Zoje Stage
- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Zoje started Master Builder in 2002 to give herself the opportunity to
put her storytelling skills into motion. As an alternative to film
school, she wrote-produced-directed numerous zero-budget films
including the $5 documentary short "Best of Luck" ("an amusing take on
the travails of aspiring writers" - The New York Times) and the
mockumentary feature "Happy Walter" ("witty" - Pittsburgh City Paper).
Zoje was a 2012 participant in IFP's Emerging Narrative program with
her script "Hands and Knees". In 2008 she was awarded a Fellowship in
Screenwriting from the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), joining
the ranks of previous NYFA Fellows including Spike Lee, Todd Haynes,
Tamara Jenkins, Julie Taymor and Tony Kushner. In 2009 she won the
first Screenplay Live! screenwriting competition, which afforded her
the opportunity to direct a staged reading of her winning script "The
Machine Who Loved" for The High Falls Film Festival (Rochester, NY).
She is also a two-time semifinalist for the Nicholl Fellowships in
Screenwriting, the industry's largest and most prestigious competition,
sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Her
storytelling and directing skills were also enhanced by her experiences
as a theatrically-trained and former professional actor. Originally
from Pittsburgh, she currently lives in Rochester, NY.