By John Boccacino ’03
Caytha (Soling) Jentis ’84 enjoyed success as a screenwriter after graduating from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications with a degree in film and television.
While she was building her blossoming writing career, Jentis and her husband, Michael ’82, started their family and had the first of their two children while Jentis was completing her master’s degree from UCLA.
As Jentis was learning about motherhood and raising a family, she began staring down a dilemma that many women face: how to resume your career after starting a family. In order to support her family, she took a job in sales. However, Jentis wanted more out of life, so she returned to her first love: writing screenplays.
“I had lost myself to my children and had a midlife crisis,” says Jentis, daughter of SU Trustee Emeritus Chester Soling ’54. “I knew if I didn’t make a movie now, I’d be stuck in a career rut again.”
Her first movie had a decidedly Orange tint to it. The romantic comedy, “And Then Came Love,” featured actress/singer Vanessa Williams ’85 and was filmed at Syracuse University Lubin House in New York City.
Distributed by Warner Bros. and co-produced by Jentis and Verne Mattson ’82, the film provided several SU students with opportunities to be interns, assisting with pre-production, on-site, and post-production activities. The Chancellor’s suite at Lubin House was converted into the apartment where Williams’ character lived.
“Vanessa, who loved the story, was amazing to work with, and I knew there would be an audience. However, I was struggling getting anyone to read the script,” says Jentis. “Many films come out of NYU or UCLA, but we decided we wanted to make an SU film, and thankfully, the people in Alumni Engagement were great to us and the project took off.”
Williams attended the premier party for the film—hosted by the Alumni Association—and the project was well received in the film community, launching the second chapter of Jentis’ screenwriting career. Today, she is a member of the Producers Guild and the Writers Guild and an award-winning independent filmmaker with a resume that includes writing screenplays for four feature films, producing three movies, and directing two more films.
Jentis, recently selected as one of Good Housekeeping Magazine's 50 over 50, has earned accolades as the creator/writer/producer of “The Other F Word,” currently airing on Amazon Video.
The premise for the series is an issue that Jentis says faces many women her age: how to handle life after 50. By telling the story of the midlife crisis from a female perspective, she hopes the show inspires women to be fearless while embracing this new chapter in their lives.
“Turning 50 is like a swear word; it’s an age that women don’t want to talk about,” says Jentis. “This is a profound time for women as we come to terms with growing older, and for me, this is a personal story since the struggles of women can often be invisible. The ‘F’ in the series title also stands for fearlessness, friendship, family, and fun. The show is more like a journey for women to find themselves, similar to ‘Girls’ and ‘Sex and the City,’ and it has really struck a chord.”
“The Other F Word,” like most of Jentis’ previous works, features an Orange ensemble, including director Barbara Kanowitz ’81, editor Susan Ades ’85, and actress Caris Vujcec ’88.
“Working with the Syracuse University alumni network has been amazing. There are so many talented alumni and when we work together, it makes us a family,” says Jentis, who met her husband, Michael at SU. “Syracuse brings people together, and when I can support our alumni network and provide talented individuals with jobs, it’s an awesome feeling.”
The show has reached more than one million people through online streaming. Starring Steve Gutenberg, Stephanie Little, Gilbert Gottfried, Holly Cate, Reiko Aylesworth, Judy Gold, and Michael Boatman among others, the show recently concluded its second season. All episodes are available on the show’s Amazon website. For more information, visit the show’s website.