A former child star whose career was shattered by bullying and harassment returns home as a celebrated painter, only to find that the trauma she tried to escape has taken on a life of its own.
The Story
Blending psychological thriller tension with surreal horror, CYN traces Cyn's return home as memory, shame, and something darker begin closing in. Oregon forests, an art-world unveiling, masked figures, and hallucinations that feel almost sentient draw her into an ordeal she must survive.
David Bartlett
David Bartlett is the director of CYN and has worked on more than 200 productions, including Pulp Fiction, Speed, and Total Recall. An Emmy-nominated producer and sound designer, as well as a director and writer, he has earned 93 film festival awards. His career has placed him alongside master directors of psychological suspense and horror, including William Friedkin, Tobe Hooper, and Brian De Palma. He is a member of the Television Academy and the Editors Guild.
The Wound
"She sees what you did."
CYN is a film about what survives. Cindy became Cyn — not as escape, but as transformation. The bullying she endured didn't break her. It made her into something her tormentors couldn't predict.
The psychological horror at the heart of this film is inseparable from a social reality: the long, invisible damage of sustained cruelty. CYN puts that cost on screen with unflinching clarity — and positions the survivor not as a victim, but as a force of nature.
In a cultural moment defined by conversations about mental health, online harassment, and the lasting shadow of adolescent cruelty, CYN speaks directly to an audience that has lived this. The film's social dimension opens doors: educational partnerships, awareness campaigns, festival programmers, distributors who understand that psychological thrillers can hold a mirror up to the human heart.
The Vision
RITA (CONT'D)(to herself)Thank God.(in the mic)Everyone, can I have your attention? Welcome, and thank you all for coming! The big surprise is finally here.She turns to take hold of a red sash cord.RITA (CONT'D)Ladies and gentlemen, it is time for the revealing of our featured piece. I give you, Alien Man Walks Into A Bar.Ms. Beanster videos herself.MS. BEANSTEROh my God. Here it is!She turns the camera to the red drape. Rita gestures with her hand, the drape drops and reveals a very large and striking painting of three large Easter Island-like heads in a futuristic setting in neon blue and orange colors. Everyone is stunned and gasps. Including Smoky and Angel.BOBBYOh my!
Actual mural art to be used in the film. Dimensions: 7 ft (height) x 15 ft (width).
Even on the page, CYN had already begun to resonate.
I did not set out to make a story about a woman on the edge. I set out to confront what refuses to stay buried.
CYN is a film about emotional ghosts: guilt, identity, harassment, memory, and the private damage that keeps speaking long after the world believes it has passed.
On the surface, the terror in this film may appear supernatural. But I am more interested in psychological truth than easy explanation. Cyn runs because silence has become unbearable. She paints because words fail her. The images, the unstable perspective, and the fractured rhythms of the film are all designed to place the audience inside that unraveling.
My years as an editor and Emmy-nominated sound designer taught me that dread lives in texture, breath, interference, and the spaces between words. With CYN, I want to create a film that feels intimate, unsettling, and emotionally volatile, where art, trauma, and truth collide.
Production Status
Mixed Doubles Films
Mixed Doubles Films LLC
Psychological thriller horror · Pre-Production · Oregon, Los Angeles, and Palm Beach, Florida
CYN is a contained independent production now moving through pre-production, with principal photography planned for October 2026. The film will shoot primarily in Oregon, with additional filming in Los Angeles and Palm Beach, Florida. Oregon remains the project's center of gravity, both for practical reasons and for David Bartlett's deep personal connection to the region. The screenplay is complete, the visual language is already being built into the film's DNA, and Team Cyn is prepping for an intense 23-day shoot. Team Cyn is a creative powerhouse committed to making a film that stands the test of time.
How We Met
David Bartlett and Michele D'Acosta — the producing duo behind Mixed Doubles LLC — were two kids from the wrongish side of the tracks who somehow found each other on a film set in Hollywood. Where else?
David's ancestors crossed America westward by covered wagon. Michele's ancestors are a mystery to her. An orphan of African descent, she was adopted by a white British couple and raised in a seaside village in southern England.
Different histories. Different weather. Different accents.
What they share is the instinct to make work from the edges rather than the centre. Michele went on to become an award-winning producer, screenwriter, artist, and animator, with work spanning BBC Television in London and HBO Documentary Films in New York and Los Angeles. Her artwork is held in private collections internationally. She created the visual artwork woven throughout this site, including the pieces seen in the photograph above.
Together, she and David built Mixed Doubles LLC as a home for bold, uncompromising work shaped by lived experience, artistic risk, and the stories that refuse to stay quiet.
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Taking Shape
Pre-production is fully underway, with casting, locations, production design, and department buildout all moving forward at once.
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Built for the Screen
Original paintings, a 7 ft by 15 ft mural, practical locations, and a tightly designed visual strategy place Cyn's artistic process directly inside the film's psychological landscape.
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Experienced Industry Professionals
CYN is bringing together experienced cast, department heads, crew, artists, and craftspeople, alongside the financial partners backing Team Cyn as the film begins to take flight.
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Oregon Footprint
Oregon remains the heart of the production: for its tax incentives, its landscapes, and the personal connection that makes the film feel rooted there, even as key moments extend to Los Angeles and Palm Beach, Florida.
Contact
For production, creative, and financing inquiries, please contact David Bartlett or Michele D'Acosta directly.
