Odets chronicled his difficult transition from Broadway to Hollywood in his diary, published as "The Time Is Ripe: The 1940 Journal of Clifford Odets" (1988). The diary explored Odets' philosophical deliberations about writing and romance. He often invited women into his apartment, and he describes many of his affairs in the diary. These experiences, like the extended speeches about writing, are echoed in "Barton Fink" when Audrey visits and seduces Barton at the Hotel Earle. Turturro was the only member of the production who read Odets' "Journal", however, and the Coen brothers urge audiences to "take account of the difference between the character and the man".