Generally, artists draw from personal experience. Joel Ashton McCarthy is not an artist.
On his website, Burnaby resident McCarthy boldly claims, “I’m not an artist, I’m a filmmaker.” But that didn’t stop him from using his own unlikely foray into parenthood as a winning web series pitch for TELUS’ STORYHIVE competition.
The pitch for Inconceivable is based on McCarthy and friend Rachel Kirkpatrick’s unexpected pregnancy. A result of a broken condom and a failed morning-after pill, the pregnancy is unexpected in every way – McCarthy is a career-obsessed commitment-phobe and Kirkpatrick identifies as a lesbian.
The series follows Josh and Rita, based on Joel and Rachel, as they break the news to their friends and family and attempt to navigate and combat the societal expectations of parenthood.
“When we told our friends, everyone’s response was, ‘you’re living in a sitcom,’” said McCarthy. “We’re kind of the most unlikely narrative of all the people we know.”
The decision to submit Inconceivable to STORYHIVE, a TELUS initiative that awards emerging Western Canadian filmmakers with a $10,000 grant to fund their projects, didn’t come without pause.
“It’s definitely one of those things that we had to debate quite a bit,” he said. “But it’s been like nothing I’ve ever had the pleasure to create.”
Ultimately, it was the project’s non-traditional look at parenthood that McCarthy believed made his story worth sharing with fellow baby-phobic millennials. Jonas Woost, who oversees the STORYHIVE program as senior digital strategy manager for TELUS, agreed.
“Inconceivable was very popular with the community,” Woost said. “They made a video pitch that was certainly quirky, certainly funny, and certainly different.”
McCarthy and Kirkpatrick’s atypical situation aside, McCarthy believes the series will resonate with viewers as it examines young adults’ struggle to follow their dreams while still providing for themselves and their family.
“Financially, it doesn’t make sense for any of us to be having babies. Millennials are trying to raise their children in relative poverty and not give up on their dreams,” he said.
Now that it’s been awarded funding, Inconceivable is casting for its pilot and will begin filming in Burnaby. McCarthy hopes the project has a chance at STORYHIVE’s top prize, $50,000 in funding to complete five more episodes.
“I told myself it was meant to be from day one. I only play to be disappointed, not surprised,” he said.
