For a number of years, North Haven resident Georgina Capristo-Gajdosik was content to work at a local marketing company where she occasionally was given the opportunity to write radio commercials for company clients. Capristo-Gajdosik was excited by the whole process; it made her feel energized. Unfortunately, creative work was not frequent enough at the firm, and as time passed she felt something missing from her life.

Capristo-Gajdosik did something about it. She quit.

As a wife and mother to a small child, Capristo-Gajdosik said it was only through the support of her husband and family that she could leave her job.

“I was fortunate,” she said. Nevertheless, it was still a daring move.

“In the weeds,” is how Capristo-Gajdosik described her newfound unemployment.  She wasn't sure of what to do going forward.

Capristo-Gajdosik admits she didn’t read much as a child, or even while she was in college. So, now with more time on her hands, she started an intensive study and reading program to try and make up for lost time.

As she did so, her thoughts turned to filmmaking, something she'd studied briefly in college as part of her Communications B.S.

“Now, I’m very glad I did learn those things,” she said, recalling the numerous areas of study her degree afforded her. “Filmmaking is a business.”

Not long after Capristo-Gajdosik began her tutoring program, the film Titanic arrived in theatres, bringing with it the return of what the future filmmaker would describe as "big cinema."

“It was the big art-directed movie again. It was just a spectacle, just what I remember movies were like when I was young,” she said. “It just stirred something in me.”

Capristo-Gajdosik now had a goal, no matter how far-fetched it seemed: to get involved in filmmaking herself.

“This is ridiculous!” she remembers scolding herself. After all, she was living in Southington, CT at the time, and was not about to pack up and move to Hollywood.

Fate stepped in one day when Capristo-Gajdosik was at a salon waiting to get a haircut. Picking up a newspaper, an article about a local filmmaker caught her eye. He was looking for help on a film he was shooting in and around Meriden. Capristo-Gajdosik didn’t waste any time. She tore out the article and called him.

She started to work on the small film almosy immediately. At first, she was responsible for a range of odd jobs, but soon became the locations manager. Capristo-Gajdosik called it a great experience.

“The biggest thing, I think, is that when I read the script, I knew I could do this," she said. "I could write something.”

Capristo-Gajdosik immersed herself in reading and learning everything about screenwriting. She read hundreds of screenplays and pored through volumes of books on how to write them.

“I did this while being a mom,” she said proudly. Capristo-Gajdosik said her daughter would nap and she would read and write. It worked out perfectly.

After writing a number of screenplays, Capristo-Gajdosik would complete what became her first original short. Loved, Alone starred Kate Winslet’s sister, Beth Winslet, and allowed Capristo-Gajdosik to work on location in Edinburgh, Scotland, with noted cinematographer Paul Gavin and director Indra Bhose.

Pete Gajdosik, Capristo-Gajdosik’s husband, served as executive producer. The script took six days to film, but required a stay of two-months in Edinburgh and months of editing back in the United States.

There was also the marketing aspect, which Capristo-Gajdosik took care of by herself. The short went on to run in a number of venues, including the Los Angeles International Shorts Festival and the New Haven Film Festival.

Capristo-Gajdosik has since written a few more screenplays and original works, one of which is an adaptation of the 670 page English novel The Heavenly Twins. Additionally, Capristo-Gajdosik is very excited about her new original feature screenplay Make Me Blush, currently receiving positive responses from potential distributors. The feature is a rock opera that includes original songs and music.

Capristo-Gajdosik’s first short, Loved, Alone, is now playing in the New York City Indie Film Festival in Manhattan.