Delicate Condition
Mini Series
Project Type: Mini-Series
Project Status: Pre-Production
Writer/Director: Bailey Castle
Producer: Bailey Castle, Ari Kraiman, Erika Lebby, Emma Orner, Christopher Macken
Project Email: delicateconditionseries@gmail.com
LOGLINE
Recent exes come face-to-face with their breakup’s reality in the two lines of a positive pregnancy test. As Margot and Roy individually grapple with the results, their journeys tether together in a way that no one sees coming.
SYNOPSIS
Structured into eight mini-episodes, this character-driven dramedy series opens with Margot surprising Roy, her ex, with an unused pregnancy test she's reluctant to take alone. Despite their breakup, Roy sees this as a chance for reconciliation, yet Margot hesitates about their future together.
Subsequent episodes explore their conflicting reactions to the positive test result. Margot confides in her best friend Stef, grappling with the decision to become a mother and pondering if this moment, despite the circumstances, might be her only shot. Meanwhile, Roy, buoyed by the news, confides in his friend Sebastian, who harbors a significant secret involving Margot.
Tensions escalate when Sebastian's secret is exposed during a "friendly" game of HORSE, leading Roy to spiral into desperation, seeking to bring Margot down with him. However, Margot surprises everyone with a final revelation that alters the dynamic once more.
As the series concludes, Margot, accompanied by Stef and her mother, heads to an undisclosed appointment. The audience is left wondering: will she choose to terminate the pregnancy or embrace the unexpected turn her life has taken?
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT ABOUT THE PROJECT
What started as a writing exercise, evolved into a personal character study.
By my age now, my grandmother, mother, and older sister were married and had two children. No longer in my 20s, the mounting pressure to make the decision to either have children - or not - weighs on my heart.
Writing a character who is thrown into the deep end to make her own decision, well, was a type of exorcism. I find myself going back to characters grappling with the big questions that I’m tug-o-warring: When will I commit to someone? What happens if I’m no longer the center of my universe? Has the right person, right time already passed me by? Am I still a good person when I do bad things?
While this is a topical series that circulates around pregnancy in the modern world, it also depicts the impact we have on each other in every decision we make. Delicate Condition sets out to explore all of this in episodic form, inspired by High Maintenance (Ben Sinclair), The Big Chill (Lawrence Kasdan), and Loose Ends (Michael Weller).
Bailey Castle
Director
Bailey Castle is an award-nominated actor, writer, and director based in Los Angeles.
Originally from Orange County, Bailey spent years in the Chicago theater scene, where she earned a Joseph Jefferson Award nomination for Best Performer in a Play for her performance in Theatre Above the Law’s production of Iron Kisses.
Bailey has directed several short films including BACK HOME (nominated for best director at the Pasadena International Film Festival), EXPECTING, and WRITER’S BLOCK, and assistant directed the world premiere of Prelude to a Kiss: The Musical at South Coast Repertory. Bailey is a HollyShorts Quarterfinalist for her screenplays MICHELLE and STUCK, and is interested in exploring the idiosyncratic way we relate to each other.
Ari Kraiman
Producer
Ari Kraiman is an actor, director, producer, and skeptic from Philadelphia, PA. Now located in Los Angeles, she is studying at the Groundlings and just ran her first half marathon. Before moving to Los Angeles, Ari lived in Chicago, where she trained with the Society of American Fight Directors and worked with theatres like Babes with Blades and the Lyric Opera. Ari worked with Erika to produce a series, Drip, in Chicago, and she directed the short film The Mrs., which won Best Short at the Die Laughing Film Festival. She is also in post production for Folded, which she directed. She’s currently knitting a sweater and considering how perspective colors experience.
Erika Lebby
Producer
Erika Lebby is an actor, producer, and writer based in Los Angeles. She braved the Chicago winter to appear in She Kills Monsters, Macbeth, and For One. Erika has produced several shorts including Flash of Love (Winner: Best Rom Com at Austin Mico Short Fest) Apologies, Excuses, Real Talk, and Drip. Folded, her writing debut, is currently in post-production. She loves her dog Oliver, vegan food, and reality TV.
Emma Orner
Producer
Emma Orner is an experienced producer with a background in visual effects and emerging technology. Her work spans some of the most high-budget television shows in the industry including Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Star Wars and Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Her clients have included Epic Games, Netflix, HBO, and more. With an extensive background in scripted & unscripted, Emma is intimately familiar with complicated production workflows and the organization it requires. She is adept at maximizing resources and finding creative solutions to deliver projects without compromising quality. This versatility allows her to contribute to a wide range of projects, demonstrating that impressive visual storytelling is achievable regardless of budget constraints.
Christopher Macken
Producer
Christopher Macken is an award-winning writer/director from Massachusetts and Emerson College graduate, currently residing in Los Angeles, CA.
Christopher’s latest short film FOR THE SAFETY OF THEO finished it’s very successful festival run in early 2024, having screened at the Oscar-Qualifying Hollyshorts Festival and premiering at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood, CA. It was featured, and is now streaming, on Short of The Week and Film Shortage.
Christopher co-produced Charlie Day’s feature film FOOL’S PARADISE, now streaming on Hulu, and co-created/executive produced THE GAMER AND THE MOUTH, a video game/stand-up comedy special, with a theatrical release at Cinemark Theatres nationwide in late 2023.