Humpty

The idea for Humpty sprung out of watching my oldest friend and her husband decide to start a family. Surprise was the most common response to their news. I loved watching this excited young couple as they settled into life with a child. Despite my happiness for them, it threw into sharp relief my own lack of preparedness for family.

It made me think more about that transition I was in, the fuzzy period where it is acceptable to have children, but you are still in between “pregnancy is my biggest fear” and “my uterus is going crazy every time I see a child, I’m having kids now, I don’t care what you say.” Are any people really ready when they decide to go into that great unknown – albeit overwhelmingly documented – world of parenthood? I think a lot of young folk today sit in that fuzzy middle right up until and sometimes after they decide to jump into family waters, thinking they will hit a day when they know it’s time. Today’s trend seems to encourage an awfully long wait before the jump.

This film is about a couple handed a surprise that encourages them to find their own way into what they want. Each person has their own way of figuring it out, and Dean and Dani are no exception. Inspired by my wonderful friend (who has since been joined by other friends who have become parents), this script came from a personal exploration of what was a huge fear in my life – I related to Dani’s instinctive reaction to her situation. I thought about what it would be like to be someone sure of what they want, like Dean. I imaged a world – a silly, fun, Dean-filled world where anything could happen – and watched what followed.