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Hey Screenwriters!

How are you doing with your week 3 for NWC?

For Week 3, my goal is to close Act 2 at the climax with 75 pages total. I’m currently about 20 pages away, and I’m determined to hit that milestone this week.

Preparing for Future Meetings, Pitches & Collaborations

This week’s Stage 32 blog asks us to reflect on how we prepare ourselves for the industry side of the journey.

Read here: https://www.stage32.com/blog/november-write-club-week-3-how-to-make-a-st...

For me, the most important habit has been reviewing my failures honestly, not to dwell on them, but to learn from them. Every misstep in a meeting, every pitch that didn’t land, and every collaboration that didn’t click has taught me something about clarity, confidence, and connection. By reframing those experiences as lessons, I can turn them into strengths the next time I’m in the room.

When the industry feels slow or competitive, I remind myself that perseverance isn’t about ignoring setbacks, it’s about transforming them into fuel. That mindset keeps me moving forward, page by page, meeting by meeting, until the work finds its place.

That’s my Week 3 check-in. How are you preparing yourself for future opportunities, and what strategies keep you going when things feel tough?

I've absolutely been so focused and fired up because of this November Writing Club, the weeks have been blazing on, and I find myself inspired, focused, and driven.

Week 3: Regarding pitches, meetings and collaborations. I am still working on a screenplay, in the final stretch! But, I do have pitches in December for my completed screenplays.

For these pitches, I am definitely doing my due diligence and reading up more on the exec or producer, to feel more confident for one, but to also understand their point of view, and how my screenplay fits their genre, tone, slate, and development themes.

And, my ninja habit:

Right before, something I do, since these are still zoom ( in person, I may need to do it in the bathroom of the coffee shop, lol): I take a few deep breaths, close my eyes, and smile to myself, in silence, and say, "I am building my relationships, and this is a wonderful meeting."

I want to thank Stage 32 for Week 2 win as well! I am flabbergasted and very grateful.

Happy Week 3 everyone!

Before we go deeper into the Actorpreneur journey, I want to pause for a moment and speak about something that quietly affects almost every actor I know — something that brings hope one week, frustration the next, and confusion in between: the IMDb Starmeter.

IMDb – The Damocles Sword Above Us

If you know the story behind that ancient metaphor, you know exactly what I mean. In Greek mythology, Damocles envied the wealth and power of King Dionysius. To teach him a lesson, the king invited him to a lavish banquet — but suspended a sharp sword over Damocles’ head, held only by a single horsehair.

The message was cruel but truthful:

From the outside, success looks glorious.

But from the inside, it carries a constant, invisible pressure.

And for many actors today, that sword is called IMDb.

There is an unspoken pressure around this number, as if it were a mirror of talent or a prediction of future success. But the truth is far simpler and far more comforting: your IMDb ranking is not your identity. It is not your talent, not your value, and certainly not the measure of where your career can go.

I say this because I’ve experienced the entire spectrum myself.

My Starmeter has climbed to an All-Time High of 7k… only to fall to 2 million shortly after, then rise again to 40,000, then slip, then rise, then slip again — sometimes all within the same month. And in none of these moments did my craft change. My passion didn’t disappear when the number dropped, and it didn’t magically increase when the number rose. I remained exactly who I am: a storyteller on his way.

Here’s what actors often forget when they’re staring at their IMDb ranking: ask yourself this — is Matt Damon a highly paid, consistently booked, globally respected actor because he sits in the IMDb Top 100… or is he in the Top 100 because he is an exceptional actor? The answer reveals itself instantly. The same applies to Denzel Washington, Cate Blanchett, Robert Downey Jr., Viola Davis, Tom Hardy, Emma Stone — they don’t work because their ranking is high; their ranking is high because they deliver truth, presence, excellence, and unforgettable performances.

IMDb is not a talent barometer, not a measure of quality, not a predictor of destiny. It is a popularity ripple, shaped by online traffic, search trends, algorithmic shifts, new releases, media buzz, and even gossip. If IMDb truly reflected artistic value, films I personally cannot connect with — like Deadpool & Wolverine — wouldn’t dominate the charts; yet they do, because millions click on them. And the reverse is true: I prefer the older Fantastic Four with Miles Teller, so that’s the one I look up — my personal clicks shape the number, just as yours do.

That’s all IMDb is: a subjective echo chamber of curiosity. Rankings rise when people search you; they fall when attention moves. But none of it changes who you are. None of it defines your craft. None of it touches your talent, your evolution, your worth, or the legacy you are building. IMDb fluctuates. You don’t.

And here is the part many actors misunderstand: Branding and IMDb do not always move together. At least not until you reach the A-list, where studios, PR teams, and global media push your name into constant circulation.

For everyone else, branding grows quietly and strategically: through consistent storytelling, powerful visuals, a clear niche, meaningful connections, and the ability to position yourself as a recognizable identity in the industry.

Your IMDb ranking can jump or fall overnight.

Your brand grows over months and years.

IMDb = noise.

Branding = identity.

IMDb = fluctuations.

Branding = direction.

IMDb = who Googled you this week.

Branding = who the industry believes you are.

This is why we must stop treating IMDb as a judgment and start seeing it for what it is: a digital weather report. It changes with every wind of public taste, every new announcement, every trending project. But you — your craft, your identity, your evolution — those things don’t fluctuate week to week. They grow. They deepen. Furthermore, they solidify. And the industry remembers that, not a number.

Branding lasts longer than algorithms.

Niche lasts longer than trends.

Presence lasts longer than traffic waves.

So use IMDb as a tool — a place to keep your bio polished, your photos updated, and your credits clean — but never as a mirror for your self-worth. The business remembers authenticity and emotional truth far more than analytics. The world casts human beings, not rankings.

And this is exactly why Actorpreneurship, visibility, and branding matter. Because while IMDb reflects noise, your brand reflects identity. Because while an algorithm moves up and down, the story you carry stays constant. And because your journey deserves to be defined by intention, purpose, clarity and evolution — not by a weekly fluctuation on a website.

DEEP INSIDE — Visibility, Branding & The Actorpreneur Era

And this is exactly why visibility and branding matter far more than anything an algorithm could ever say. IMDb rises and falls with the tides of online noise, but your brand grows through intention, clarity and the choices you make over time. Visibility is not luck — it’s something you build. And branding is not a gimmick — it’s the identity that carries you through an industry that remembers presence, truth and individuality far longer than it remembers numbers.

Actorpreneurship is the bridge between both worlds. It’s the moment you stop seeing yourself only as an artist and start understanding yourself as a creative business — as someone who shapes their own ecosystem through strategy, storytelling and authenticity. When you embrace that mindset, your artistic life stops depending on outside approval and begins to generate its own momentum.

That’s the phase I’m stepping into now — a phase where my brand becomes visible, not just conceptual. As I prepare for Business Expo 2026 and Hollywood Networking Week 2026, I’m building the next layer of my identity: a clear, cinematic representation of who I am on-screen.

That journey begins with ART MEETS TALENT – The Look.Book.

This gallery isn’t just a collection of headshots. It’s the first visual chapter of my niche — a curated expression of range, identity and emotional truth. Every frame is a small story. Every portrait is a version of the man I bring to the screen. It’s a visual identity system designed to show casting directors where I live emotionally, physically, and energetically in the world of storytelling.

And over the next weeks, that visibility will deepen even more as I step into the Urban Villain Identity Shooting — a cinematic exploration of my niche as The Intelligent Titan / Dark Hero with Purpose. This is where the work becomes real, where identity meets imagery, and where branding finally becomes something you can feel.

Because in the end, this industry doesn’t reward the loudest algorithm — it rewards the clearest identity.

And that is something we can all build, step by step, with heart, intention and courage.

Let IMDb fluctuate.

Let your identity rise.

And let your branding speak louder than any metric ever could.

Lore design builds depth and coherence that audiences can carry across different platforms. Iconic vehicles like Knight Rider’s KITT, Batman’s Batmobile, and the car culture in Gone in 60 Seconds show how transportation objects can become cultural symbols, inspire replicas, and fuel toys. The car fan base is very large around the world, so targeting this audience through unique vehicle lore can be a powerful way to expand your lore for transmedia.

What film, game, TV series, or anime do you think has the best transportation lore?