Social Justice Through Storytelling: Sugar Land

This thesis project (i.e. feature screenplay) was inspired first and foremost by an interest in the function of capital punishment in today’s society; and secondly, by the significant absence of female protagonists across the majority of contemporary film narratives. As such, this script focuses on a female anesthesiologist who, through a series of unanticipated events, comes to accept the job of executioner at a Texas state prison.

This narrative thus addresses the role of the executioner—as well as the political, social, cultural, and psychological consequences that come from such a position—against the larger backdrop of capital punishment. It is a story about responsibility, accountability, guilt, duty, mercy, justice, and human nature; but most importantly, it is a story that examines the ceaseless battle between pain and healing.