We all know Dr. Bucci, an Upper School English teacher who joined the Dana Hall faculty team twenty years ago. What people may not know is that behind the scenes, she’s an award winning screenwriter.
Dr. Bucci’s works include In Transit, Bedlam, Monet Geek, and Not Too Late. Of the four, her favorite is In Transit, a biographical motion picture (biopic) of the life of Michael Dillon, the first known transgender man to have undergone a medical transition, who later on became a licensed physician and a monk. Her motivations for this project are fueled by her desire to keep alive the hidden parts of LGBTQ+ history, which are too often forgotten and rarely discussed.
In Transit was recently named a finalist in the 2024 Page International Screenwriting Awards contest, a competition founded in 2003 with the goal of introducing new writers into the Hollywood world. Additionally, she has two complete films Waiting and The Ghosts, which was recently showcased in the New York Long Island Film Festival (NYLIFF).
Her writing process draws deeply on patience and persistence. To spin an idea into a story, she begins to imagine scenes of a movie or film, grasping at the visual aspects of the narrative, and then starts “the process of writing a hundred drafts.” In Transit is based on a real figure, which meant that she had to pick specific points of Michael Dillon’s life to write about. She settled on opening the story with Dillon’s time in college and closing with his life as Buddhist monk because of her own interest and understanding of Buddhism and transgender issues.
Dr. Bucci’s experience as both a writer and a teacher has given her much wealth in knowledge that she can pass down to younger generations of writers. Her piece of wisdom, and something she wishes she knew earlier, is that “For every great work of literature, or filmmaking, or screenplay, there are at least five to ten bad drafts of it.” Her advice is straightforward and simple—“write badly and often.” Comparison is the thief of joy, and improvement comes only after mistakes.
Photo source: Dr. Bucci and students