p53 is a pleiotropic transcription factor driving a flexible transcriptional program that mediates disparate cellular responses to stress, including cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. The mechanisms by which p53 differentially regulates its diverse target genes remain poorly understood. In this issue of Genes & Development, Morachis and colleagues (pp. 135-147) demonstrate the critical role of core promoter elements at p53 target loci, in that they dictate differential RNA polymerase II recruitment and activity in a p53-autonomous fashion.