The Grotto is a place. Or, it is a hypothesis about "Place", which we have been testing for some time. The hypothesis is that working writers will be more productive (and have more courage to pursue the kind of writing they really want to do) if they work in a community of writers—if they surround themselves with other writers pursuing this same vague ambition. The writers and filmmakers at the Grotto are not united by anything more than that—not by any school of thought, or style, or genre. Our differences rub off on each other, informally, and we grow into talents we didn't even know we had.