How Cindy Met Paul

I wanted to write a story about regaining lost idealism. We all begin our lives as idealists and it’s no wonder; from a very young age we are pre-conditioned to think about life and love in a Disney-fied way, where every girl is a princess, waiting to be rescued by her prince charming, where dreams can come true and where a happy ending is guaranteed if one only believes. As we grow up we learn that real life isn’t like this and we give up on fairytales. Yet even as adults, there is still an appetite for fairytales. The modern-day equivalent of this earliest of traditions is reality T.V., where we are led to believe that overnight transformation and success is possible for everyone. However, these shows are completely fictitious. They do not reflect reality, but rather present us with a highly-constructed illusion of it, perfectly tailored to fit our viewing needs. In How Cindy met Paul, I wanted to combine the fantastical worlds of fairytale and reality T.V. with the uncomfortable complexities of real life; to peel away the gloss and reveal the flawed princesses and the insecure princes, and to show that beneath all of the artifice and fakery, something real can still be found: love; not the scripted love of a T.V. show, but the seeds of an organic love, which have the potential to grow into a real-life beanstalk.