Private Project

Pull-Out Couch

An emotionally abused wife turns the tables on her abusive husband when she traps him in a pull-out couch.

  • Marcus E Ako
    Writer
    Atticus The Mighty, Urban Harvest, Idle Babysitting
  • Micah Skye Blu
    Writer
  • Marcus E Ako
    Producer
  • Marcus E Ako
    Director
    Idle Babysitting, The Extraction, Fractured
  • Project Type:
    Screenplay
  • Genres:
    Drama, Psychological Thriller, Horror, Psychosexual horror
  • Number of Pages:
    85
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • First-time Screenwriter:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Austin After Dark Film festival
    September 15, 2019
    Official Selection
Writer Biography - Marcus E Ako, Micah Skye Blu

Marcus started as an actor in a touring comedy group while growing up in Nigeria in 1995 and continued in London after relocating with his family in 1996. After a decade of work on stage, he moved into film and became a writer and director. In 2015, he set up 8ft Ants Productions – a collective of creatives dedicated to creating entertaining content in radio, graphic novels and feature films. Marcus is of mixed heritage, with his father being Nigerian and his mother being half-English and half-Italian.

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Writer Statement

PULL-OUT COUCH looks at the issue of emotional abuse within a domestic setting from an askew point of view. The catalyst for change and a main player in the dynamic interaction between the abused Marcie and her abuser Tom is a pull-out couch, a metaphor for the multiple instances of duality which appear within the story. It is bought by Marcie as a way of decorating her metaphorical prison cell (being off work because of stress - the underlying reasons deliberately left ambiguous - she remains house-bound until events unfold), but unwittingly becomes the object that leads to her freedom. Just as the single piece of furniture can be a couch as well as a bed, it provides comfort for Marcie while becoming a prison cell for Tom (and vice versa as the story continues).
But the core theme of the story is, how does one break out of a cycle of emotional abuse? Marcie only becomes stronger and has a more confident sense of self after Tom is trapped in the pull-out couch, but at what point should she have known she was in a badly toxic relationship and should she have left it? And what sets abusers like Tom off, causing them to direct their punishment at their loved ones?

These questions and more are asked in PULL-OUT COUCH, focusing on the two main characters and observing how emotional abuse is used as a way to maintain power, control and dominance in domestic relationships.