Write On

Just a girl, standing in front of the internet, asking you to love her (stories).

Artist’s statements are the bane of my existence, so to tell you who I am and to make it as entertaining as possible, I invite you to listen to the song “Mmmbop” by Hanson. That song is part of my DNA, and it will tell you who I am at a deeper level.

My Backstory

Now that you have the sweet, sweet voices of the baby Hanson brothers, I will give the information you seek. Who am I?

I’m Marta Reeder, born a writer—ironically, spelled the wrong way! I’ve been crafting stories since I learned to string sentences together, and my mom still has my early works. I wrote my first novella in 5th grade about the dramatic history of an arrowhead and couldn’t wait to write the next one—unfortunately, they were all terrible, but that’s what school is for! I earned my English degree with an emphasis in creative writing from the University of Utah, but it was a screenwriting class that truly changed my life. One of our alums, Lee Isaac Chung, was even nominated for an Oscar in 2021 for Minari! That class reignited my passion for fiction and set me on my current path.

I began writing screenplays and trying my hand at stand-up comedy (I’ve even been paid in beer—does that make me a comedian?). I soon realized everything I wrote turned into comedy, my true genre. I then joined Vavani as a staff writer, where I wrote and polished 16 screenplays. Sadly, I was let go in 2020 amid Covid, and those scripts are still awaiting production. After my time at Vavani, I dove into a passion project about my childhood love of Riverdance. That screenplay, Michael Flatley 4EvR, won Stage 32's feature fellowship in 2023, and I’m currently developing it with an indie production company.

The Inspiration

As a child, I read Nowhere to Call Home and thought, "This is what I need to write!" A deep, gritty, anti-capitalist drama. But as I grew older and life itself became a deep, gritty, late-stage capitalism drama, I found myself drawn to laughter. Then I saw the underrated 2001 comedy Josie and the Pussycats, and something shifted. That's when I knew I was meant to write amazing, hilarious, and iconic stories centered on women and female friendship—stories we need more of (there will never be enough).

The dramatic moments are still there, of course—what I call "comedy with a backbone"—but the heart of my work is celebrating the bonds between women. Growing up, I was inspired by indie films—Wes Anderson, Taika Waititi, and Edgar Wright. I admired their unique voices but always felt the industry needed more female storytellers in that space. I want to bring that same quirky, character-driven spirit but through a female lens, creating stories for women about women that deserve to be told.