Mitchell Parkins is a 34 year old young man with a baby on the way, and a gender reveal party imminently closing in. Unfortunately, he's cursed. Going back hundreds of years, any time a Parkins finds out the gender of their child is a boy before it's born, they die on their 35th birthday. Worse, for Mitchell, is that his birthday isn't until after the Gender Reveal Party. Can Mitchell defeat the Parkins curse and enjoy the party with his wife, or is another Parkins child doomed to grow up without a father?

Narrator: Steve Rizzo
Mitchell: Geoff Mays
Doug: Shawn Devlin

Get to know the writer:

1. What is your screenplay about?
Gender Reveal's underlying theme is about how growing up without a father can create a lot of fears around fatherhood. It's a comedy film based somewhere between reality and the supernatural, but with grounded characters that are "experiencing" more than they are leading. As things are set in motion, the film strives to drive home the point that sometimes just actually caring and trying is enough.

2. What genres does your screenplay fall under?
Comedy, Supernatural, Parenthood

2. Why should this screenplay be made into a movie?
I believe that the key to good comedy is to be out there with it while also having some kind of wholesome takeaway.
There's not enough comedy films with black leads that are both mature in content but wholesome in messaging.

3. How would you describe this script in two words?
Fast Funny

4. What movie have you seen the most times in your life?
Zoolander

5. How long have you been working on this screenplay?
A little over 4 months now.

6. How many stories have you written?
A few shorts and now 3 features.

7. What motivated you to write this screenplay?
I had already written and filmed a comedy pilot, but with the current state of the industry, pitching a pilot for a comedy series didn't seem to be the move.
I wanted to try and tackle a long-form comedy script because at least if I can make it, it will find a platform.

8. What obstacles did you face to finish this screenplay?
Well honestly there's still a few things to tweak. Minor changes here and there.
Scripts always evolve as you come up with new solutions, or better fixes for little moments.
I think the biggest obstacle was my self doubt of writing.

9. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?
I'm a director of photography and a big fan of xianxia novels. Weird pairing.
I just enjoy geeking out on the newest camera and lens tech and learning about how to implement it into easier production.

10. What influenced you to enter the festival? What were your feelings on the initial feedback you received?
I think an important lesson I learned with my comedy pilot that I wrote, was finding the nice balance of "offensive" humor. With comedy, getting input from various sources is really important to see what works, see what doesn't, and pivot to something better.
I think the feedback was OK. To some degree it's interesting to see the plot points that are not as obvious in a script reading, that I think visually in filming would be incredibly obvious. It's hard to create a judgement on that to say what should be fixed or what shouldn't, but knowing where those "pinch-points" are in the script is important so that with planning we can ensure that either the writing is tweaked to be more obvious, or a note is given to ensure visible storytelling.

11. What movie have you watched the most times in your life?
Zoolander