Dramatic Arts graduate Caitlin English (BA ’09) was honoured earlier this year by the Academy of Canadian Film and Television.
published Monday, July 20, 2026 in The Brock News | by Gillian Minaker
When Caitlin English (BA ’09) accepted her Canadian Screen Award for Best Writing for a TV movie, the Brock Dramatic Arts (DART) graduate couldn’t help but reflect on the start of her own career story.
English was honoured in May by the Academy of Canadian Film and Television for Dateless to Dangerous: My Son’s Secret Life, a TV movie about a teen boy’s indoctrination into online incel culture after being romantically rejected at school. As his hostility escalates, his loving mother and sister fight to save him from a dark path.
Although she is now a successful TV and film screenwriter, English didn’t imagine herself as a writer when she began studying theatre at Brock.
“The skills I gained at Brock have made all the difference working in the entertainment industry,’ she says.
Dramatic Arts graduate Caitlin English (BA ’09) has forged her own path as an accredited screenwriter for TV and film.
Her job is to write and shape scripts that will grip an audience, including script doctoring to make existing scripts more compelling – all skills she says she was introduced to and practiced at Brock.
“Thanks to creative exploration and script analysis, looking at the shape of the script and what makes a good scene, I developed my love for writing,” she says.
As well as learning how to understand story structure through DART play and scene study courses, English’s time at Brock introduced her to concepts like collaborative devising, or collectively creating a script. She first encountered the process during a fourth-year Collaborative Play Development (DART 4D56) course taught by retired DART Associate Professor Gyllian Raby.
“Undertaking collective theatre creation allowed me to access storytelling in a way I never had, and it truly inspired me. Collective creation involves improvisation, creative exercises, writing and rewriting to find the scenes that land.” Looking back, she says it set her up for her future.
English says her career as an independent writer, who is now regularly contracted by big production houses, involves lots of pitching and requires clear, effective communications skills.
“I developed these skill sets at Brock, and they have been hugely beneficial to my career. To be successful at getting your work noticed, you must be able to tell a memorable personal story about what kind of creator you are and persuade people to your side to listen to your ideas,” she says.
Film and TV are so visual and auditory, English says, and she credits studying acting, directing, set design and aesthetics in DART with helping her navigate all sides of the industry.
When Caitlin English (BA ’09) accepted her @thecdnacademy for Best Writing for a TV movie, the @brockudart graduate couldn’t help but reflect on the start of her own career story.
“The skills I gained at Brock have made all the difference working in the entertainment industry,’ said English. Her job is to write and shape scripts that will grip an audience, including script doctoring to make existing scripts more compelling – all skills she says she was introduced to and practiced at #BrockU.
“I work with a lot of industry professionals, including agents, casting directors, people who work in development or on the business side of entertainment. They all have an ear for a good story — and many of them came through theatre programs,” she says.
The accredited screenwriter has used her skills and creative force to forge her path, including doing improv, stand-up and sketch comedy over the years while building her writing portfolio.
Her first big break was working on the CBC comedy Cavendish. Since then, she has written multiple TV movies for channels such as Lifetime and Hallmark, turning heads in the industry for her ability to create surprises for viewers while working within the story formula.
English has a new Hallmark movie coming out this holiday season. While she can’t share the details about it just yet, she’s already excited to share the story with audiences.
“I love the challenge of creating the building blocks for strong scenes and pivot points in these feel-good stories,” she says. “It’s all about finding ways to keep audiences hooked and invested in the characters while delivering on the expectations viewers have for these films — we want to make people feel happy.”
The June program of the PRI concluded with a four-day studio-based intensive with the new draft script of Secret Service of the Stars, led by DART faculty David Fancy and David Vivian and a diverse group of students including those who have just completed their first year of studies through to a graduate who will be commencing her Masters program in the fall.
