Screenwriting 101

Local English teacher Caitlin McCarthy breaks into film

By Hila Bernstein

March 2005 – For screenwriter Caitlin McCarthy, success is all about perseverance. Whether she is teaching her eleventh and twelfth graders to write effectively or dishing out advice for writers, actors or directors, her attitude is the same — if you work hard, you will be rewarded.

McCarthy has already written two screenplays. The first is adapted from her novel Cape Cod Lite, the other from the written work of Vera Laska, a professor that taught McCarthy at Regis College in Weston. McCarthy describes Cape
Cod Liteas a dramatic comedy about how “a young woman survives the Cape’s not-so-quaint
off-season.” It is currently being read by top production companies and was under option with Oscar-nominated director Matia Karrell (who continues to be interested in the screenplay).

The adapted historical drama about Vera Laska’s life already has its lead actress. Young Czech actress Lucie Vondrackova has already signed on to play the role of Laska, a resistance fighter who survived three concentration camps, escaped the Nazis and hid in a barn without food until she encountered American soldiers.

Though the actress and the muse share physical similarities, both being petite and athletic, McCarthy explains that it is Vondrackova’s spirit that connects the actress to Laska. In a historical drama, similarities of appearance between the real figure and the actress are less important than similarities in personality. McCarthy describes Vera Laska as a wonderful teacher and amazingly modest person, who wouldn’t let on that she had lived such a life in the past. McCarthy learned of Laska’s story when her sister had her as a professor at Regis College. McCarthy was so captivated that she begged her way into Laska’s class when she was only a sophomore at Regis.

McCarthy was born and raised in Worcester, but left to attend Regis for her B.A. and Emerson College in Boston for her M.F.A. Following graduation, she moved to Seattle and spent much of her time in the Netherlands. McCarthy returned to Worcester to pursue a career in teaching and now works at Worcester Vocational High School teaching English, just as her mother did.

“I always knew I wanted to write,” says McCarthy, though screenwriting was not always something she imagined herself doing. While she worked in PR for a high tech company in Seattle, she spent time writing while she traveled and finished her first novel, Cape Cod Lite. Before the high tech market plummeted, McCarthy relocated back to Massachusetts and met Diane Ayoche, a French teacher who also happens to be the cousin of would-be mentor Matia Karrell, who was nominated for an Oscar for her work on Cadillac Dreamsin 1988. Karell also directed “Doogie Houser, M.D.,” episodes of the “Wonder Years,” Behind the Red Door (which she also co-wrote) and Once Upon a Wedding. Ayoche emailed her cousin about Cape Cod Lite. She read the book and took McCarthy under her wing, helping her transform the novel into a screenplay.

McCarthy says that her dual involvement in teaching and screenwriting has kept her focused. She explains that the more down to earth, balanced actors she knows have their day jobs and their acting gigs, but neither is shortchanged. McCarthy often thinks of different ways she can integrate her screenwriting into classes, “When say ‘you can use writing for other things,’ they believe me.”

How could they not? Standing in front of them is someone who has used writing to catapult herself into the world of film. And with a modest and appreciative attitude like hers, Caitlin McCarthy will go far as a screenwriter and teacher.