ONE + ONE
IRL IN los angeles, CA + virtually around the world
One-on-one personalized creative counsel sessions to anchor, energize, and catalyze your writing
My father was a visionary advertising executive, once described as a 'writer who thought in pictures.' His agency serviced the arts exclusively and he believed firmly that the more he got artists talking about their work, the better he could understand how to support and sell it. He described getting to the 'essence' of a piece of art, then using that to connect to its audience.
It is perhaps no accident that I chose to build my career with a similar type of thinker, Philip Seymour Hoffman whose production company I ran for over a decade. Phil also strove to identify the essence of a film or project--'what's it really about?' are words I was trained to ask of every piece of creative work i encountered. What lives underneath the narrative and makes this work relevant and resonant and universal in some way? That became the seminal question I asked and answered over and over again writing my own novel. It's the question I continue to ask of every creative impulse I have and every artist with whom I engage.
At some point, most of us have the urge to make something. A book, a script, a website, a story. But many of us struggle with where to begin or how to find that all-critical essence. I've spent over twenty years honing the tools to find it and it is my privilege to share those tools one-on-one with you.
Sessions are approximately one hour, by zoom or in person in East LA. They consist of conversation, questions, review of existing work, planning, and homework. They require self-awareness, honesty, willingness, open-heartedness, and commitment. 'Talent' is a given, because we all have creative talent, it just may be long-buried or mislabeled.
I am not your editor, I will not give page-by-page notes on your script. I will not find you an agent or introduce you to talent. This is high-level work designed to get to the bottom of what you want to say and do with your art, and how to best achieve that. But don't worry, it will be fun.
"Working with Emily has been a yearlong dose of life-changing magic. She’s a teacher and a coach who offers structure to guide my path forward. But really, she is a producer who keenly lasers right to the core, always finding the story in the story. Her insights zing with clarity and my thinking and writing keep getting better as a result." —Heather E.
SELF-CENTERED
irl in los angeles, ca + virtually around the world
Workshops on the art of using personal experience to create resonant, riveting narratives
I offer two different one-of-a-kind workshops: one on the art of the personal essay, the other on creating fictional narrative from lived experience. Following a brief overview of my work, experience, and process, participants will take a creative journey of their own.
I provide step-by-step written practices designed to plumb both narrative and emotional memory to create character, structure, and story that are organically inventive, yet rooted in personal truth. Students come away calm, clear, and curious to keep digging, along with possessing new techniques and renewed creative fire with which to move in whatever direction they may choose.
These workshops can be tailored for both adult and teenage audiences and require a minimum of one hour to complete (two hours is optimal).