1:1 Screenwriting Coaching
Ongoing coaching for writers who’ve outgrown their feedback.
You’ve taken the courses. Read the books. Gotten notes from friends, writing groups, maybe a coverage service or two. You’re still stuck in the same place. The ceiling you’ve hit has a diagnosis. My job is figuring out which one is yours, and coaching you through it.
What Coaching Looks Like
Ongoing work with someone whose job is reading scripts at the level yours will be judged.
No two coaching relationships look the same. Some writers come to finish a draft. Some want career strategy. Some have an active career and just need weekly accountability to keep the work moving, or want more attention than their reps are able to provide. Where you are and what you need will shift. The coaching shifts with you.
It starts with a comprehensive intake. Written reflection on your craft, your career, your slate, and where you’ve been with the work. The questionnaire is part of the coaching, not paperwork before it. Most writers find that working through it clarifies things before we ever meet.
Twice a month we get on Zoom and work on whatever’s live for you. A scene that won’t land. A structural problem you can’t name. What to write next, or how to position a script that’s already done. You leave each session knowing the next move.
Between sessions, you send me pages and I read a focused stretch closely, with the same eye that reads 50+ scripts a year for managers, producers, and working writers. That read feeds the conversation, so our time together goes deep instead of staying on the surface.
Over months, I come to know your writing. The patterns. Where you get stuck and why. What you’re capable of before you do.
Coaching is a relationship between you and someone whose job is reading scripts at the level yours will be judged.
“She asks the right questions and helps you on your own personal journey and with your struggles. She’s specific to you. She’s a writer too, so chances are if you’re going through something, she’s been through it too.”
@_eksandoval, coaching client
The Thesis
The ceiling you’ve hit has a diagnosis.
Here’s what I see across every writer I coach and every script I read.
Talented writers hit walls all the time. Multiple drafts. Maybe multiple scripts. They know structure. They understand character. They can write a scene that hums. Somewhere along the way, they stop getting better. Whatever’s holding them back has become invisible.
Courses teach to a room, not to you. Books describe principles, but don’t have insight into your specific draft. Peer groups are great, but working at the same level you are. Generic coverage services give you a reader of unknown origin who spent two hours with your script and doesn’t know your patterns or where the project has been.
The ceiling is different for every writer. For some it’s craft: a structural habit that shows up in every third act, a tendency toward passive protagonists, dialogue that explains instead of reveals. For some it’s emotional: fear of writing the real scene, perfectionism that keeps them rewriting Act One forever. For some it’s industry: they write well but have no idea what the market is looking for or how to position their work and actually get it read by people who matter.
Usually it’s some combination.
My job is figuring out which ceiling is yours, and coaching you through it.
“Kate’s notes were unique and helpful in ways that typical script feedback is not. The in-script notes gave a lot of insight into how someone reading for the first time feels every step of the way.”
What’s Included
Every month, a sustainable rhythm of coaching and feedback.
Two 1-hour coaching sessions per month.
Zoom. Scheduled around your life on a bi-weekly cadence. Sessions are custom tailored to you, depending on what you need and which season your career is in. We can focus on reading and notes, progress checks, strategy conversation, tackling submissions and queries, troubleshooting networking, and more. The structure is consistent. What happens inside it is entirely custom to where you are.
Ongoing review between sessions.
Up to two hours per month of reading and prep outside of sessions. Reading covers roughly ten pages at depth per session hour. Lighter reads for additional pages beyond that, for broader contextual understanding. You send work, I read it, you get notes for our next session. Other prep may include industry research and broader strategy.
Tools and resources, built around your work.
Templates, worksheets, and reference materials I’ve built from years of coaching and development work. I pull from this library and adapt or build new pieces specifically for what your script needs. Yours to keep.
One Deep Dive Coverage.
A full, professional analysis of your completed screenplay with clear, specific, and actionable feedback. The same Deep Dive I sell as a standalone service for $850. Included in your coaching. Every six months.
On Where to Start
Coaching reads your pages as you write them. It won’t put your whole finished script up for processing at once. Most clients pair a standalone Deep Dive with their first month of coaching. Not required, but starting with a complete read of one of your scripts tells me where the writing sits and where it might fit in the market, which can make the months that follow more focused and productive.
The Deep Dive
The Deep Dive is worth its own section because nothing else like it exists in the coaching world.
A comprehensive professional coverage document. Scene-by-scene analysis. Structural breakdown. Character evaluation. Dialogue assessment. Market positioning notes. The kind of read a literary manager would do before deciding whether to champion your project. I know because that’s where I learned to do it.
Most coaches give you session notes. Some give you written feedback. No one bundles a full professional coverage document into ongoing coaching.
By the time we reach your first Deep Dive, I’ve read months of your pages. I’m not coming to your script cold. I know your patterns, your strengths, what we’ve been chipping away at. The coverage reads as the work of someone who’s had the time to understand your writing, the kind of understanding no one-off reader ever gets to build.
You get one every six months of active coaching. It’s yours to keep.
Some clients swap the Deep Dive for Show Up & Write membership instead. We decide together a few months in. My call, ultimately. I’ll know what you need.
“I purchased the Deep Dive for my feature and it was absolutely worth the price. In addition to a line-by-line review, she went in-depth on theme, symbolism, character relationships, and more. Kate helped brainstorm solutions and we had a great follow-up conversation where I could bounce ideas off her and get real-time feedback.”
Is This You?
Coaching works when the fit is right.
Be honest with yourself about where you land.
This is for you if:
- ●You’ve written at least one screenplay draft. Any stage, any quality.
- ●You work in a creative-adjacent field, a non-creative profession, or anywhere else that gives you the stability to take your writing seriously alongside your career.
- ●You’ve tried courses, books, peer groups, or coverage services and feel like you’ve gotten everything they can give you.
- ●You want feedback from someone who reads scripts professionally, not someone who teaches about reading them.
- ●You’re willing to write between sessions. Coaching only works if you bring work.
- ●You want your writing to be good. Professionally good, not good-for-someone-with-a-day-job good.
- ●You’re ready for honest, specific feedback and willing to act on it.
This is not for you if:
- ●You’re looking for a screenwriting class or course.
- ●You want someone to write or rewrite your screenplay for you.
- ●You need help with basic screenplay formatting. Free resources cover that well.
- ●You’re not currently writing and not planning to write in the near term.
- ●You’re looking for a one-time professional read. My standalone coverage is probably a better fit.
- ●You want daily accountability and a writing room, not ongoing 1:1 work. Show Up & Write is that.
Not sure where you land? Book the free intro call. That’s what it’s for.
“I’ve had coverage before, but with nowhere near the level of care and diligence Kate offers. Unique, custom, full-spectrum coverage. I knew she left no stone unturned. 10/10 experience from beginning to end.”
Fair Questions
The things I’d want to know before paying $550 a month.
“$550 a month is real money.”
It is. I’m not going to pretend it isn’t.
$550 a month gets you an ongoing relationship with someone who reads your work at a professional level, knows your patterns, and coaches you through the specific thing keeping your writing where it is.
“I should be able to figure this out on my own.”
Maybe. Some writers can. Let me ask something: how long have you been trying?
The ceiling exists because you can’t diagnose the pattern from inside your own work. You’re too close to see it. A professional read from someone who isn’t too close, who reads at the level where your scripts will be judged, is how you break through.
“What if we’re not a good fit?”
There’s a 30-day fit window. First month, either one of us can call it. Clean exit, no hard feelings. Coaching only works if the relationship works. I’d rather find that out in month one than month four.
“I’m not sure my writing is good enough for coaching.”
Coaching works for anyone serious enough to want professional-level eyes on their work and willing to do something about what those eyes find.
I coach writers at every stage. The common thread isn’t skill level. It’s commitment. If you’re writing (or genuinely want to be writing) and you want your work to be good, actually professionally good, that’s enough.
“Three months feels like a commitment.”
It’s designed to be. Real progress in writing doesn’t happen in a single session. It takes time to build the relationship, identify your patterns, and work through them. Three months is the minimum for that to happen.
The 30-day fit window means you’re really committing to one month to start. If it’s working, the next two months are where things get good. If it’s not, you’re out clean after 30 days.
Your Coach
About Kate
I’ve spent most of my career on the other side of the desk. I worked for boutique literary managers in Los Angeles as the person who read the scripts first. The gatekeeper. If I thought a writer deserved a second look, they got one. As an associate literary manager, I worked side-by-side with a senior manager who came to me for second opinions on clients’ work. I got to see how everything ran from the inside.
Somewhere between 60 and 80 screenplays cross my desk every year. Not as a side thing. As the work. The person reading your pages has the same eye that decided which writers got through the door.
Coaching grew out of that. Writers kept coming back after coverage reads asking for more. Not more notes. More conversation. More context. Help figuring out not just what was wrong, but why it kept happening and how to fix it. So I built a coaching practice around the thing I do best: reading closely, asking the right questions, and helping writers get to the version of their script they can feel proud of.
I’m direct. I will tell you what’s not working. I will also tell you what IS working, because writers forget that part constantly. And I will never phone it in. Every session is about your project. I take this as seriously as you do.
“Kate is so professional and straightforward. She helped me cut through the bulk of my hang ups in writing and put me on my own personal path to success. She asks the right questions and helps you on your own personal journey. She’s specific to you.”
@_eksandoval, coaching client
“Where would I be on my scriptwriting journey without Kate? I wouldn’t be. At all. I’ve taken on a very ambitious project that began years ago as a series of nebulous ideas on paper. By her obvious writing knowledge, her industry experience, her effective tactics that keep me on track, and her encouragement to keep playing, I continue to move forward. Kate has effectively made writing FUN again.”
@kosmografia.pictures, coaching client
Pricing
One offer. Transparent pricing.
1:1 Screenwriting Coaching
3-Month Minimum · 30-Day Fit Window
Every Month
- ●Two 1-hour coaching sessions (Zoom)
- ●Up to 2 hours of writing review between sessions
- ●Resource library and toolkit access
Every 6 Months
- ●One Deep Dive Coverage (an $850 standalone value): full scene-by-scene professional analysis of your completed screenplay
After the initial three months, coaching continues month-to-month. Stay as long as it’s serving you.
“Kate’s coverage was extremely thorough and insightful. The notes were delivered in a very kind and thoughtful manner. Every note was backed up with examples and suggestions for how to improve.”
FAQ
Questions You Probably Have
$550 per month, with a three-month minimum commitment and a 30-day fit window for new clients. After the initial three months, coaching continues month-to-month. Payment plans available on request.
Zoom. Scheduled at the beginning of each month to fit your calendar. You send pages before the session. I read them and come prepared with notes. We spend the hour on your work. You leave knowing exactly what to do next.
Coverage is a snapshot. One read, one document, one set of notes. Coaching is ongoing diagnostic work. I learn your patterns over time. I see what changes and what doesn’t. I catch the thing you keep doing across multiple scripts, not just in one.
Coaching clients with me also receive a full Deep Dive (standalone value $850) every six months as part of the retainer. The Deep Dive is part of coaching, not a replacement for it.
Most clients do, actually. A standalone Deep Dive maps the whole script up front. It tells me how your writing functions scene by scene, where the craft sits, and where the project might fit in the industry. That groundwork makes the months of coaching that follow more focused. Coverage to see the full picture, coaching to act on it.
If you want a one-time professional read on a finished draft, standalone coverage is probably a better fit.
Writers who treat screenwriting seriously alongside a primary career. Professionals in creative-adjacent or non-creative fields with stable incomes who want their work to be professionally good, not just good-for-someone-with-a-day-job.
Writers who’ve hit a ceiling they can’t break through alone. The ceiling might be craft, emotional, industry, or a combination. My job is diagnosing which one is yours.
A script or project you’re working on. Any stage: outline, partial draft, completed draft, revision. If you’re between projects, we can use the first session to figure out what you should be writing next.
No. All sessions are on Zoom. Clients work with me from across the United States and internationally. Geography doesn’t matter.
The first 30 days of the engagement are a fit window. Either side can exit cleanly in month one if the match isn’t right. After that, the three-month commitment stands.
Coaching continues month-to-month. No new commitment required. Stay as long as it’s valuable. Step away with 30 days’ notice anytime.
Not right now. Coaching works because of the ongoing relationship. A single session can give you notes, but it can’t give you the pattern recognition and continuity that come from someone reading your work over months.
If you want a one-time professional read, my standalone coverage is a better fit.
Some coaching clients benefit more from daily writing community access than from a Deep Dive on a completed script. For those clients, I offer the option to swap the Deep Dive for a Show Up & Write membership during a given six-month window.
This isn’t a choose-your-own-adventure menu. I make the recommendation based on where you are in your writing. We discuss it a few months into coaching, when I have enough context to know what serves you.
Book the free intro call. 45 minutes on Zoom. The first half is structured questions on my end. The second half is yours, on whatever’s actually going on with your writing.
No pitch. I’ll only talk about working together if you bring it up. Either way, you walk away with a real read on your writing situation.
Your writing has a ceiling.
It’s something you can’t see from inside your own work.
I can.
$550 / month
3-Month Minimum · 30-Day Fit Window
45 minutes. No pitch. Either way, you leave with a real read on your writing situation.
Or email Kate directly: kate@kategaulke.com