I'm also a gym rat, love mountain biking, theater in NYC with my daughter and talking history with my son. Oh, and I have the privilege of coaching some damn, fine creative people! Oh, and I'm in Santa Monica. My Desert Island Movies are: Interstellar Raising Arizona Being John Malkovich How about you? If so inspired, drop a pic of you and your workspace or fave hobby below so we can all get to know each other better!

If you've found any value in this community or my coaching at all, could you please share your short, honest feedback under this ad. It will be a HUGE in helping this community grow, so we an attract great guest speakers and more resources. Thank you! Click on this and leave comments under the ad. Thx: I'm David Stem, fancy Hollywood writer Let me know if this works. This is new to me, so I'm learning as I go!

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?

I'm thinking about starting an ongoing lecture series with a Q&A at the end of each. Anybody who has been on any of my Zoom calls, knows I'm not at a loss for words or passion or thoughts about what makes great story/character. I'm thinking this would be a weekly or semi weekly, depending on my schedule and workload outside of here. Check out the topics below and vote on what interest you most, or suggest a topic you'd love to see explored. @Spider Ange wanted more than 1 vote, which I think is a great idea. Feel free to list as many of these in whatever order that vibes with you. Suggested ideas welcome also.

We're changing this New Member call up. (Here's the link for the Zoom.)Instead of just getting to know each other, I want to put a couple of you in the Hot Seat and go through the first few pages of your script. Why? Because NOTHING kills a read faster than your first scenes not jumping off the page! It's the #1 Rule in my 10 Iron Clad Rules for a Writing Life. Make me love you by page 2, or gtfo. The truth is, agents/managers/producers will stop reading immediately if you don't nail the opening. And my way of teaching is... I don't believe in simply telling you what to do, since we all have blind spots. The best form of coaching is when I take YOUR work and put you on the Hot Seat and you get real time feedback on how your material plays live. @Godfrey Virgile has already waded into deep end with his script. I need a few more and will be choosing 2 or 3 to work with. Now, who's in? Drop your first 7 pages below. And I'll see you Monday morning. Oh, and make sure to read everyone's work between now and then so you (and they) get the most out of Hot Seat coaching.