OCODA

I began writing OCODA in mid-September of 2025.

When I started at Humber Polytechnic, one of the primary focuses in our script class was to create a story that could be told in four minutes. Four minutes felt limiting at first. I was used to letting ideas breathe, to stretching moments out. Suddenly, I had to be precise. Intentional. Every second had to matter.

That constraint ended up being the thing that pushed me in the right direction.

After a long brainstorming process, I decided to focus my attention on something personal. I wanted to build a story around mental health, specifically my own experience.

I was only diagnosed with OCD a few years ago, but it has existed in my life for as long as I can remember. One of the clearest memories I have of it comes from childhood, rooted in my bedtime routine.

There was a script.

“See you in the morning.”

“Sweet dreams.”

“Love you.”

“Goodnight.”

“See you tomorrow.”

It had to be said in the right order. The right tone. The right rhythm. Back and forth between myself and my parent, like a call and response I couldn’t break.

When it went right, there was relief. A sense of safety.When it didn’t, there was panic. A feeling I couldn’t explain at the time, only that something was wrong and needed to be fixed before I could sleep.

That feeling stayed with me.

So I took that memory, that loop of comfort and fear, and I wrote Jamie.

Jamie became the embodiment of my childhood self, but not entirely. He also carry something I didn’t have back then: awareness. A voice, and the ability to question what’s happening instead of just obeying it.

Writing Jamie felt like bridging two versions of myself. The child who didn’t understand, and the person I am now who is trying to. Catharsis.

Even the title, OCODA, comes from that same place. It’s derived from OCD, but altered and shifted slightly, like something familiar that doesn’t sit quite right. That distortion reflects the experience itself. OCD for me, has always been about things that almost make sense, but not fully.

Writing OCODA was about more than

creating a script. It was about revisiting something I used to experience without language, and finally giving it form.