I Am The Prize

2016, 80 minutes

When clinical Marketing Executive LAURA encourages her ‘too nice’ friend MARTIN to go on a Pick-Up Artist boot camp, she doesn’t expect him to turn into a complete jerk…”

Director’s Statement: I have for several years been making short films which poke fun at the ‘battle of the sexes’: these include ‘Girlfriend Performance Review’, ‘You Can Be My Wingman Anytime’, and ‘Being Cary Grant’ (see Comedy Shorts page). The first time I heard that guys (known as ‘Pick-Up Artists’) had claimed to have discovered a ‘formula’ that you can follow to make any woman find you attractive, I laughed. The idea is so ridiculous, and yet, REALLY compelling… I tried out some of these tips tricks and techniques, and although some seemed to work, they also felt a bit weird – they encourage you to be different – usually in a fun way, but not necessarily in an authentic or truthful way. I wondered where the dividing lines are that separate ‘showing your best side’ (self-belief), ‘showing a side that’s not even you’ (imitating), and ‘doing stuff just to get her to do what you want’ (manipulation)? This got me thinking: wouldn’t it be cool to show the weirdness of the very natural desire to change oneself in order to connect with the opposite sex? From both the male AND female perspective? I Am The Prize does just that – it satirises the ideas, philosophies and characters involved with Pick-Up Artistry, whilst also touching upon how they feed into larger conversations RE masculinity, feminism, gender inequality etc.