LITTLE STAGE STUDIOS — EDITOR & SOUND DESIGNER WANTED

We’re building the Little Stage Studios core production team and we’re looking for two long-term creative partners.

Little Stage Studios is a small independent production studio specializing in micro-scale filmmaking, puppetry, practical effects, handcrafted sets, and story-driven genre films.

We’re currently looking for:

1. EDITOR

2. SOUND DESIGNER

Our immediate priority is getting THE TEA STAND across the finish line, but we’re looking for people who want to become part of the studio’s production pipeline for multiple future projects.

THE IMMEDIATE PROJECT: THE TEA STAND

Our puppet short THE TEA STAND has completed principal photography and is currently in the finishing stages.

We’re looking for an editor and sound designer who can help take the project from its current assembly to a finished, festival-ready film.

EDITOR

Responsibilities may include:

• Refining the existing assembly into the final cut
• Pacing and story refinement
• Performance shaping
• Transitions and visual continuity
• Collaborating directly with the director
• Preparing the final picture for sound and festival delivery
• Helping establish an efficient editing workflow for future Little Stage productions

SOUND DESIGNER

Responsibilities may include:

• Final sound design for The Tea Stand
• Foley and practical sound effects
• Environmental atmosphere
• Creature/puppet/object sounds where appropriate
• Transitions and sonic storytelling
• Dialogue cleanup where necessary
• Working with the final edit toward a cohesive mix
• Helping Little Stage establish a reusable sound-effects workflow and library

The film is small. The sound and edit shouldn’t feel small.

THIS IS INTENDED TO BE LONG-TERM

We’re not simply looking for someone to finish The Tea Stand and disappear into the credits. Little Stage Studios is actively building a repeatable production pipeline and core crew.

Current and planned projects include:

DEAD AIR
A 35–40 minute horror featurette. Set in rural Pennsylvania in 1995, Dead Air follows a late-night radio host trapped inside his station when a mysterious transmission invites something physical—and deadly—inside. As the creature hunts through the building, it moves without a sound, steals the voices of those trapped inside, and turns the station’s own silence against them.

2027 PITTSBURGH 48 HOUR FILM PROJECT
We’re already beginning to assemble our team for next year’s challenge.

FUTURE LITTLE STAGE PRODUCTIONS
We’re expanding our reusable puppets, sets, props, practical effects, and production infrastructure so that every project becomes more efficient than the last.

Our goal is to build a small, dependable group of filmmakers who can continue moving from production to production together.

If we work well together on The Tea Stand, we’d like to keep working together.

COMPENSATION — PROFIT SHARE

Little Stage Studios currently operates on a small independent-production model. Rather than promising rates that we cannot sustainably maintain, we’re building our compensation around project profit sharing.

Our current proposed structure is:

30% — Little Stage Studios
Retained by the studio to support production infrastructure, equipment, materials, future projects, distribution, festival expenses, and continued operation.

The remaining 70% of net project profit is distributed among the project’s creative contributors:

15% — Director / Producer
15% — Editor
15% — Sound Designer
7.5% — Script Supervision / Production
7.5% — Script Supervision / Production
5% — Lighting / Photography
5% — Voice Performers

Total: 100%

The exact contributor roster and allocation may be adjusted from project to project depending on who is actually involved and the scope of their responsibilities, but the principle remains the same:

Little Stage retains 30%. The people making the project receive the majority of the remaining profit.

Profit sharing is based on net project profit, meaning money remaining after legitimate direct project expenses such as production materials, festival/submission costs, distribution expenses, equipment expenses, and other costs directly associated with completing and releasing that project.

AND WE’LL STILL TRY TO PAY SOMETHING UP FRONT

Profit share isn’t intended to be an excuse to ask people to work for free. Wherever the project’s budget allows, we will make an effort to provide contributors with some direct compensation for their work on each production, even if that initial payment is modest or symbolic.

As Little Stage grows, our goal is for those direct payments to grow with it. The profit-share structure gives collaborators a stake in the success of the work rather than making compensation entirely dependent on what Little Stage can afford upfront.

LOCAL COLLABORATORS PRIORITIZED

Our first priority is finding people in the local region, particularly around:

Butler • Kittanning • Chicora, Pennsylvania

We’re deliberately trying to build a regional filmmaking community around Little Stage. Having recurring collaborators nearby makes it dramatically easier to rehearse, shoot, build, record, troubleshoot, and work together on short timelines.

That said, remote applicants are absolutely welcome.

If you’re outside the area but are exceptionally well suited for the position, we’re willing to work remotely. We’re ultimately looking for the right long-term creative partners, not simply the closest people geographically.

WHO WE’RE LOOKING FOR

You don’t need Hollywood credits.

We’re interested in people who:

• Love independent filmmaking
• Are dependable and communicative
• Enjoy collaborative creative work
• Have strong storytelling instincts
• Are comfortable working on small productions
• Are interested in practical effects, puppetry, handmade filmmaking, or unconventional production
• Want to have meaningful creative input
• Are interested in developing an ongoing working relationship rather than taking a single isolated gig

For the Editor, we’re particularly interested in someone who understands storytelling through pacing and performance.

For the Sound Designer, we’re particularly interested in someone who understands that sound can create atmosphere, tension, character, and even horror without showing the audience everything.

INTERESTED?

Send us:

1. Which position you’re interested in
2. Your location
3. A little about yourself and your experience
4. A reel, portfolio, or examples of previous work, if available
5. Your general availability
6. Whether you’re interested in an ongoing working relationship with Little Stage Studios

You don’t need a giant professional reel. Show us what you’ve made.

We’re building something small, strange, practical, and hopefully a little magical.

Come build it with us.

Little Stage Studios
Where Little Stages make Big Worlds