Good morning, Forge. Here's some great stories about writers breaking through in the last week or so: - Stephanie Ahn Spent 8 Years on Her First Feature. Sony Pictures Classics Just Bought It. — Stephanie Ahn wrote and directed Bedford Park, a story about a Korean American woman caught between family obligation and identity. It premiered at Sundance, won the Special Jury Award for Debut Feature, and Sony Pictures Classics picked it up. Their words: "the confidence of a master." She found her lead actress in Korea six years ago and rehearsed over Zoom for months before they ever shot a frame. Eight years from blank page to Sundance stage. That's not a slow career. That's a writer who refused to let go of the story she needed to tell. - Adrian Chiarella: From Editing Room to Neon's Seven-Figure Deal — Chiarella spent years as a film editor, working under Baz Luhrmann. Then he started directing shorts. His first, Touch, came in 2014. His second, Black Lips, in 2018. His third, Dwarf Planet, in 2021. Each one a little bigger, a little bolder. Then he wrote Leviticus, a queer social horror, developed through VicScreen's Originate initiative. It premiered in Sundance's Midnight section. Neon bought it for seven figures. A decade of shorts. Then the feature lands. That's how this works for most people. You keep making things until the right thing finds the right moment. - Ramzi Bashour Grew Up in Beirut. His Debut Feature Just Got Acquired at Sundance. — Bashour is Syrian-American, raised in Lebanon, moved to Indiana after 2006. He wrote Hot Water about an American kid and his Lebanese mom on a road trip west after the kid gets expelled. It's personal. He was a Sundance Fellow three years running (2022, 2023, 2024) developing this script. Named one of Filmmaker Magazine's "25 New Faces." The film debuted in U.S. Dramatic Competition and Rich Spirit acquired it. Three years of development. One story he couldn't not write.

Let’s go, people! These premium calls are critical. In my opinion, they are a mixture of revealing the magic of our creativity and ideas that flourished out of the universe unexpectedly, but we caught them because we showed up to the page. The other side for me is it’s like triage. Something in my story is bleeding out, and the table read is where I identify it and get some solutions from the community and David Stem. As David has said, “A good table read doesn’t just improve dialogue — it reveals the *soul gaps* in the story.” Bring your pages and let David Stem and the community help work on your story. Please reach out to people to cast your pages in advance. It helps to keep the call moving. Here’s the link to where you put up your casting and your pages. Here’s the link for the Tuesday, April 7th Premium Coach Call. Here’s the link for the Friday, April 10th Premium Coach Call.