--- title: How Emma Stone Pitched Her Hollywood Dreams to Her Parents description: At a young age, Emma Stone had to convince her Arizona-based family that she deserved to uproot to L.A. to follow her showbiz ambitions. canonical: https://time.com/4650967/emma-stone-project-hollywood/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-26T22:35:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:40:30.318Z og:title: Emma Stone Used a Classic Entrepreneur Tool to Get to Hollywood og:description: The 'La La Land' star knew from a young age that she belonged in showbiz. og:url: https://time.com/4650967/emma-stone-project-hollywood/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0fad5b3afb9bf002/6988b77f0a4a221b639ccb7e/emma-stone2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4483 og:image:height: 2522 og:image:alt: "La La Land" Gala Screening - VIP Arrivals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Emma Stone Used a Classic Entrepreneur Tool to Get to Hollywood twitter:description: The 'La La Land' star knew from a young age that she belonged in showbiz. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0fad5b3afb9bf002/6988b77f0a4a221b639ccb7e/emma-stone2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Emma Stone Used a PowerPoint Presentation to Get Her Family on Board With Her Hollywood Dreams > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=0fc31731-ee0d-448f-96de-624c3d078697&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jan 26, 2017 10:35 PM UTC  Actress Emma Stone attends the Gala screening of "La La Land" at Ham Yard Hotel on January 12, 2017 in London, England. Actress Emma Stone attends the Gala screening of "La La Land" at Ham Yard Hotel on January 12, 2017 in London, England. Dave J Hogan—Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jan 26, 2017 10:35 PM UTC [_La La Land_ star Emma Stone](http://time.com/4588441/emma-stone-la-la-land-interview/?iid=sr-link2) has recalled her unusual beginnings as an actor—and the unexpected way she was able to convince her parents to send her to Hollywood at age 14, despite the fact they lived in Arizona at the time. Apparently, [as Stone explains it in a new cover story with _The Hollywood Reporter_, ](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/emma-stones-battle-shyness-panic-attacks-phobias-way-oscars-968543) she had an epiphany as a freshman in high school: she needed to get to L.A. and become an actress immediately. So like any properly resourceful entrepreneur, she took to PowerPoint to craft the perfect pitch deck for the radical project, certain to disrupt all of their lives. It was aptly titled “Project Hollywood,” and in it she detailed her plan to move to California (with her mom), be home-schooled, and audition for TV and movies. “It’s nuts that they agreed to it,” she told the magazine of the surprising ease with which her parents acquiesced to “Project Hollywood.” “I don’t condone it. Everybody should go through high school and graduate.” That said, with a [Golden Globe win](http://time.com/4628008/golden-globes-2017-emma-stone-damien-chazelle-hug/?iid=sr-link10) and Oscar nomination under her belt, the star proved that her youthful plan may have just realistically predicted a blockbuster future. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4650967/emma-stone-project-hollywood/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4650967/emma-stone-project-hollywood/"},"headline":"Emma Stone Used a PowerPoint Presentation to Get Her Family on Board With Her Hollywood Dreams","datePublished":"2017-01-26T22:35:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:40:30.318Z","description":"Must have been quite a slide deck.","url":"https://time.com/4650967/emma-stone-project-hollywood/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","movies","celebrities"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0fad5b3afb9bf002/6988b77f0a4a221b639ccb7e/emma-stone2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0fad5b3afb9bf002/6988b77f0a4a221b639ccb7e/emma-stone2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"\"La La Land\" Gala Screening - VIP Arrivals","caption":"\"La La Land\" Gala Screening - VIP Arrivals","creditText":"Dave J Hogan—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4650967/emma-stone-project-hollywood/","name":"Emma Stone Used a PowerPoint Presentation to Get Her Family on Board With Her Hollywood Dreams"}}]}] ```