Waterford native wrote 'Precious' screenplay

Without a doubt, the movie of the moment is "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire." Critics love it. Oprah Winfrey loves it. In its limited release so far, audiences love it.

The man who wrote the screenplay for this much-lauded film is a familiar name in southeastern Connecticut. It's Geoffrey Fletcher, who grew up in Waterford.

He adapted the piece from Sapphire's novel, "Push," and this became his first screenplay to be made into a movie.

Fletcher, who couldn't be reached for an interview, majored in psychology at Harvard and went on to the graduate film program at NYU. He was working as an adjunct professor at Columbia University and NYU when director Lee Daniels asked him to write the "Precious" screenplay, according to Variety.

Fletcher is the son of Bettye Fletcher and the late Alphonse Fletcher Sr. Bettye Fletcher was principal of New London's Winthrop Elementary School. Alphonse Sr. worked at Electric Boat and started a number of small businesses on his own.