Tony Toscano: Film Mentorship and Connection at The Story Forge

Tony Toscano is bringing mentorship, an exchange of ideas and a fantastic opportunity for connection to aspiring writers, actors, filmmakers and storytellers through The Story Forge, a groundbreaking new three-day summit in Salt Lake City this month. The summit is the first of its kind and aims to bring incredible insight to attendees with 10 experienced industry professionals speaking and participating throughout the entire summit. 

Tony Toscano, a producer, film critic and event creator who has been in the industry for over 50 years, spoke about why he was motivated to establish an event like The Story Forge. “The biggest thing that I have noticed is that the entertainment business is one of the only businesses that you apprentice to. You learn from others. You learn from the wisdom of others. And somewhere, that changed incredibly because there is no mentoring anymore. It’s one of those things that’s kind of a lost art,” Tony says, citing this change in the filmmaking culture as his main inspiration for exploring the possibility of an event like this. 

Glenn Morshower, actor in 287 films at the time of the interview, acting teacher, motivational speaker and longtime friend of Tony, recounted when the idea was initially presented to him. “’Of course. Plus, I love you. You’re my brother. Let’s do this together. This would be great fun.’ So we’re doing it in three weeks in Salt Lake City. And I’m to say I’m excited is truly an understatement. What I love about this assembly that Tony has put together is it’s working professionals, every one of whom have lived a life that these young artists in training would find to be enviable, that they themselves would love to live.”

Ten professionals of the filmmaking world will be attending and speaking at The Story Forge, including Glenn Morshower (The Resident, Bloodline) himself; producer, writer and director Dean Devlin (Independence Day, The Ark, Stargate); actress and producer Lisa Brenner (The Patriot, One Big Happy Family); and Emmy Award-winning scriptwriter Nancy Schilbe (The Pitt). “They were chosen for their particular disciplines in this industry, and I secured them through my personal friendships that I’ve had for a long time,” Tony continued. “To be able to get those new insights, new perspectives — I mean, you’ve got two amazing casting directors telling you what they are particularly looking for in an audition. You’ve got a major director and a creator of a TV series there to tell you what he’s looking for in actors and crew and everything else. I mean, where are you going to get that experience?” 

Why Salt Lake City? Tony defends his choice to host The Story Forge here as an SLC resident. “You’re not in Hollywood. You don’t have access to a lot of this information. And people, the acting classes here, although good, are not Hollywood-based acting classes where you have access to people in this industry or that new information there. The idea is to take this to locations that aren’t necessarily entertainment capitals of the world. Because I want to see somebody in Kansas get this information, and Salt Lake is my home, and we wanted to bring it here.”

The Story Forge is a title that is so straight to the point. Tony explains where the name came from: “It just came to me because of forging stories and almost like hitting a hammer on an anvil. That hard work of building something that’s strong, durable and will last — I love that. So it brings to mind, you know, something of worth and weight.”

The Story Forge will take place from Aug. 20-22 at the DoubleTree by Hilton at the Salt Lake City Airport. A seminar and workshop ticket for all three days will be $399. SLUG Mag readers can use the promo code “storyforge2026” for $200 off the regular price.

Read more about what’s happening around Salt Lake:
Community Never Ends with Magnify Utah’s Community Quest
Pie and Beer Day: More Than Just Bread and Brew

If you enjoy SLUG’s coverage of local outreach and education, consider joining our community of donors!