Adult Life Skills

ADULT LIFE SKILLS (formally HOW TO LIVE YOURS) is a comedy feature film starring Jodie Whittaker. It is based on the BAFTA & BIFA nominated short film EMOTIONAL FUSEBOX, written, directed and edited by Rachel, produced by Michael Berliner.

The film is a Pico Pictures production backed by Creative England with support from Film Väst and the Wellcome Trust. Executive Producers are Jodie Whittaker, Ken Marshall, Richard Holmes, Paul Ashton and Jakob Abrahamsson with Sean Wheelan of Filmgate Films co-producing.

synopsis:

Anna is stuck: she’s approaching 30, living like a hermit in her mum’s garden shed and wondering why the suffragettes ever bothered.

She spends her days making videos using her thumbs as actors – thumbs that bicker about things like whether Yogi Bear is a moral or existential nihilist. But Anna doesn’t show these videos to anyone and no one knows what they are for.

A week before her birthday her Mum serves her an ultimatum – she needs to move out of the shed, get a haircut that doesn’t put her gender in question and stop dressing like a homeless teenager. Naturally, Anna tells her Mum to BACK THE F-OFF.

However, when her school friend comes to visit, Anna’s self-imposed isolation becomes impossible to maintain. Soon she is entangled with a troubled eight year old boy obsessed with Westerns, and the local estate agent whose awkward interpersonal skills continually undermine his attempts to seduce her.

This is a story about confronting the things we are most scared of – a story that explores the universal themes of being lost and finding yourself, making peace with who you are, and regaining self-confidence and dignity.

It is basically the same themes as ROCKY if you think about it. But with thumbs. And a cowboy. And no boxing.