Private English Tutor in Los Angeles and Online

With a 1st Class Honours in English and Drama from Hull University in the UK, and after a career in production with BBC TV Drama and Films, then working with filmmakers such as Anthony Minghella and Martin Scorsese, and directing in Film and TV, I was head of the MFA directing program at the AFI Conservatory, Los Angeles. I have taught in Beijing and Shanghai, am a lead instructor with Sundance Collab, an Instructor for the UCLA Professional Director’s Program, and am a consultant and educator in creative filmmaking. I am the author of "What's the Story? The Director Meets Their Screenplay: An Essential Guide for Directors and Writer-Directors" (Focal Press/Routledge) 2020, "The Art of the Filmmaker: The Practical Aesthetics of the Screen" (Oxford University Press) 2023, and "The Zen of the Director: Mind and Process for the Filmmaker" (Sticking Place Books, NYC) 2025.

I believe that teaching entails a balance between challenge and support. As a teacher, I like to show a demonstrable interest in what the student has to say in order to make them comfortable with saying it, but also an interest in how their discourse, their English language skills could be better. As the student sees that I enjoy the teaching process, so I want the student to enjoy their learning process. Mistakes then become not transgressions but opportunities on the way to improvement of skills. I will ask the student to talk about a topic that interests them, and perhaps also myself—although the latter is not necessary. They will introduce it, then we will look at the language skills, or lack of, they have demonstrated. I will then encourage them to talk further, welcoming anything they wish to ask me. At each step of the way, we will go over what is working in their English and what can be improved. I feel confident in discussing idiom—what might or might not be appropriate in different circumstances, what is current, what is conversational, and what might be regarded as more formal. Having taught people from all over the world from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds—many with English as a second to third language—at graduate level for twenty-five years, I am sensitive to the differences of mindset we might all have and maintain complete respect for the individual student and where they are coming from. As a lover of the English language myself with a First Class Honors Degree from my UK university in English and Drama (the highest in ten years), and as author of three books, I know I can communicate an enthusiasm for those practicing English and for the commitment to this that we share.