With his idea, Beau van Erven Dorens creates a documentary about regretful mothers, a kind of ‘Help Ik Have Spijt Van Mijn Kind’, for surprise in Hilversum. Something like that is already in the works.
Beau van Erven Dorens’ announcement that he is working on a documentary about mothers who regret having a child has raised eyebrows. Not only with skeptical viewers, but also with TV producer Stepping Stone. Director Milou Gevers has been working on exactly such a documentary for some time now.
Sorry mothers
With his production company Kale Jackhals Producties, Beau is looking for mothers ‘who regret having a child’, because according to him it is ‘good to talk about and share experiences’. With his announcement, he uses the hashtag ‘regret mothers’. Salient detail: that is also the name of the documentary that Milou is making.
It has been known for months that Milou is working on this documentary. That was already announced in July via the NPO fund, which has an amount of more than 30,000 euros promised to this production. And last Friday, production house Stepping Stone sent out a press release about the documentary.
stealing?
The day after that press release, Beau suddenly makes his announcement. Is this a common robbery? At Stepping Stone they are in any case ‘slightly surprised’, but: “It is of course free to them that another producer also takes advantage of this theme.”
Stepping Stone does point out that their documentary is already in production and the broadcast is already planned for 2023, at the VPRO on NPO 2. And Beau’s project? This is still in the preparation phase and has not yet been sold.
Integrity production
Beau’s followers are quite critical of the TV idea. They believe that this is not a subject for television at all. “Does anyone wonder what kind of trauma this could be for their children????”, says his follower Ingrid, for example.
It is unclear how Beau will approach this project, but Stepping Stone says at least that their documentary consists of ‘honest portraits’ in which the stories are told of ‘women who are suffocated by motherhood’.
One in ten
One in ten Dutch mothers say they sometimes regret having children, says Stepping Stone. “In addition, half of the women say they have underestimated motherhood.”
Director Milou: “With this documentary I want to discuss how having a child changes your position in society, and to investigate whether frustration, sadness, anger and regret can also be part of this.”
What does Tina say?
TV expert Tina Nijkamp wonders whether Beau is still going through with his plans:
