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Tawana Christian

Tawana was sent to a residential facility because she was always in trouble and couldn't get along with her parents. She bragged about her knowledge of different weapons and drugs and boasted that she wasn't afraid to kill an enemy.

Tawana joined a Create Now! screenwriting workshop with excitement and was an active participant. She enjoyed improvising the roles of the gangsters and had a good ear for dialect. Her main strength, however, was her terrific sense of humor. Tawana could make everyone laugh.

She decided to focus on her sense of humor and began developing a comedy feature script based on her life. She learned not to take herself so seriously. Initially, Tawana's only goal was to go back to life on the streets. That changed to the dream of writing screenplays.

Create Now! gave her a word processor and teamed her up with "Cosby Show" writer Marcia Leslie, who offered to help Tawana with her script. She was on the way to fulfilling her goals.

Then, it suddenly seemed like we had failed to reach her. Tawana stopped calling Create Now! and Marcia. When we tried to locate her, Tawana's parents told us that she'd gotten into trouble with the law again and had even stolen some money from them. She'd disappeared and nobody knew where to find her. Everyone gave up all hope of ever helping this troubled teen.

Six years later, Tawana called . to say that she'd never forgotten their help. She had just needed time to mature and settle down. Instead of being a wild 17 year-old "gangsta," she was a young woman. Tawana now works full-time at a group home for mentally-challenged individuals. She gets great joy out of helping the people there. She's written a number of wonderful comedy feature scripts and is developing a new screenplay. Tawana has this to share about her experience:

“Through this Screenwriting Workshop, we saw a creative side in ourselves most of us didn't know we had. I found that writing is a way for me to relinquish my frustration and to escape from the existing world into a world of my own. My plan to master the craft gives me something to look forward to for the rest of my life. After completing my first script, I felt an overwhelming confidence surge through me for having completed something.

Create Now! distributes both mental and physical support, to help unleash the potential in troubled youth. Once I found I was good at something, I was more confident, focused and felt like I had a purpose in this world. When you have a reason to live, you take your life more seriously. We need more programs like Create Now! for the future of our society.”