ACTIVATING THE PURPOSE IN STORY, CHARACTER, & PLOT (Part l)
2025-09-24 18:00 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
PART ONE: SEPTEMBER 2025 EVENT

Sign up today!REGULAR OFFER RATE – $497
ALUM RATE – $297

STARTS
September 24, 2025, at 6:00 pm PT with a 2-hour webinar
STORY TRAINING SESSIONS
September 29th at 6:00 pm and October 6, 2025, at 6:00 pm
(Every participant will have the opportunity to pitch, answer story questions, or share where they are struggling with their writing.)
STORY MODULES
They will come out on October 13, 2025.
Write the stories that are flowing through you. They come with a purpose. If you learn to add meaning to your story, characters, and plot, opportunities will follow.
WHAT YOU WILL MASTER IN THIS COURSE

Information
Activation
Application

INFORMATION
The course begins with a 2-hour Webinar on September 24th at 6:00 pm PT, where I will share how to delve into the purpose of your story, character, and plot.
ACTIVATION
We will have two nights of Story Training for you to practice your pitch, talk about your story, and share the struggles you are having with your writing.
APPLICATION
You will receive Story Modules on October 13th. These modules will include multiple lessons on developing the purpose of story, character, and plot, including story breakdowns, graphs, handouts, and homework.
MODULE 1
Understanding The Purpose of the Story
Creating a Compelling Story
Activating Stories
Types of Stories
List of Purposes for Story
Story Breakdowns
Adolescence
Dying For Sex
The Bear – Season 4 Episode 1
The Studio
A Real Pain (feature)
Broken Country (Novel)
MODULE 2
Developing Memorable Characters
Character Arcs and Growth
The Role of Characters In Story
Creating Complex Characters
MODULE 3
Crafting an Engaging Plot
Plot Development and Pacing
Understanding Plot Structure
Plot Twists and Surprises
PART TWO: FEBRURARY 2026 EVENT
6-WEEK TELESEMINAR: February 3 -March 10
(available for purchase in January 2026)
STARTS
February 3rd at 7:00 pm PT and runs through March 10
COURSE INCLUDES

GUEST SPEAKERS – TO BE ANNOUNCED
Details to follow

ACTIVATING THE PURPOSE IN STORY, CHARACTER, & PLOT: 6-WEEK TELESEMINAR
2026-02-03 19:00 - 21:30
ACTIVATING THE PURPOSE OF STORY, CHARACTER, and PLOT: 6-WEEK TELESEMINAR
February 3 -March 10
(Available for purchase in December 2025.)
STARTS
February 3rd at 7:00 pm PT and runs through March 10
COURSE STRUCTURE
PHASE 1
When you buy the 6-Week Teleseminar, you will get story modules that serve as your course instructions. You will have access to these modules for one year from the purchase date.
PHASE 2
The live online component begins on Tuesday, February 3, 2026, at 7:00 pm PST. Each session lasts approximately 2.5 hours.

During the first part of each class, I will give a brief presentation on the angle of Activating Purpose in Story, Character, & Plot.
Next, 3-4 writers will rotate in and receive feedback.
Then, we will have a working writer as a guest speaker for the last hour of each class. Five writers will have an opportunity to pitch their concept or discuss three problems that they are having with their story and ask for advice.

All live online classes will be recorded for future reference. You will receive the recordings the day after the class.
PHASE 3
You will book a one-on-one session with me to receive direct feedback on your project. The number of sessions you receive will depend on your level.
PARTICIPATION OPTIONS
LEVEL 1

You will receive the story modules.
You will attend six live online classes and get all the recordings.
You can submit a logline and a 1–3 page story synopsis, which includes a half-hour one-on-one consultation that you can schedule up to a year after the class.

LEVEL 2 (LIMITED SPOTS)
This offer includes everything listed in Level 1. Level 2 also provides feedback on two drafts of your outline or script. You will have the opportunity to join a week that features a read and feedback session with me and the class, and you will also receive a one-on-one session with me for a second review and feedback. Additionally, this level offers an opportunity to pitch to a guest speaker of your choice.

TV w/ Outline review (2 drafts)
TV w/ Script review (2 drafts)
Feature w/ Outline review (2 drafts)
Feature w/ Script review (2 drafts)
Novel with Treatment review (2 drafts)
LEVEL 3
SUBMISSION ONLY (Submissions due January 15, 2026)
You can submit the first ten pages of your TV, Feature, or Novel by January 15th, 2026. I will announce the two finalists in the last week of January

**If you buy Level 2 and become a finalist for Level 3, I will credit you the difference. **
Level 3 (2 SPOTS)

This offer includes everything in Level 1.
You will have three opportunities to rotate and get feedback on your script during the live class.
You can choose two guest speakers to pitch.
This level also offers two one-on-one meetings to review your script, which can be scheduled up to a year after purchase (note that the TV or Feature rate will apply).

COACHING OFFERS

If you purchase 5 Coaching Consults for TV, Film, or Novels, you will not pay any additional cost for the course.

5 Coaching Consults – TV
$3,375

5 Coaching Consults – Film
$5,000

5 Coaching Consults – Novel
I’ll design this to fit the page count.

2026 GUEST SPEAKERS

MICHAEL NARDUCCI
Michael Narducci is a television writer and producer. Currently a co-executive producer of CBS’s WATSON, he recently finished work as a writer and executive producer of Netflix’s THE WATERFRONT. Before that, he developed JUSTICE U at Warner Brothers and collaborated with Oscar Winner Regina King on the teaching drama WARRIORS for ABC. He was the showrunner of THE ORIGINALS for four seasons and has written on shows including SUPERMAN & LOIS, THE VAMPIRE DIARIES, ARCHIVE 81, The 4400, and MEDIUM. He’s sold pitches to Marvel, Amazon, Disney, and Warner Bros.Michael was raised in Ohio and attended Harvard University, where he played football and graduated magna cum laude with a degree in psychology. He then received his MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Virginia. His short stories have appeared in literary magazines, including The Texas Review and The Virginia Quarterly Review. He has taught television writing at UCLA, USC, and UGA, and has also taught creative writing in Boston, South Central Los Angeles, and South Korea.He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughters.

EUGENE GARCIA-CROSS
Eugene Garcia-Cross is the author of the novel Miss Me Forever and the story collection Fires of Our Choosing, which was named the Gold Medal winner in the Short Story category by the Independent Publisher Book Awards. He’s taught creative writing at Northwestern, Penn State, the University of Chicago, and other institutions. His stories have appeared in Glimmer Train, American Short Fiction, Story Quarterly, and Callaloo, among other publications. His work was also listed among the 2010 and 2015 Best American Short Stories’ 100 Distinguished Stories. He is the recipient of scholarships from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and fellowships from NBC, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, the Yaddo Artists’ Colony, and the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. As a TV writer, Eugene has worked on shows for Disney Channel, NBC, ABC, Peacock, and Disney+. Currently, he serves as a Co-Producer on Season 2 of the NBC sitcom Happy’s Place starring Reba McEntire. Eugene lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three children.

CARLA KETTNER
Carla Kettner was born in Calgary, Canada. After graduating USC she moved to Australia and became a journalist and award-winning short story author. Kettner quickly transitioned into writing and producing Australian television and a few years later moved back to Los Angeles. Since then she has written and produced hundreds of hours of television, primarily dramas. She was Executive Producer of “The Blacklist”, “Bones”, “Vanished” and “Mob Doctor”. Other credits include “Zoo”, “Night Shift”, “Early Edition” and “Judging Amy”.Kettner has written pilots for Fox, ABC, NBC and CBS. She co-created and was showrunner on the Spectrum Originals/Roku Originals crimedy “Panhandle” and is currently showrunner on “ALERT: Missing Persons Unit” for Fox. Kettner has multiple projects in development with Sony.In the spirit of fostering the next generation of TV talent, Kettner has lectured and sat on panels for USC School of Cinema-Television, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Johns Hopkins University, Boston University, and has done multiple screenwriting seminars and podcasts.

AARON RAHSAAN THOMAS
Aaron Rahsaan Thomas is an acclaimed screenwriter and producer for television and film. He is the co-creator and executive producer for CBS’s series reboot of S.W.A.T., which just celebrated its 8th and final season.Aaron grew up in Kansas City, Kansas, developing a love for storytelling after completing a fifth-grade assignment to create his own original Greek myth from scratch. As time passed, he developed his passion for storytelling visually and attended Morehouse College. Aaron would also matriculate through the University of Kansas, earning honors in English Literature, before moving to Los Angeles and attending the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts for graduate school. He would later direct one of ESPN’s most popular 30 for 30 films called Trojan War, about the USC Football team. After graduating from USC, Aaron was selected for the prestigious CBS Writers Mentoring Program.Aaron began his professional career as a writer’s assistant on Soul Food: The Series and went on to write for such TV series as NBC’s Friday Night Lights, for which he received a Peabody Award, as well as CBS procedurals, such as Numb3rs and CSI:NY. Two of his screenplays were produced into feature films (Cover directed by Bill Duke, and Assassination Games starring Jean Claude Van Damme).
Aaron has also served as a Co-Executive Producer on TNT’s SouthLAnd, Fox’s Sleepy Hollow and Netflix’s The Get Down.

KETO SHIMIZU
Born in Princeton, N.J., Shimizu spent much of her youth traveling the globe with a world music choir. A life-long fan of movies and comic books, she attended film school at Emerson College in Boston, then moved to Los Angeles in 2007 to pursue a career in the industry. Following graduation, she worked in post-production, using nights and weekends to follow her true passion: writing. Her hard work paid off as she was accepted into NBC’s “Writers on the Verge” program in 2009, and shortly thereafter was staffed on “The Cape.” She then moved on to “Being Human,” where she spent two seasons. She was then brought on to The CW’s “Arrow.” After three years writing for the DC comic adaptation, she transferred to the spinoff “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow,” eventually rising to co-showrunner. Most recently, she was an executive producer and writer on “The Hunting Party” for NBC, and currently has both film and TV projects in development across multiple studios.

VANESSA TAYLOR
Vanessa Taylor has worked widely in television, most recently as Co-Executive Producer on HBO’s “Game of Thrones.” Her feature films include “Hope Springs,” “Divergent,” “Hillbilly Elegy,” and “The Shape of Water,” for which she received an Oscar nomination.
