Crowdfunder launches for dark comedy about domestic abuse towards men

Preston based film production company Wasp Video are working on a dark comedy short film project.

Happily Ever Afterlife is the dark, funny story of a woman’s crusade to make an elderly man’s death happier than his life.

When hapless Alice accidentally kills her elderly neighbour Thomas, she’s shocked when his ghost turns up to help. Not wanting to spend the afterlife with his abusive wife, Thomas persuades Alice to hide his body so his son can’t bury him in the same burial plot as her. Unfortunately, planning isn’t a strength either of them have.

Focusing on the themes of friendship, and making life count, Happily Ever Afterlife is a hero’s quest with a jelly-stained Princess costume, a rotting corpse, and a terrible escape plan.

The underlying theme of the project relates to the statistic that one in four men have experienced some form of physical violence by an intimate partner.

Happily Ever After aims to show how lives are affected by domestic abuse, even when the actual abuse has ended, by using comedy as an accessible way to to start much needed conversations about domestic abuse towards men.

Preston resident, writer Susan Moffat, said: ‘I’m passionate about telling human stories in interesting ways, and if our film can help to start conversations about domestic abuse towards men then I’ve done my job.

“For many men of the older generation, the shame they feel means this abuse is never spoken about, and many men only escape their abusers after their death. But what if death meant being reunited with their abusers in the afterlife? And if anything was possible, what lengths would someone go to to avoid this?”

Susan is a regular contributor to Lancashire Fringe Festival, has writing credits in short and feature films, and is part of a team of writers whose sketch show is currently being pitched to Radio 4.

Wasp Video was established in 2008 by Director of Photography John Corrin, and the company works hard to produce affordable music videos for bands and artists across the country, as well as producing short films. They were also part of the team that brought The Blackout Film Project – sponsored by Blog Preston – to Preston in 2015.

The team are crowdfunding to raise money to pay for the production, and would appreciate any support people can offer the project.

To find out more, visit the Happily Ever Afterlife Crowdfunder.