I thought about writing a traditional website bio - a paragraph containing a rundown of the projects I've worked on and how I got started. And don't get me wrong, I will fill you in on all of those things eventually, as they are fundamental to how I arrived at where I am. But I'm a writer, so why not make it a little more fun than just a list of credits?
My name is Ceci, and this is my digital diary. Welcome to my brain.
I want to tell you about the things I’ve done and also my plans for the future. I want to tell you about my hopes, my dreams, the biggest emotions I've felt and the places I've been. I want to tell you about the people who inspire me and the things I hope to accomplish one day. I want to tell you about my lowest lows and my highest highs. I want to tell you about my favorite stories, favorite movies and favorite songs, and the destinations I dream of traveling to.
To do all that, however, I guess you do have to know a little bit about me as a person. So shall we cover the basics?
My full name is Cecilia Grace Cipullo. I‘m a Bostonian born and raised, although I spent two years of my early childhood living in London and so naturally I’ve made that a huge part of my personality. I’m a screenwriter, director, comedy improviser, (occasional) actor, big summer camp girl, and I would love to become a voice-actor. I feel like it would be so fun to voice a character in an animated movie. I’m (currently) 23 years old and an Aquarius through and through (a February baby). In May of 2022 I graduated from UMass Amherst with a BA in Italian Studies and an Honors Thesis in Writing Comedy Television & Developing an Original Comedy Series (you can watch the concept episode we made for the series I developed on my website!).
I grew up a theater kid, as I feel lots of people in the film industry did. I was in my first musical at age five, and I’ve been writing just as long. The first diary I have is from when I was five years old, which includes documentation of my family moving to England. The entries and drawings in it are literally so cute, in my not-so-humble opinion.
I loved theater, however I was often a supporting character. There were a couple times I played leads, but those times were honestly few and far between. And that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy being in the ensemble - I definitely miss the feeling of being a part of cast. At a certain point though, the lack of being cast as a lead had a very bad effect on me mentally. All I could do was compare myself - specifically my body - to the girls who kept getting cast in lead roles, and I realized a fundamental difference. 90% of my friends getting cast as leads were skinnier than me. I developed an eating disorder (not uncommon for someone in the industry) and just generally fell out of love with theater. I felt like I would never make it if I didn’t change my body. That became my sole focus. Theater was no longer fun. So in 2018, I stopped acting (although I didn‘t stop doing improv, which essentially saved me - and that’s another entry for another time). Since then, I was in one musical in 2019 and one short film in 2021, but other than that, nothing.
Writing and improv became my biggest creative outlets during the later years of high school and all throughout college. Even when I wasn’t getting cast in scripted roles on stage or screen, writing and comedy were there for me. I loved that I always had the chance to create a world of my own in Google Docs from the comfort of my bedroom or on stage with my fellow improvisers without anyone else having to give me permission to do so. With improv especially, I felt so lucky just to be around some of my funniest friends multiple times a week, getting to laugh so hard I would forget there was anything bad happening in the world.
I think that’s why, for me personally, writing and comedy have stuck around the longest. I love the fact that I can create my own opportunities with them, rather than waiting for someone to give me the go ahead. I make my own rules when it comes to writing and improvisation. And that’s pretty sick.
I feel like I am getting too deep already, and it’s only the first blog post (although maybe I’m not getting that deep and I’m just overthinking - which is also something I do all the time), so let me fill you in on a couple other parts of my life for a minute.
At the moment, I live with my boyfriend in Boston, and we have a tuxedo kitten named Beans (and yes, he’s thoroughly awesome). I love sushi, watching movies, oranges and pinks, all cats, seltzer water, discovering and falling in love with new music artists, my family and friends and celebrating birthdays.
I’m currently working as a production assistant in the Greater Boston Area and have several screenwriting projects in the works, as well as a short film in post-production (you can check it out on Instagram @rosalieandalexanderfilm to follow along!).
I’m not totally sure what this blog is going to be yet, but I’m going to aim for writing once a week, sharing whatever happens to be most pressing on my mind at the time. Honestly, what’s most important to me is just having fun with this new outlet for writing, and I hope some of the entries are fun for you, too.
If you made it this far - and even if you left after the first paragraph - thanks for reading my first little venture into blogging. Stay gentle and kind with yourself, drink water and remember to do your self-care, whatever that means to you. Have a great day (or afternoon or night, depending on when you’re reading this), and if it’s not great, just know we’re all just trying our best out here, and I still think you’re awesomesauce.
I’ll be here writing again soon. Until then, I have a music rec: “Judy You Hung the Moon“ by HARBOUR. It serves 60s summer goodness except that it came out in 2017. Listen to it whenever you feel like you need some lakeside sunshine injected into your veins.
That’s all for now. Till next time.
:) Cheech
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