Baby Moon

Can you have it all? And if not, then what should you prioritize? Is it worth pursuing happiness if it’s potentially unattainable? Did they find something “close enough” to contentment in each other and simply settle for that? These questions eat away at Ben and Sydney’s relationship over the course of their babymoon vacation. As a couple becoming new parents, these questions carry even more weight because not only are they hoping to find the answers for themselves, but for their future child as well. 


This couple has been too distracted with their day-to-day to take the time to consider their own happiness within their relationship. With a week alone in a secluded location and nothing but time to spare, the awareness of their current complacency spurs an existential crisis. How have they become so ambivalent about life and their marriage?

Now that they are conscious of their incompatibility, is it too late for them to find a common ground?

Sydney has always wanted to be a mom and may have settled in order to do so. She likes things done her way but isn’t aware of this trait. Her own mother passed away when Sydney was young, so she hopes to regain the mother-daughter relationship she has always craved by becoming a mother herself.

Ben was fairly aimless before meeting Sydney. She gave his life more direction by encouraging him to go to law school. Now he’s wondering if he just agreed to a life he never wanted to avoid conflict. Was he just afraid of voicing his dreams out loud for fear of never achieving them?

Sydney (early 40s) and Ben (late 30s) are on their babymoon, a honeymoon-type trip a couple takes before having a baby. Sydney is nearly 6 months pregnant. While they still have a strong sexual chemistry and a shared kink, they’re an otherwise seemingly average married couple.

Sydney meets Emily (late 60s) at the beach. Emily reminisces about her own pregnancies. Her children are adults now but she’ll never forget that feeling of nausea. Sydney tells her it took two years of IVF to conceive so she feels guilty complaining about the less magical aspects of pregnancy. They hit it off and decide to have dinner together with their husbands. Ben is annoyed at having to make small talk on vacation, but agrees to go anyway.

Sydney and Ben have dinner with Emily and her husband Alan (late 60s) who tell them how amazing retirement is. They finally have the time and space to have the deep conversations that were always getting interrupted before by their children, work, life getting in the way... It’s like a second honeymoon. 


That night Ben asks Sydney what they’re passionate about. He feels like they’re missing the spark that Alan and Emily seem to have. He worries that they’re not living purposeful lives. Sydney doesn’t understand how bringing a new life into the world suddenly isn’t enough for him.

Sydney and Ben go on a boat trip with other tourists. She asks him what it would look like if they were no longer together. They talk about how to be the best parents to their child. Is it better to show their kid that it’s best to pursue your own happiness, even if it means separating, or is it best to stay together to create a sense of a traditional family?


Ben sees Alan flirting with a woman at the hotel bar and worries he’s taken relationship inspiration from someone who cheats on his wife. He tries to backtrack to save his marriage but Sydney is already preoccupied with what their lives would look like after they separate.

In the end Ben and Sydney decide that it’s best for their child to live by example, by each seeking fulfillment on their own. It’s best for them to separate.

While Sydney is packing her toiletries the morning of their flight, she doubles over in pain. She’s having contractions - something that shouldn’t happen so early in the pregnancy. She tells Ben they need to go to a hospital. The couple leaves us in the hotel room where we started, left to ponder their fate.

Courtney is an award-winning screenwriter and director whose work features an uncompromising female perspective. She has screened films at several Academy and BAFTA qualifying festivals including BFI London, New Orleans, Outfest, Nashville and Atlanta. Her short Rehearsal, which tackles the grey areas of consent, premiered online on Short of the Week, received a Vimeo Staff Pick, and was featured in RogerEbert.com, Fast Company, and No Budge.


As a screenwriter she has twice been a finalist at Austin Film Festival. Her pilot Between Us Girls was also a finalist in the Screencraft Pilot Launch, a semi-finalist (top 50) for the ISA Fast Track Fellowship, and won its category at Cinestory. Her fictional podcast Persistence of Memory was selected for 2021 Gotham Week and won Thessaloniki International Film Festival.


Courtney is a graduate of NYU, Tisch School of the Arts, was a Cinereach Film Fellow and a member of the inaugural Constellation Incubator. Courtney writes, directs and produces narrative and branded content in Los Angeles and New York.

BOO PRODUCTIONS was founded in April 2007, when four award-winning producers – with over 30 years of experience in filmmaking – decided to join forces and form a dynamic venture. Boo Productions is now one of the leading audiovisual companies in Greece, focusing on the production of feature films and TV commercials (Best Production Company of the Year at Ermis Awards 2014) and as well as on servicing international productions for their shooting in Greece.

Boo Productions is passionate for discovering new talents and promoting Greek cinema at the international level.

“Dogtooth” by Yorgos Lanthimos, Boo’s first feature film, won the Un Certain Regard Award in Cannes and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Oscar in 2011. Since then, Boo has produced or co-produced more than 15 feature and documentary films.

In 2020, its latest production “Apples” the debut film by Christos Nikou, executive produced by two-time Oscar Winner Cate Blanchett, was the opening film in Orizzonti – Venice Film Festival. “Apples” has been selected in more than 30 international film festivals (Toronto, Telluride, Tokyo etc.) and has been sold in over 50 territories worldwide.

Βoo’s collaboration with many directors from Europe and the USA, has expanded the company’s know-how and has kept Boo’s finger on the pulse of universal film production issues, techniques and expertise.