Ovum

The idea for OVUM came to me when I was flipping through the pages of Backstage and next to casting notices for student films and Off-Off-Broadway plays I noticed a picture of a group of beautiful, glowing young woman and an ad that read: Do something meaningful. Help a women in need. $8,000 dollars. I was blown away. At the time I remember thinking, here they are marketing a dangerous and experimental vanity procedure to fledgling actresses who are more often than not desperate and financially impaired young woman. That seemed despicable but the seed was planted. Ultimately I discovered that the in vitro fertilization process can be potentially more affordable than the sometimes exorbitant adoption fees in New York State. The whole issue wasn't black and white and I felt compelled to explore the questionable moral gray area of financial compensation in exchange for human life. Could an audience relate to a flawed and ultimately self-serving female character who sells her eggs? Egg donation is a largely unexplored taboo topic and that seems to get under peoples skin. I am deeply opposed to the frustrating undue pressure for female characters in cinema to be likable and I wanted to rebel by creating a profoundly flawed heroine who might provoke conversation about eugenics, performance art and reproductive rights. Can one go "too far" for their art? I documented my own experience as a donor and turned it into a narrative feature film screenplay.
-Sonja O'Hara (Writer/Producer)