Business Beat: Steve Sage Productions

In an economic period when companies are struggling to stay afloat, Chase and Living Social have launched the $3 million program “Mission: Small Business” giving business owners the chance to win a grant to spend in a way that will benefit them and their communities.

Patch will be profiling the local small business owners entered in the competition that reside in Deer Park and North Babylon.

Lifetime Deer Park resident and owner of the Steve Sage Productions, Steve Sage, is hoping to secure one the grants from Chase and Living Social.

Sage, who previously owned Steve’s Hot Bagels and Bakery on Deer Park Avenue, decided to leave retail two years ago and start his production company hopes of making it big in the entertainment industry.

“When I sold my bagel store I just wanted to create commercials, PSA’s and movies. I sold my business and I went out on a limb,” said Sage.

A lifelong filmmaker who has worked with bands such as Twisted Sister and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and companies such as Hornito’s Tequila and NBC are all accomplishments under Sage’s belt, but his main goal is to do more for the community. 

Not only does Sage want to bring filmmaking back to Long Island, but he also hopes to be able to bring more awareness to the issue of bullying. An issue that plagued Sage as a child when he was diagnosed with the autoimmune skin disease alopecia at age 10 that caused him to lose his hair.

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“I want to directly hit the bully situation from a real perspective," he said. "I was bullied when I was growing up. In my time, everyone was bullied and we could handle it but now kids are killing themselves. My goal is to create some real deep movies or TV shows that directly show what is going on and not candy coat it.”

Winners of the grant money from the program will be awarded $250,000 each. Sage says if he were to be awarded a grant his winnings would go directly to creating PSA’s and TV shows that will show all spectrum's of bullying.

“We want to do things that are raw [but] we need to grow. I do a lot of the work myself. I need the equipment and I need to hire writers that are better than me and have been in the business longer so that we can bring it to fruition," he said.

All businesses entered in the grant program must receive a minimum of 250 votes to be considered for one of the grants. The 12 grant winners will be announced on September 15.

To vote for the Steve Sage Productions, go to: www.missionsmallbusiness.com.