WELCOME

This is our official campaign for our upcoming (2021) web-series, Thick As Thieves. We had a previous Indiegogo campaign for this project, which is still visible. It went live just before the beginning of the pandemic, but we ceased all activity because we didn't think it was an appropriate time to continue. WE'RE BACK- with an updated storyline and all new content.
We hope by the end of this page you'll want to join us on this thrilling ride...

THE STORY

In friends we trust... right? Jess, Temi, Alisha and her sister Faith find themselves grappling with each other, after the choices they make. Their situations go from bad to worse but they can only rely on each other to escape the mess. Thick As Thieves unmasks the reality of friends who are just trying to make ends meet in a world of adulting.
Click to watch our concept trailers below:

OUR STORY

The Basement Bunch Ltd are a film and theatre production company with a commitment to community.  Based in Luton, the company was founded by Adeyinka Akinrinade, Charity Muiruri and Hannah Kelly, in 2017. Shakira Francis joined the collective and the core team was complete. The Basement Bunch are driven to create vivid and bold stories with an ambition for impact through storytelling. These women are shaping their own narrative around being young creative professionals, who come from working class backgrounds, belonging to a variety of cultures. The Basement Bunch represents the underdogs- if you can dream it, you must do it. The company will be producing this web-series, Thick As Thieves.

Click on our website below to discover a more detailed breakdown of who we are: www.thebasementbunch.co.uk 
 

THE CREATOR

Shakira Francis, who is head of film production at The Basement Bunch, originally wrote this 7 part web-series as a homage to one of her favourite American action/thriller's, Set It Off.  The story has since developed with a focused look on friendship, betrayal and the choices that lead to a troubling situation. As well as writing her vision in script format, Shakira will be directing this web-series. Her first directorial debut, 4C, is a short film that was selected as a finalist for the South East Film competition. It then went on to screen at the Cambridge Film Festival, the Brighton Cinecity Festival and toured the South East of England.  Her most recent short film, The Lost Land Girl, was supported by the BFI and is still making appearances in film festivals. Shakira is a returning member of the BFI network x Bafta Crew 2020-21 and wants to use her platform to champion more women ensemble on screen.
 

OUR CAST & CREW

from left to right: Greta Zabulyte (DOP), Charity Muiruri (Alisha), Jessica Layde (Faith), Hannah Kelly (Jess), and Adeyinka Akinrinade (Temi).
 

The production of Thick As Thieves prides itself on women collaborating to make compelling work. Our cast and crew consists of people from marginalized ethnic backgrounds who are often stereotyped in film. Representation matters and this campaign is all the more important because it showcases a production with us in the drivers seat, playing and filming mutli-dimensional characters, that are relatable. This industry is steadily changing how it reflects women, Black women and women of colour, on and off screen. This is our contribution.
 

COSTS

15,000 GBP. That is our crowdfunding goal for Thick As Thieves. This budget will cover the entire production process of all 7 episodes. The funds we previously raised will be used to cover the implementation of Covid-19 health and safety practises (PPE). Please see chart below explaining how we plan to distribute the funds we raise from this campaign:

Ideally we would like to reach our goal however if we don’t raise the entire amount we will change the format of the script and the raised funds will go towards paying for insurance, locations and our cast and crew, outside of The Basement Bunch. Depending on the percentage that we're able to raise from our goal, post production could become in-house only as we think it'd be more ethical for us to pay our collaborators over paying ourselves- though nobody should have to work for free. One of our company values is community and we have a responsibility to uphold standards that communicate our respect for people, their efforts/skills and their time.

PERKS

The Basement Bunch have been discussing how best we can thank you for your financial contributions to our campaign, Thick As Thieves. The perks can be found on the right hand side of your screen (if you're viewing from a laptop/mac) but we've chosen to list them below as well, for a general look:

Shout outs on all our social medias, behind the scenes footage, view scenes that didn't make the cut, sneak peak into each production phase, set visit, online press pack, access to the series before it goes live to the public, names included in rolling credits, executive producer credit.
 

IMPACT

Your contribution to our campaign will provide working opportunities to a variety of rising professionals in a period of time that is unprecedented. Your support will champion the development of artists and creatives who aren't celebrated enough in mainstream media. Your subscription to us can elevate the belief in upcoming storytellers who see themselves in us.

Thick As Thieves may be a project that is made in Luton but the emotions of the characters and the experiences they face as young adults transcends borders. The women involved in this project are a reflection of the diaspora and some of the stories we tell are connected to many cultural roots, either through the theme or the characters names:

Naca, short film (2016), explores a young Bengali man's conflict between the traditions of his religion and his passion for dance. We won the runner up award for 'best film' at the Fresh Faced Film Festival in 2018.

The Eden Effect, theatre production (2019), Tiffany, Wren and Ashley Nduta are forced to adapt their lives due to the Married Women’s Property Act (Amendment) 2022. Biology first, gender second; that’s what they’ve been told. The show sold out in 2/3 of the venues it toured- Camden People's Theatre, The Hat Factory Arts Centre and Curve Theatre.
 

RISKS AND CHALLENGES

With filming there are often risks and challenges- from actors falling sick to the English weather being unpredictable however, we are considering all possibilities as we plan ahead to schedule the film shoot. As a collective, we have a wide range of production experience on multiple sets and have dealt with cancellations of locations, clashes of personalities and unforeseen events on set.  We have overcome them and continue to carry this ethic in all our projects, including our web-series; ensuring everything will run on time and on budget.
 

CATCH YOU LATER

Thank you so much for taking your time to read through our page. Please do share through word of mouth and on your social media platforms. Indiegogo has share tools which look like this: 
The heart icon allows fellow Indiegogo accounts to keep up with our campaign.
The facebook icon allows you to share directly to your page.
The twitter icon allows you to post a tweet about our campaign to your followers.
The link icon creates an url that you can copy and paste to share anywhere. 

• If you follow us on instagram and twitter and like us on Facebook you are helping us to expand our reach and engagement.
• When you share our posts on social media you are helping us to fight against the new algorithm that tries to keep smaller accounts hidden.
• The more people who see our campaign the better possibility for us to receive financial support from those who can.
• The more people who like and share our content, the better we can prove there's a demand for it. 
   

We hope this has been an enjoyable read and that this project now excites you as much as it does us. Let's continue on this road to 15K! We can't wait to celebrate with you!

Any questions or concerns you may have, please feel free to direct them to us on: info@thebasementbunch.co.uk