Would it make a good commedy if ...

[marylahree]

What if, somewhere hidden in the heart of a major city, an Infertility Specialist / Professor of Genetics not only perfects the ability to clone humans, but also discovers a way to sustain a healthy extrauterine pregnancy, thus allowing females and males alike, to carry a fetus to full term? And furthermore, (by way of thanking Doug G. of this site for posting about the up-coming special on epigenetics), suppose this scientist discovers exactly what determines which genes will become dominant and which will remain dormant in human cells - and discovers how to manipulate and combine epigenome of couples so that cloning is no longer a replicating of just one of the parents, but is an artificial means by which both parents, be they both male, both female, or male and female, can contribute their unique characteristics to the gene pool. That is, the child will look like both parents and, in fact be the artificially reproduced product of both parents. However..... this scientist has not perfected the ability to assure that the cloned ovums always result in a single birth and therefore, must implant several ovums - as is what occurs often in the cases of multiple births. Neither has he yet to find human subjects on which to actually perform the experiment of such conception. However, he is secure in the fact that his experiments were successfully completed, time and again, with varying species of animals.

Meanwhile . . . elsewhere in the city a gay couple wake in the morning, one serinading (spelling, but what the heck), the other with his version of Salt & Peppa's 'What A Man'. He was feeling very grateful for an intimate night. But, he was not happy - not deep down, as he was sure he would feel incomplete until such a time as he could experience the beauty of becoming a parent. the couple had tried adoption, even searched for a serogate mother, but to no avail.

Then, comes the chance of a life time - the chance to have their own child. Their own biological child! They meet with the scientist, who jumps at the opportunity to implant a male subject for the first time in history. But things do not go exactly as expected .... our gay friend ends up pregnant with sextuplets.....

I can see, perhaps, Eddie Murphy playing the role of this man pregnant with sextuplets; one going through all the symptoms of nausea, emotions, swollen feet, ect. But most of all, the joy and fear of multiple births.

I haven't fully detailed the story, but do you think it might make a good commedy?

[Steven Barnes]

Some of this emotional territory was crossed in "Junior", but that doesn't mean an hilarious comedy couldn't be created from this premise...

[aprilg]

It reminds me of the 1917 play by Apollinaire, "The Breasts of Tiresias,":

When the housewife Therese decides to break free of the shackles of domesticity and childbearing, she grows a beard, gets rid of her breasts, and changes her name to Tiresias.

Her husband, known only as The Husband, is left to work out how to have babies by himself.

In this he is successful, producing over 40,000 babies in one day, though he remains coy about how he managed it.

In a lot of fanfiction they have this thing about male pregnancy called mpreg. Since I never read slash, I never quite got it. And it's been a very popular urban legend: www.snopes.com/pregnant/malepreg.asp.

There was a tv series in the 8o's where a slave race was stranded on earth when the space ship crashed landed here. One of the aliens became a cop and when he and his wife conceived, he carried the baby to term, as was normal in their species. There was quite a bit of humor involved. Male Sea Horses, I remember also carry the eggs once fertilized.

I've always found the idea of male lactation to be way cool: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_lactation

BTW, this is my first post here. Thank you for having me!

April Grey (theater geek)

[marylahree]

Okay. I'm not much of movie watcher so I hadn't seen 'Junior". But, my son did tell me that something of this nature was made into a movie. So I've come up with another twist. I'm working on the story's beginning. Thanks for the favorable reply. Coming from someone as successful as yourself, it means a lot. <grin> Mary

P.S. How does screen writing differ from novel writing?

[marylahree]

April, welcome to the group. I'm a newbie myself. I'm getting it now, that the male-having-baby scenario has been used. But I believe there is always room for new twists. I've come up with an angle that I believe is doable. In fact, I believe it will only help add to the comedy of the situation. Thanks so much for the websites to research. I've been doing a bit of that this last couple of days, just to see if my plot is feasible. It's amazing what I've learned about biotechnology in the process. Very Educational. Smiles, Mary

[Steven Barnes]

The best answer to your question is that movies are external, books internal. Get your hands on a script for, say, "Goodfellas" and read it while you watch themovie. YOu'll learn a lot!

[marylahree]

Thanks for the reply. I don't believe I would be able to read the script "while" also watching the movie. LOL. I don't multi-task that well. Knowing me as I do, I would become lost in reading the script and miss the movie. But I will try to give your suggestion a try.

[Steven Barnes]

You can move back and forth between the two. Watch multiple times, until you are no longer getting caught in the "flow."

[marylahree]

Yes, Steven, I can give that a try. Tonight I watched Robin Williams in 'Man of the Year', (so funny!), then watched it a second time, paying deliberate attention to detail of structure. Visual perception is certainly an advantage over try to describe to others what one wants them to see. Many of his jokes would have lost impact if merely written. It was seeing him act them out that made them so humorous.

[Steven Barnes]

Yeah, but he also improvises a lot-that can be a trap for a writer. You have to make sure the structure and writing hold on their own, and then leave room for the actor to perform.