ABOUT THE FILM
Feisty, ambitious and driven, 32-year-old Angel Washington is a go-getter. Hailing from humble beginnings in south London, she has her own blossoming career goals when she meets Marcus, a 35-year-old, handsome man with an equally attractive career. Deeply in love, Angel bears Marcus’s child, Joshua. All seems well to begin with but Marcus finds that the balance between the commitment and sacrifices that family life demands and the backdrop of his glamorous, city stockbroker lifestyle, is one that he can’t live up to and Marcus leaves Angel to a life she’d never envisioned, that of single parenthood.
In conflict and pain, with her life spiralling out of control Angel takes us on a journey of what happens when fathers leave their children and families and the destructive, painful explosive consequences that follow.
Set in contemporary London, this true-life story portrayal of single parenthood will pull at your heartstrings, but still leave room for offbeat, humorous moments. You'll be left with a message that speaks to your soul and offers you a new perspective on an all-important social issue.
ABOUT THE TEAM
Aysha Scott – Writer, Producer and Director
Scott is the founder and CEO of A Scott Productions and has been described as an "exemplary, high caliber graduate of London South Bank". She embarked on her journey into filmmaking after discovering a gap in the market for black female characters during her career as an actress. Too often after her auditions or after roles she'd played, Scott was left feeling typecast and restricted to stories that she craved to watch on the big screen. It was during a difficult time in her life, when she was left to raise her 10 week old son alone that she took the plunge to change careers to pursue her long desired passion for message-based storytelling and has since carved out a progressive career as an independent filmmaker .
Scott’s co-written and produced feature film Residential premiered at the British Urban Film Festival in 2016 and was nominated for 3 awards in BUFF 2017, including best feature film. She successfully completed her award-winning written and produced short It Still Hurts under her company slate and has most recently produced Voice of Reason alongside US award-winning director Antoine Allen. She will be making her directorial debut on ABSENT, a screenplay she wrote based on her experiences as a single mother.
Scott said: “As a female filmmaker, I want to make this film to challenge the stereotypes about single mothers, and to give a voice to the women who find themselves without help and unable to let go of their anger. I can’t just sit back and let this growing problem continue for another generation.”
Zoran Veljkovic - Director of Photography
Veljkovic was classically trained in Eastern Europe where he studied the art and craft of cinematography, and has now become a renowned award-winning cinematographer with over 30 years behind the camera. After deciding to make his first short film, as a teenager, he hasn’t looked back since. Veljkovic’s feature films have won BAFTA and EMI nominations as well as prestigious festival awards in America, UK, Italy, Spain, Japan, Holland and Yugoslavia. He is best known for 'Bridge' (2016), 'After Fall', Winter (2011) and 'Abraham's Point '(2008). Visit Zoran's Veljkovic for more on his groundbreaking filmography.
Yvette Hoyle – Executive Producer and Producer
Hoyle, has over twenty years experience in film, giving her a wealth of knowledge and a wide range of diversified skills from production, project management, PR, marketing, sales, packaging deals and raising finance. In 2007, Hoyle joined Coppola Productions as CEO, and is a founding partner in Sprezzatura Pictures and Golden Apple Films and her production and Executive Producer credits include The Crypt (2014), Awaiting (2011) and her most recently produced feature Patrick (2018) –currently in post.
Laurelle Jones – Co-Producer
Graduating with a 2:1 in Media Arts, Film and TV, Jones continued to pursue her passion for media and film, and has quickly made her mark on the independent film circuit as a valued asset on set and resilient producer. Over the years she has become equipped with various production skills, including production budgets, film PR, production accounts and location scouting. Jones’ debut as a writer was back in 2013 with her short film 'No.27'. She has since gone on to produce numerous projects including 'Lia’ (2015), was Production Manager on 'Brixton Rock' (2016) and 'Alpha and Omega' (2017) and most recently produced 'Cards On TheTable’ (2018) and last November was the Festival Coordinator for the first (and only) UK festival for black women and women of colour; Women Of The Lens Film Digital Broadcast Festival.
Key Cast
Our talented principal cast have featured in various major award-winning TV and Film productions including; Fast Girl's, Eastenders, Autopsy, Harry Potter:The Goblet of Fire, The Legend of Tarzan, Dear Jesus TV and Evermore to name a few. We are excited to announce that we are fully cast and crewed with an eclectic mix of talent behind and in front of the camera, who have collectively made past projects reach global success and now we need your contribution to take this groundbreaking film ABSENT to the next level.
Why are we making this film?
We're making ABSENT because of the relatable, multi-dimensional and complex story arcs it explores. We want to give a truthful insight into broken homes as we delve into the not often shown, dark, emotional realities of single parenthood. As well as moving and engaging you with this compelling story, we want to inform you, educate and entertain you using Absent's gripping themes. What's also important to us is making a film which provides safe spaces for restitution, resolution and healing. We want to push forward with national debate and give further support and a voice to women and children as we contribute to changing the epidemic of absent fathers and the detrimental effects this can have on our society as a whole.
Single Parent Facts in the UK – Published on Gingerbread January 2018
• There are around two million single parents – they make up nearly a quarter of families.
• 47% of children in single parent families live in relative poverty.
• The majority of single parents don’t receive child maintenance payments.
• The portion of single parents who are fathers has stayed at 10% for over 10 years.
The impact of Absent Fathers
This is not just a film but a movement on Tackling Absent Fathers to push for a law reform.
What we need the money for and investment options
After, tugging along since 2015 developing and strengthening the production through independent self-financing, the film is now at its full potential and production value with a team of highly experience creatives who have given untold hours of their time and energy to planning the logistics of the film on an expense basis.
However, to manage a 4 week shoot and post-production we’ll need the correct financial resources in place to bring our hard work and collaborative commitment into fruition, enabling us to meet the objective of a completed high-end production for theatrical release. The money will be used to pay our dedicated cast and crew, to source locations, provided a production unit, legal fees, licenses, catering, equipment hire, marketing and promotion, festival submission, post-production, sales and distribution pitching and our overall production cost.
UK TAX CREDIT
All feature films are entitled to the UK tax credit contributing to 20% of the overall UK budget spend. Our producers will apply for the tax credit and submit the film for the UK tax contribution on completion of post. ABSENT is 100% a UK British Production.
SEIS (tax investment scheme)
The Producer's will submit the application to receive the SEIS tax break and match fund the £75,000 raised via Indiegogo to reach our estimated production budget. The HMRC SEIS film tax incentivised investment scheme is a wonderful opportunity for experienced or first time investors in film. All business investors who invest a minimum of £10,000 will be entitled to a 50% tax break.
Tax reliefs available to investors:
A reduction in your tax liability of up to 50% of the value of your investment (subject to an annual maximum investment of £100,000). In order to get the reduction, you do need to have a sufficient tax liability (excluding dividend income). The relief will not be affected by the proposed £50,000 cap on reliefs. This tax relief applies to all UK tax payers. Please submit your interest to: apply@ascottproductions.com
The risk and challenges
Without securing our estimated production budget, we will have to reduce and sacrifice the quality of the film and could even risk losing experienced cast and crew who bring great value to the production and its final outcome.
Special Thank You
If you have been with us from the beginning you will be aware that this is our second campaign. We were overwhelmed by your response and contributions to our last campaign and can advise you that the money went to keeping the production afloat. Funds raised were spent on costs such as, castings, table reads, venue hire, PR and Marketing, travel and expenses, administration, production and finance meetings and general development.
Other ways you can support ABSENT
If you are not able to help financially at this present moment, we welcome your contribution by following us on our social media platforms Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @absentmovieuk and by SHARING and spreading the word anyway you can.
Also, by using the INDIEGOGO SHARE TOOLS on this page helps to bring people directly to our campaign. We’d like to say the biggest Thank You for your help and support, to our old and new contributors.
From the ABSENT Team.
Absent Movie Production LTD (11185740)