This comment absolutely delighted me. Maybe I'm being petty, but after seeing the amazing pages and ways writers are transforming in this morning session, I got a notification that Don just doesn't approve of what we are doing here at all. Here's the Ad: I'm J. David Stem, Fancy Hollywood Writer Just let it be a reminder, that no matter what your intentions, no matter how good your pages, the world is full of Don Tuttles. Sometimes it feels like... it's Tuttles all the way down! So, keep your head down and focused on YOUR work and what YOU can control. And lets the Tuttles of the world do Tuttle things. Not. Your. Concern.

This call was a great snapshot of the actual process — not theory, not formulas, but real writers wrestling with real pages and making real breakthroughs. We had three writers present material, and together they showed the full arc of development: rewrite payoff, first-time pages, and radical rethinking of an opening. 🔹 @Krystel Biasotti — Rewrite Payoff Krystel brought in a second rewrite of the opening of Soulmate. Same story. Same premise. Completely different experience. We did a live table read, and the reaction in the room was immediate: - The pages moved faster - The comedy landed - Most importantly — people cared about her immediately Nothing new was added in terms of plot. The shift was emotional access. By opening on a deeply human moment — trying and failing to fit into a high school dress — the audience was pulled into her interior life without explanation. The information was always there. Now we felt it. This is the thing I’m often trying to get writers to find without knowing exactly what it is yet. Krystel found it. I’ve asked her to post earlier drafts as well, because this is a textbook example of: Same movie. Same information. Radically different reader experience. 🔹 @Eva Titova — First Pages, Strong Voice Eva joined us for the first time and brought brand-new pages from Mainstream Uninvited, a character-driven family comedy set around a Christmas dinner. Right away, a few things stood out: - Clean, professional formatting - Strong tonal control - Character dynamics doing the heavy lifting We did a table read and paused to talk about how specificity builds trust with a reader, and how small descriptive choices quietly communicate confidence and voice. There’s a strong Wes Anderson–style sensibility here — idea-forward, character-first, and quietly tense in the best way. This wasn’t plot-driven writing. It was presence-driven writing. For a first session, this was impressive work.

I've been gearing everything for around 10 a.m. Pacific Time. But we have people all over the world. So I'd love for you to let me know if there are times that work better for you and I'll try to make them work for coaching sessions. And if anybody is up for night sessions, lmk, I think there are probably a lot of people who work during the day, this might work for. All times below are based on my time in Los Angeles, Pacific Time. What works best for you for Seminars and Coaching Calls?

Michelangelo’s famous philosophy of subtractive sculpture. He believed that the figure already existed within the stone, and his role as a sculptor was simply to "liberate" it. This concept to me resonates with being a writer. The great story is there; we just have to chip away all the excess. In my experience that is achieved by rewriting, revisioning, and killing our darlings being paramount in liberating a great screenplay. Michael Arndt has said it took him 100 drafts to perfect his Oscar-winning script, Little Miss Sunshine. When it became a financial success, he said to himself, “So the film has “succeeded,” and I have (temporarily, at least) escaped from the jaws of failure.” Some that were on that Zoom call thought, “Oh, man, I can’t do 100 drafts.” I, on the other hand, felt relieved that I didn’t need to get it right on the 1st or 10th or 20th draft. But I also understood his feelings of dread that we as writers can feel over the arduous task of making something fantastic. The golden trait is being psychologically strong enough to be able to hear effective critical feedback (yes, it does sting) and test it against your pages and change things accordingly. Hence, the importance of having your pages read by people who know everything involved in writing an effective screenplay. What part of your story are you working on liberating today?