Hey, Stage 32 Community!
Apologies for my tardiness! For those of you who don't know me, my name is Ashley Smith and I’m Head of Community here at Stage 32! I absolutely LOVE Introduce Yourself Weekend, so I'm sad to be so late to the party this month. Unfortunately, my husband and I both came down with an intense case of Covid last week and I spent the weekend in bed losing all track of time. I'm not 100% yet, but I'm excited to at least be back at my desk! I hope that everyone's been having a great time!
Prior to joining this incredible team, I spent nearly 7 years at a boutique development and talent management company where I was deeply involved with every development project, management client, and administrative aspect of running the company. I oversaw a rich development slate of films, ongoing series, and limited series across genres and developed projects for Amazon, Sony TV, FX, Universal TV, Paramount TV, Legendary Global, MGM, A&E, Concord Originals, and many others.
Here at Stage 32, I’m honored to oversee this fantastic Community. As well as the daily Blog, weekly AMAs, monthly in-person Meetups, and numerous volunteer efforts to make your time here at Stage 32 as helpful and resourceful as possible. It’s always my goal to bring you all exciting resources and information to help you network, connect, and learn more about various disciplines and processes within the entertainment industry. I’d love to know what you all enjoy most about being a part of the Stage 32 community, what you’d like to see more of, the kind of AMAs that you’d like to see in the lounges, and the type of blog topics that you would enjoy!
Don't be a stranger! Tell me all about yourself in the comments below!
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Kevin, from Los Angeles, saying "HI". I've written 3 screenplays, 2 in a detective series that revolves around femme fatale figure Georgi Turnkey, who discovers a conspiracy to manipulate the international money system. The other is about an Indian couple in NYC who make a wager on who can find God (Krishna) first. Also, a stage musical, loosely based on Tug Mcgraw's short story, LUMPY, about a boy and a baseball who find themselves in the World Series together.
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Hey, Ashley Renee Smith. I'm glad you're feeling better than before! Hope your husband is too! IYW has been incredible! That's what I spent the weekend doing. That and resting.
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Hope you are both on the mend. Can you tell me more about your development work?
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My beautiful Ashley Renee Smith I am so happy you and your husband are recovering from Covid and ready to return to your life. I am loving to see you as S32 Head of Communication, you are brilliant and I love when you host S32 Stories and Direct! You are a jewel for me at S32 community and I am thankful for that! I hope you are now more closer to accomplish your goals for this year! Happy YIW my sweet friend :))
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Thanks, Maurice Vaughan! I'm glad you were able to get some rest.
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You're welcome, Ashley Renee Smith. The rest felt great! Back to writing today. I'm working on a weird short script. SO weird.
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Stephen Folker, we are. My husband is a few days ahead of me, so he's doing much better. I should be in good shape by Thursday, fingers crossed.
As for Development, what would you like to know? I worked in development for 7 years, working my way up from assistant to Creative Executive running a development slate of over 50 projects in various stages from concept to wrap. I was mainly focused on television, but we had a few film projects on the slate as well.
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Thank you so much, Sandra Isabel Correia! I actually finished book #22 yesterday! =)
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Hi Ashley! I just joined a week or two ago so I'm just exploring the options you offer. I hope to really dig in this week, maybe try to connect with people who can move my project forward.
I do have a kind of technical suggestion. If you look at the genre types they use on FilmFreeway or The Black List, set up a database and ask all your advisors to check off all the genres they are interested in. Then allow the site users to select the genre of their project(s) and very quickly bring up the advisors who work in those genres. (In my case, I have a historical/period/crime project and on cursory look I found it hard to find an advisor to matched that spec.) I'd hate to waste money setting a meeting up with someone who is really not interested or can't help to move my project forward.
Thanks!
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Hey @Ashley Renee Smith -- good to see you!
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So glad you're feeling better and on the mend, Ashley Renee Smith!!
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Ahahah Ashley Renee Smith you go to win the book prize :)) I am counting :)))
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Hope you're on the mend Ashley Renee Smith
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Thanks for sharing Ashley Renee Smith !!
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Ashley, glad you're back and feeling better (and I'm glad your husband's feeling better, too)!
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Weird is fun, Maurice Vaughan!!
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Amen to that Ashley Renee Smith
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Joe Rufo, Welcome welcome!! Here at Stage 32, we prefer a more personal approach to helping our members connect to the best executives for their needs and interests. All you need to do is email our success team at success@stage32.com and tell them about your current goals, projects, and interests so that they can recommend specific professionals who are currently available to connect with you.
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Pat Alexander, it's great to be seen! =)
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Thank you, Sam Sokolow! It was a rough few days.
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You're right, Ashley Renee Smith. I'm making this short script super weird, but not confusing.
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Thank you, Jim Boston and Bill McCormick! We're finally feeling human again.
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Thanks Ashley Renee Smith for the reply. I'll send my email to the success team soon.