could have lived to be 150 in the U.K. And not had these kinds of opportunities.

I also have to mention that the networking aspect of the platform is what I call my heartbeat. Again, in the UK, there isn't all that much support. Everything is rigid and the community is made of haves and have nots. If you're not on the inside, you're on the outside. Here again is where Stage 32 breaks down barriers. They not only welcome everyone, but they make it fun and easy to get involved. My network is over 1200 strong and I'm constantly amazed at the quality of people I've been able to connect with.

I can't urge people enough to get on the platform! I see some of the negative reviews here and you can see that people are pointing blame while accepting none. Nothing is handed to you in this business. You have to work at it. But if you are serious about working at it the opportunities you'll find at Stage 32 are unlike any in the business. They are solely responsible for the massive progress I've had in my career over the last 2 years and they literally opened up America for me. I'm so grateful to RB who runs the platform and the entire team.

This is full of fake accounts and profiles using legitimate director and producer names and images to prey on inexperienced wannabe filmmakers to send them money. For example I've attached an image of a fake profile who is using a legitimate producer's name and image to solicit $3,000 from people to fully produce their screenplays. Ridiculous. There is no moderation and seemingly no way to report these fake profiles. This is not a website that legitimate industry insiders use.

I was randomly charged $39 when I didn't sign up for anything. I don't know what the charge was for because there's no way to unsubscribe. Stay clear.

Writers be very aware, out of the eight week course, you are given 3 One-to-One's to gain feedback for your 1-hour pilot with Colleen Labelle. Feedback on your Beat Sheet. You are given 10 minutes. The second One-to-One feedback on your Scene by Scene. You are given ten minutes. Remember you are writing a 1-hour pilot. You can imagine what you get for your third One-to-One when you have written your full script. I didn't hang around for them to waste any more of my time and money. Stage 32 claim in their advertising of this course; "You will receive direct and personalized feedback on your work throughout the eight weeks so you walk away with a vetted pilot script that you can shop to producers, executives and production companies." If anyone knows of any producer or production or poor reader who would happily read my script that has had this little feedback and no script rewrites, do send me their email. Stage 32 and Colleen Labelle (Stage 32 can't even get the woman's name spelt correctly) think this is industry standard. Stage 32 don't surprise me. But a member of our industry happy to put her name to a course that claims that your script is vetted and good to go out to the industry is extremely disappointing. I am sure Colleen Labelle would not want to spend her weekend reading a script that has gone through this limited process to land on her desk.

Been on Stage32 for few months now and hundreds of dollars down in their fees, webinars, pitches etc. Whole lot of fancy promises but soon you'll find actions and results always speak the loudest. I've incredibly experienced most of the similar things other posters are claiming.
1. Most webinars have high claim of high level professionals providing answers and education when most of identical teaching can be found through Google, YouTube, and inexpensive books from Amazon.
2. Just a huuuge number of high claim "execs" on the fringe of the business/success with exaggerated credits promising solutions, connections, results, answers. So far had none.
3. I paid for over 10 pitches with the same material and the feedback from each could not be more different between all of them, shorter and lacking constructive detail on most cases. It screams lack of attention and scam from these people.
4. Had couple of requests to read my work and I AM SURE the mgr didn't read the script. He found couple of random and insignificant scenes and characters to cite in his worthless report and make it sound like he knew what he was talking about...
5. They have the "Open Writing Assignment" link, supposedly from producers and "top" companies requesting material from Stage32 writers. Once you submit, Stage says they will read it before they submit the script to the company...I reached out few times and it turns out the script was never submitted. Now I'm also glad I registered the work well.
6. The saddest experience of all...I pitched with a prolific producer who is part of a notable LA ent. Law firm. It took over a month to hear back at which she wanted to meet with me but didn't request the script.Was strange but I said ok...It took another month just to get the meeting at which point she passed me off to a lower guy at the firm, only to have a 10 MIN CALL with him trying to solicit me as their client and a promise to work with me on developing my script after a retainer and hourly rates! Turns out the firm is Stage32's partner and they do business together...For all the newbies, if in Hollywood someone claims they will make you a success but you have to pay upfront? Run!

Snake oil salesmen if I've ever seen one

Courses of inferior calibre, pitches to arrogant know-it-all industry execs with little to no power to greenlight anything hawking their meagre or even extensive experience for dollars, and the desperation of the site creators and users are palpable. Wasted a lot of money here over several years, six I believe. A better investment would have been AFI or making several short films or even a legit script analysis from a reputable skilled analyst. There are many paths to WGA or BAFTA membership; Stage 32 is not one of them. PS Those grifters keep emailing me, nearly a decade later, no matter how many times I unsubscribe. That is an FTC violation.

Do not sign up for this platform! I beg you, do not sign up you will regret it. You should avoid this site as much as coronavirus. Here is the reason why:

I signed up for this site hoping to get somewhere in a career I always wanted since I was a little girl. When I signed up I was on the site long enough.

I started getting trolls coming to my account. What is even worse about this platform is there is no block system where you can block trolls.

When I reported this to Stage 32 support, five days after sending the message I got a behind the scenes message on an email address I do not use and was not linked to the account.

It was a very rude, cruel and extremely evil message. I will even quote some of the remarks that were made in the email. "I was told to get lost, nobody will respond to you because nobody gives a $#*!, saying everybody is laughing at me and good riddance."

This is very inappropriate, childish and unprofessional from a site that is supposed to have professional people operating it.

I contact support about a concern I am having on the site and this is what I get! Bull crap like this! This is simply uncalled for. Even my mom got pissed about this.

This is not an appropriate site for anybody especially if you have autism, are sensitive and very vulnerable. The Stage 32 crew needs to be ashamed of themselves for allowing evilness to happen on their website.

Because of this experience with them, they have forever lost a supporter. I enjoyed using their site until I started getting these people on the site bothering me and reaching out for help leads to cruelty like this. So uncool!

You should not use a site where if you are having issues, contact support and you get people from the website cyber bullying you behind your back.

If you want your work published or to sign up for contests, I recommend give all your support to somebody else. NEVER I mean never give this site any props.

Don't sign up, don't pull it up, don't even look at it, just ignore this garbage of a website. If they give me evilness in return for seeking help, they will for sure do the same for you.

EXTRA, UPDATE: March 11,2024 Also, just to let all of you guys know...back in February of 2023 when I posted this review. I got another mean message on this site right in the area where you see the envelope next to the bell and your name. That proves that Stage 32 is not legit. Why after I post a bad review because of harassment I receive more harassment once this review goes public.

Avoid this company at all costs. I discovered another website called Coverfly join them. They are supportive, I got an accolade and you can even post if you have a disability like autism. As I said, ignore this garbage of a site. Stage 32 receives a thousand thumbs down to the moon and back because of the trauma I received being a consumer of their site.

After a Free Workshop I now have 200 dollars worth of charges.
I have not used the service ever. I was refused a refund for the charges.
However offered me a coupon for their other services.
After cancelling the subscription I never signed up for I am still being charged.
Avoid any business with business tactics that have no regard for the consumer.
In the end the unethical practices will hurt you. NOT HELP YOU!

Had a good script idea good footage for documentary for right producer none ever came forward alot of messages requesting payment for pitches about it really never bothered seems just like away to get rich off wannabes feed you hope but not much really happens you shouldnt have to pay if you got something a producer really wants surely just money making off vulnerables glad i left dont reccomend waste of time effort bad time throughout

Impossible to unsubscribe, constant spam, overhyped content, money grab app that feeds on the dreams of creators. Honestly do not join.

Let me preface this review by stating that I have some indie credits and have won some screenwriting contests, so I would consider myself to be more of an emerging writer than a newbie to the business.

I decided to test out Stage32 due to one particular industry pro they had listed on their site. More on that in a second.

There are two parts to this site. The first is the message boards, which are a mess and completely impossible to filter or search in any way. After being a member for a few months, I found them to be primarily comprised of self-promotion and newbie chatter and not really worth trawling through.

You can pay for membership to a private message board as part of their 'writers room' program, but I found that section just as dead and not worth the spend. As part of this membership you also get access to weekly seminars and zooms. I didn't participate, but I suppose these could be motivating for newer writers finding their feet.

The second part of the site is paying for access to professionals in the industry. You REALLY need to do your research here. Some of the professionals are indeed legit, and I was impressed with some of the 'gets'. The majority are very low level though and likely not able to help further your career, or even offer feedback worth the price.

I had a very positive meeting with the legit pro I specifically joined the site to contact and we've developed an ongoing relationship off site, so it was worth the price alone for that.

I also had a script request from another legit pro which has turned into a longer conversation and an open invitation to send material directly.

On the flip side, I had two terrible, lazy responses to pitches from people I knew weren't top of their game, but I decided to gamble on anyway.

One 'exec' had clearly copied and pasted a bunch of screenwriting 101 advice lines in her response without giving any detail. Most of what she wrote had no relevance to my script. I checked her professional status further and she is nowhere near as successful as she paints herself, so in reality I felt like I'd had a lucky escape.

The second person I pitched said it wasn't for him without giving a reason. I have serious doubts he even read the pitch as he got some basic info wrong.

Frustratingly, there is no way to feedback or leave reviews of the execs. Presumably this is to prevent 'sour grapes' reviews, but it also means the services being sold are not being monitored for quality and/or satisfaction.

Would I recommend Stage32 to newbie writers? No. In terms of the paid services, Stage32 is acting in bad faith in my opinion, selling false hope to writers who likely aren't ready to have their work read professionally.

Although the message boards are free, they are fairly useless in terms of advice as they are overrun by other newbies. There are much better free alternatives, like Reddit, DoneDealPro, #screenwriting Twitter, scribelounge and Facebook groups like LA TV Writers.

Really, Stage32 could give the most assistance to emerging writers like myself. I would gladly pay for script notes and calls from actual industry professionals but I would expect quality and the ability to feedback if the reviews were poor, which I suspect isn't something Stage32 is willing to do while they are making money in exchange for very little in return.

So I'm asked to input my paypal details given no costs, no details, no terms and conditions and no information as to what I will gain from my free trial.
No thank you. I contacted them to ask them what their terms and conditions were for this trial, they told me 'they are at the footer of the internet page'. They're not. I'd already looked. There are no T&Cs for this trial, which is illegal. Needless to say I will steer clear.

Insofar as six of my scripts received a "consider" for the project and a "recommend" for the writer, I cannot complain about the reviews I've gotten. But paying to consult with industry execs has been a bust, an expensive one at that. I have consulted with a dozen, as of this writing. Nothing from these conversations or written reviews tells me that these folks know more about storytelling than I do. When I defend choices I made, for example, I usually get some form of, "Yeah, you're right." When I ask if they can help me get the script in question on a pathway to a sale, there's always a pause, then a soft "no." Yet these people are managers. So if they know less than I do about the craft of screenwriting and they can't give me tips on how to sell my material, what good are they? This is why I titled my review "Nowhere to go." A platform such as Stage32 could be more beneficial to veteran screenwriters if it could arrange for people in a position to buy or option a script to consult with writers than to continue offering consults with C. E.'s or managers or other would-be rising stars. BTW, The Black List has rated four of my scripts a 7. I offer this only as evidence that I know what I'm doing (much more so than the people I've paid major bucks to read and review my scripts). My advice: figure out a way to connect us with buyers.