Massachusetts Public School Teacher Moves to the Front of Screenwriting Class

When the independently financed feature film Little Audrey world premieres July 25th at the Woods Hole Film Festival in Cape Cod, it will mark a full circle moment for screenwriter Caitlin McCarthy.

McCarthy, a longtime English Language Arts teacher at Worcester Technical High School, has been pursuing screenwriting on the side for decades. Back when she previously worked in PR, on the Cape, she took part in a TV Writers Symposium held in association with the festival.

"Both P.K. Simmons and his wife, former Hollywood talent manager Beth Colt, became champions of my writing," McCarthy explained to The Enterprise News. "They offered mentoring, practical advice and ongoing support over the years."

Caitlin McCarthy [Facebook]

At the 2008 Woods Hole Film Festival, McCarthy bagged a Best Science Screenplay award for her script Wonder Drug. And now, two decades later, after being hired onto the project in 2025, she is opening the festival with the world premiere of a film for which she is also an associate producer.

Little Audrey is inspired by the real-life story of Audrey Santo, a three-year-old Worcester girl who fell into a vegetative state after a drowning accident in 1987. As reports of extraordinary, miraculous occurrences in her presence began circulating, she became idolized by Catholic worshippers as a "victim soul." The international media attention eventually sparked a Vatican investigation for possible fraud. (Santo died in 2007.)

Jeff Thomas, a real estate developer who put up $3 million to make the film, first became aware of the Santo story in the late 1990s. "I firmly believe with all my heart that the extraordinary events and reported miracles associated with Audrey's life will one day be known throughout the world," he shared in his Producer's Statement. "It is also my personal belief that Audrey Santo will one day be canonized as a saint, and I am honored to help share her story with future generations."

Little Audrey was directed by Michael Mailer and features in its cast Jennifer Esposito as Audrey's mother and Aidan Quinn as Bishop Ryan. Fascinatingly, McCarthy's earliest made credit was as co-writer of the short-short 2012 comedy film Deadline Knows, all about... Nikki Finke! (Watch it here.)

[Woods Hole Film Festival: Little Audrey ]