Jenna Ortega To Star In And Executive Produce The Romantic Drama, Winter Spring Summer Or Fall

Scream queen and horror's current "It-girl," Jenna Ortega, has signed on to star and produce in a coming-of-age romantic drama that's being described as Richard Linklater's "Before Sunrise" meets "The Perks of Being a Wallflower." The film, "Winter Spring Summer Or Fall," is the feature directorial debut of Tiffany Paulsen, who folks may know for writing the films "Holidate" and "About Fate." The script comes from Dan Schoffer, who wrote the script that was used in the STARZ filmmaking competition show, "The Chair," which became Shane Dawson's "Not Cool" and A.M. Lukas' "Hollidaysburg."

In an interesting bit of casting news, Ortega will be starring opposite her "Wednesday" co-star, Percy Hynes White, who played Xavier Thorpe on the Netflix series. The duo will play a pair of teens who "meet and fall in love over four significant days of the year," according to a report from Deadline.

Brad Krevoy of MPCA is producing, along with Josh Shader of Wall Fly and David Wulf. If the name "MPCA" sounds familiar but you can't quite place it, they're the folks responsible for the very real and legitimate cinematic universe of Netflix holiday movies. "We're excited to be further diversifying MPCA's robust slate with 'Winter Spring Summer or Fall,'" Krevoy said. "Jenna is enormously talented as an actor and producer, and we know both she and Percy will bring heartfelt depth to their roles and that, along with Tiffany's experience with character and her vision for this film, will only enhance the brilliant script from Dan."

While it may seem like Jenna Ortega exploded as an overnight success story after starring in "X," "Scream," and "Studio 666," on top of playing the titular role in Tim Burton's "Wednesday" series (and all of that in just 2022 alone), in reality she's been acting for over a decade and even had her own series, "Stuck in the Middle," on the Disney Channel. Ortega has certainly proved that she has a knack for acting in the horror sphere, but her decision to executive produce as well as star in this romantic drama seems to be a sign that she's trying to avoid becoming pigeonholed exclusively in one genre. Obviously, there's nothing wrong with horror mainstays, but at only 20 years old, Ortega has a lifetime ahead of her and deserves to diversify her resume.

Ortega is more or less following in the footsteps of Kathryn Newton, who starred in the Blumhouse slasher comedy, "Freaky," and but followed up with the time-loop coming-of-age romance flick, "The Map of Tiny Perfect Things." While MPCA has become somewhat synonymous with Netflix in recent years, distribution on "Winter Spring Summer Or Fall" is being handled by Paramount Global Content Distribution, so it won't be surprising if the film winds up on Paramount+ upon release.