My wife was four or five months pregnant. We’d been to countless meetings and examinations, had two lots of camera footage and an album’s worth of photographs. We’d even heard a heartbeat. And at absolutely no point was any of it about me.
I’m joking, but ask any fathers or fathers-to-be about their hospital experience and you’ll get the same answer every time. In walks the pregnant mother and it’s praise, sunshine, happiness. The father? I had midwives look at me like I’d destroyed something pure and special and I should be ashamed of myself. We walked out of one meeting and my wife said “It’s like she couldn’t even see you were there.”
That’s where Childbirth (For Men) came from.
What happens when someone fragile finds themselves thrust into fatherhood? How do they come to terms with not being the hero?
Childbirth (For Men) is a 10 minute short for two men and one woman, and has multiple internal/external locations. It’s not a hard film to shoot, but it’d take some moving around. It’s a satirical comedy, exploring themes of masculinity, performance and modern love.
Bram’s story is structured around the classic hero’s journey, where the mentor is a terrible person, the ordeal is hospital parking and the ultimate treasure is humility.
The script is available to download in PDF format. If you’re interested in shooting it, email mat@randominsanity.info