“I didn’t want to be a writer. I wanted to be an actress. I didn’t realize then, that it‘s the same impulse. It’s make-believe. It’s performance.
The only difference being that a writer can do it all alone.”
- Joan Didion
- Joan Didion
SCREENPLAYS
DON’T MESS WITH TEXAS
Cita’s first feature film screenplay, Don’t Mess with Texas, was awarded as a Round 2 Finalist for the Lower East Side Film Festival’s Stay Indie Project, and most recently was selected to particpate in NYU Alumni’s Pitchfestival in Los Angeles. See it on the Blacklist, here.
LOGLINE: After Ivy, a young girl growing up in Texas, is raped at the Debutante Ball, reality blurs to a Western fantasy, transforming her to an Outlaw Cowgirl as she confronts her assault.
In Don’t Mess with Texas, I explore themes of assault while connnecting to my Western roots as a 6th generation Texan. For me, this screenplay lives out some of the many fantasies and stories I craved as a young girl growing up in a hyper-masculine enviroment. I hope by reclaiming the western genre through a magical feminist lens, I can bring this sexist genre a new era.
Currently, Cita is working on writing her Rom-Com Feature Screenplay, a modern day dating in NYC story, with a magical twist.
SHORT FILMS written by Cita
MY SAVIOR
A PLAYGROUND FUNERAL
ABOUT MY WRITING
My screenplays always contains a sense of magic.
I believe that our fantasies are mirrors of our own realities and often demonstrate our raw mental and physical state at that time.
I hope by exploring fantastical emotional worlds, I’m able to tell stories that fill in the gaps we’re often missing in coming of age narratives.
For more info, contact me: cita.atwell22@gmail.com