‘Lead Belly’ (originally titled 'No Man's Land') written by Ian Armer and Amanda Webster is a short drama focusing on themes surrounding homelessness and our armed forces. It’s a character driven story that’s inspired by actual events. The film has hard hitting themes to be drawn upon including loss, PTSD and mental health issues.
Our film tackles these issues in such a way where we really see the impact of what some of our military veterans go through once they are back in society after serving Queen and country.
We are working alongside three very important charities.
Broughton House in Salford
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Combat Stress
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Soldiers Off The Street
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The Team
Jamie Lomas: Producer and Actor
British actor Jamie Lomas has been in some of the most popular UK TV shows, including Eastenders, Hollyoaks, Brookside, Coronation Street and I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here. This is Jamie's first step into producing and is keen to raise awareness and funds for some much needed charities that are very close to his heart.
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Rebecca-Clare Evans: Producer and Actor
Rebecca is a British actress and BIFA award winning producer. Rebecca has recently starred as one of the leads in the up and coming feature film 'Blank'. Rebecca is also extremely passionate about raising awareness and funds for the charities involved.
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Sammy Winward: Actor
British actress Sammy Winward is best known for playing the character Katie Sugden in ITV's Emmerdale and has recently starred in the ITV dramas Prey and Fearless. She's over the moon to be involved in this project helping to raise awareness for these wonderful charities.![]()
Sean Glynn - Director
Award winning director working for 26 years in the film and television industry. Having worked on some of the biggest TV shows and dramas in the UK, we are delighted to have Sean onboard. Sean is extremely passionate about helping these charities and bringing the short to life.
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What We Need & What You Get
Our minimum target to raise for the making of the film alone is £10,000, where these funds will go towards the cost of hiring equipment, locations etc. Ideally we would love to raise more in order to enter as many festivals as possible to raise as much awareness as we possibly can. Any additional money would be going directly to our three charities to help in their worthy causes.
Our wonderful perks will include an invitation to the cast and crew screening where you will have the opportunity to meet the whole team. A set visit with the director and cast and the opportunity to become an Executive Producer.
If we don't reach our target the funds will go directly into the production to ensure we can still help to raise awareness.
The Impact
The impact of this film will be far reaching as we expect our film to do very well in the festival circuit, not only that we have a lot of support not only from that of the charities but from many celebrities and production companies.
The Statistics Of The Issues Raised In The Film
According to a study in 2018, a total of more than 60,000 armed forces veterans in the UK had either broken the law, were homeless or were suffering from mental health problems.
The analysis broke these figures down into 50,000 coping with mental health conditions and 10,000 either in prison, on parole or on probation.
The British Legion has estimated that there are currently around 6,000 homeless veterans in the UK.
For the first time, the rate of PTSD among veterans is higher than the rate of PTSD among serving personnel and the general public. PTSD is more prevalent than alcohol misuse among veterans who served in a combat role in Iraq and/or Afghanistan.
Among the veterans who served in a combat rolein Iraq and/or Afghanistan, almost 1 in 5 are predicted to develop PTSD (17%) compared to 6% who deployed in a support role such as medical, logistics, signals and aircrew.
Each year more than 19,000 service personnel leave the UK Armed Forces. This suggests that each year 1,400 new service leavers will need support for PTSD and 4,000 will need support for mental health problems.
Risks & Challenges
Crowd funding is notoriously difficult and we are aware of these hurdles. However, the issues we are addressing in our project we hope resonates with the public.
Other Ways You Can Help
We understand that not all people are in a position to donate to a project. A share on social media to help us reach a wider audience would be a great help.