March ‘25
Nikki has joined the contemporary age by finally, finally getting Instagram. Make sure to follow along for info, news, and the occasional wild ride on Instagram stories!
Feb 2025
The new year has kicked off to an exciting start, as Nikki has begun taking out her new screenwriting keynote seminar, The Wound is the Way. This new offering delivers teachings on using Nikki’s innovative approach to screenwriting - rooted in Jungian psychology and developed over her fifteen year career as a story editor. Participants walk away with pragmatic tools that, when properly applied, actually and always work to craft meaningful screenplays across all the key components of a script - character, plot, dramatics, and theme. It was a pleasure to launch The Wound is the Way live in February 2025 with a group of wonderful screenwriters from the Canadian Film Centre, starting with a lecture in the morning, and some live story hacking in the afternoon! Some participant feedback below:
“What a treat! I look forward to more of this kind of programming. Nikki's insights are terrific and she is great to talk to one-on-one, I walked away feeling further ahead on my project Toadstools, and rethinking other projects which are in development to apply those insights to them as well. Thanks again Nikki, Emily, and everyone!”
“Amazing workshop, so fruitful and useful! Love to see more on early development/creative process like this”
“I was pleasantly surprised in the content. Nikki's energy was amazing. She opened my mind and thinking in redefining my characters so clearly and identifying it in other stories. What an amazing workshop!”
If you would like to chat about offering a Wound is the Way workshop at your organization, get in touch by reaching out to: info@houseofstories.net
2024 Round-Up
2024 has been a great year of story editing and writing. In addition to working on a number of exciting projects that’ll grace your screens thru 2025/2026, Nikki has been hard at work writing two features - an MMA rom-com, Fight Dirty, for DM Films, and the black and white romantic drama Peppermint, for director Kaveh Nabatian. Watch this space for news and updates about both projects.
2024 workshops were on hiatus while Nikki focused on her own scripts and story editing for private clients. Make sure you’re subscribed to the House of Stories newsletter to be the first to know when Nikki’s popular group coaching workshop, The Blueprint, opens up for another round of admission - likely in Spring/Summer 2025.
Nikki is also opening up her calendar to give workshops, keynotes and to offer script consulting mentorship to labs and development programs internationally thru 2025. Drop her a line to inquire about Nikki’s dynamic story sessions to see if they’d be a good fit for your development programming.
March 2022
2022 is set to be a busy year for House of Stories! In addition to our regularly scheduled work consulting on a number of features and TV projects, Nikki is pleased to be penning the feature film Dirty June. The project is funded by Telefilm Canada, and is set to be directed by Madeleine Sims-Fewer & Dusty Mancinelli (Violation, 2020). She also spent 2021 completing a course on Jungian Psychotherapy and Active Imagination at the Zur Institute, and is currently working on further studies at the C.J Jung Institute of Chicago.
Many of you have been writing to ask about Nikki’s next Advanced Screenwriting intensive. Make sure you’re signed up for our mailing list to be among the first to know when enrolment opens.
Jan 2021
June 2020
Congratulations to House of Stories workshop student and winner of the Amnon Buchbinder Story Prize, Mandeq Hassan, for advancing to the pitch phase of Netflix Canada’s nation-wide pitch day competition. Mandeq was selected to pitch the streaming giant out of approximately 10,000 applicants, and will receive ongoing mentorship from House of Stories. Bravo, Mandeq!
Coming Soon, a thriller about three movie-obsessed friends who try to track down a serial killer, is presenting at the Frontieres Market as part of the Cannes Film Festival. The screenplay is being written by Nikki Saltz & Ante Kovac.
March 2020
Congratulations to Wendy Litner on winning a CBC Canadian Screen Award for Best Writing in a Web Program of Series for her heartfelt and hilarious work on How to Buy a Baby. Nikki Saltz was pleased to serve as a story editor on this wonderful series.
Feb 2020
House of Stories consultant Nikki Saltz congratulates comedy writer Elyse Friedman on winning the TIFF-CBC Screenwriter Award. Elyse’s script, “The Relationship Experiment,” was a joy to read, and it was an honour to serve on the jury for this prestigious award .
In March, 2020, Nikki will be a keynote speaker at the Women Making Waves Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She’ll be delivering a talk on writing female characters in the horror genre.
March 2019
Nikki will be serving as one of five script consultants for the 2019 TIFF Writers’ Studio. She will be working with two screenwriters on the development of their feature screenplays as part of an intensive five day lab at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Later in the month, Nikki will also be delivering a fireside artist talk on underworld mythology at the Drake Devonshire hotel in picturesque Prince Edward County . The talk is free to attend. Details can be found below:
Sunday March 24
3pm - 4pm
Drake Devonshire
24 Wharf Street, Wellington
Finally, House of Stories congratulates the team behind How To Buy A Baby on their International Emmy Award Nominations!
October 2018
Nikki is pleased to be invited to attend the Les Arcs Film Festival in France as part of Femme De Cinema.
Also happening this month, Nikki is pleased to be delivering an intensive story coaching session to the talented participants of the TIFF Writers’ Studio in Toronto.
Associate consultant Blain Watters is currently working for hire on two screenplays: Genesis 6 is going to camera in the fall of 2018 with Oscar Nominated Director Yan England at the helm. Not My Brother is a dramatic screenplay for feature director Jenna MacMillan about mental health issues and family with principal photography slated for fall 2019.
Haunters: the musical, a web series he’s written and directed, has won an award at the T.O. film fest for Best Ensemble and has been nominated in several categories for the upcoming International TV Webfest in Vermont. It is now available on many platforms from subscription based services like Revry in the US to Canada’s preeminent youtube channel, Shaftesbury’s KindaTv, and on festival channels like Stareable.
Sept 2018
House of Stories Founder Nikki Saltz is named the inaugural Micki Moore Screenwriter in Residence at TIFF. Nikki will be working with industry professionals at TIFF on a new draft of her feature screenplay, Work It. Nikki will be writing her script on a beautiful Olivetti Lettera 32 Typewriter, generously provided to her by Toronto Typewriters.
Other good news this month: The CBC Original Digital Series, How to Buy a Baby, written and created by Wendy Litner, will be going to camera on its second season later this year. Nikki Saltz was proud to have served as a story editor on season two of this heartfelt, hilarious series.
May 2018
Congratulations are in order for our client, Davida Aronovitch, whose project, Who What Clara, which went through several rounds of notes with House of Stories, has won one of five Telefilm New Voices Awards! Congratulations, Davida! We wish you every success at this year's Toronto Screenwriting Conference!
Also happening this month, Nikki will begin story editing two of the winners of the From Our Dark Side genre incubator. You can read more about the winners here!
April 2018
Nikki returns from Vancouver after giving a lecture on Horror, Mythology & Journeys to the underworld at WIFT-V .
About
Your story has
a home here.
House of Stories, steered by Toronto-based story analyst Nikki Saltz, strives to be a resource that writers can count on to get their stories closer to the full realization of truly meaningful work. We don’t believe that good story editing is about giving writers our opinions - anyone can do that, and for free, no less.
Instead, House of Stories believes that anyone who calls themselves a story editor or script analyst must be highly trained, not just in screenwriting, but also, in understanding the science of Story, and in the complexities of human psychology. That’s why Nikki brings over fifteen years of formal and informal study across the fields of script analysis, Story, screenwriting, mythology, folklore, psychology and archetypes to the table. We approach Story as a field of scientific inquiry, which allows us to give our writers feedback that’s objective and actionable. We don’t offer our personal thoughts, tastes or prescriptive solutions, nor vague directives that leave writers wondering where to go next. Rather, House of Stories is built on a foundation of deep knowledge and an obsessive drive to better understand how stories and writers actually work. Each story is treated as a living being with its own unique path out of the muck, and a rightful way of getting there. Writers who work with Nikki also have the benefit of collaborating with an analyst who also has her own writing career. Therefore, they can rest easy in the knowledge that Nikki has first-hand experience in receiving notes herself - great ones and terrible ones - and has a vested interest in providing only the former!
Apart from her vast experience working with and teaching story, Nikki also prides herself on continually working to raise the bar on her expertise, with yearly upgrading of her training and education in working with Story.
About Nikki
Nikki Saltz, B.F.A, M.F.A, Screenwriting.
Founder & Story Editor
Nikki Saltz is a screenwriter and story editor based in Toronto, Canada. She is the founder of House of Stories, and holds an M.F.A in screenwriting from York University. There, she trained in Story and Script Analysis under the tutelage of the late screenwriter and Story expert, Amnon Buchbinder, who remained a dear friend and mentor until his passing in 2019. Nikki was privileged to work closely with Amnon as student and protege in his private story editing practice, and also as his teaching assistant across various courses in Story and Screenwriting at York University. After her formal studies, Nikki went on to deepen her understanding of screenwriting by interning in development, reading and analyzing scripts for Amaze Film + T.V, Goldcrest Films, and Whizbang Films, and then opening her own story editing practice, House of Stories.
Nikki is an alumnus of the Writers’ Lab at the prestigious Canadian Film Centre, and has taught and developed courses in screenwriting and Story for Toronto Film School, as well as a number of workshops offered through House of Stories. In 2018, Nikki was selected as the Inaugural Micki Moore Screenwriter in Residence at TIFF. During her tenure there, she also offered workshops and script consulting for the TIFF Writers’ Studio, and served as a juror for the TIFF- CBC Screenwriter’s Award. In addition to lecturing on Story and screenwriting across Canada, Nikki has served as a story editor on a number of great projects, including the International Emmy award-wining CBC-Gem series, How to Buy a Baby. She is currently penning the Telefilm-funded feature screenplay Dirty June for DM Films. As part of Nikki’s commitment to annual Story training, she is currently obtaining her certificate in Jungian Myth and Story at the Zur Institute, as well as pursuing additional education at the C.G Jung Institute of Chicago.
Contact
Contact Us
If you'd like to reach House of Stories to discuss working with one of our Script Consultants, or to inquire about upcoming workshops, please fill out our form, and we'll get back to you shortly!
Testimonials
"There are those who do work well and those who do work quickly, but precious few able to accomplish both . “House of Stories” is a standout in the precious few category. They not only provided a thorough assessment of my TV script’s strengths and weaknesses, but offered insightful story solutions that produced a substantially more polished piece. I would recommend “House of Stories” to any writer without hesitation. They're worth every reasonably priced penny."
-Annmarie Morais
Film & TV Writer, Killjoys, Haven, How She Move
"Notes from House of Stories on our feature were insightful, constructive and really helped us elevate the next draft of our script. Nikki brought a fresh, professional perspective to our story and while she challenged our soft spots she always remained a supportive cheerleader. If you're on the fence about hiring her, just get off it and pull the trigger. Your work will thank you."
- Dane Clark & Linsey Stewart, Mr. D, Bickford Park, I Put A Hit On You
“So often when I ask friends for feedback or when I've received notes from story editors, I feel like I'm trying to decipher what the "real problem" is based on their perceptions, or that they're trying to make it a different film from the one I'm trying to write. After my session with Nikki, I feel like I'm coming out of our meeting with some real tools and ideas for the next draft.”
-Brooke Banning, Writer, Canadian Film Centre Alumni