Writing & Teaching

Paris’ screenplay Looking for Dez Cart—a quirky story somewhere between Strictly Ballroom, Ordinary People, and Peter Pan—is set against the vast loneliness of the Australian outback. There, a broken boy forms an unlikely friendship with the philosopher René Descartes, revealing a hidden talent that leads to truth and redemption.

Looking for Dez Cart was selected as one of only seven projects for The Writers Lab Canada 2026, a prestigious initiative created by New York Women in Film & Television in partnership with IRIS, with the backing of Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman. The film’s story earned acclaim from Fred Schepisi, the award-winning director of Six Degrees of Separation and Roxanne, who praised it as “intriguing, touching, and surprising.

The inspiration for this screenplay traces back to Paris’ university days, where she became the first student at Birkbeck, University of London, to receive approval to submit a full-length play as her dissertation. Her work, Ghosts of la Flèche, stages a witty and philosophical dialogue between David Hume and René Descartes in “God’s waiting room.” The play earned First Class Honours and was later staged at the university.

Her latest screenplay, The Rise and Fall of a Low Mass Star, tells the story of Evie, an aspiring actress who realises that charm, charisma, and sheer determination may not be enough to secure success on stage—but could open the door to something far more unexpected.