Happily Ever Afterlife - Short Comedy Film

Hello! Welcome to the Crowdfunder page for Happily Ever Afterlife - a dark comedy short film about making it count. This is a 'Keep what we raise' project,  and the funds we initially raised were used to produce our film. 

We're now seeking additional funding to send our film to as many film festivals as possible!

(Still image from our film - Geoff Baron & India Barnett as Thomas & Alice)

Thanks to our generous supporters, who pledged £1640 during our 28 day campaign, we received a  £1577 (once Crowdfunder subtracted their fees) to produce our film.

We shot the bulk of our film with our amazing cast over four days in the summer of 2023, with additional days without cast running up to December 2023.

We're now thrilled to announce that the film is finished, and will be heading off to film festivals later this month.

The ultimate goal of any short filmmaker is to be screened at film festivals - and be recognized for their work.

We've had an amazing team working with us on this project, from our outstanding cast and in-house crew, to our sound recordist and composer, and we'd like to make sure their work receives the recognition it deserves.

Film festivals are expensive. Sad but true. We have a small pot of money left over from production, but unfortunately not enough to enter all of the festivals on our wish list. 

Any contribution you make to our Crowdfunder will help our film to be seen by the widest possible audience, and hopefully win some awards in the process.

Reluctant kids’ entertainer Alice thinks her life’s hit the bottom - until she accidentally kills her elderly neighbour Thomas, and his ghost convinces her to hide his body. With the corpse decomposing, and the neighbours getting suspicious, they need a plan to keep Alice out of prison, and Thomas’ soul away from his abusive wife's.

(Still image from our film - Geoff Baron & India Barnett as Thomas & Alice)

• What's it about?

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 Doreen, 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 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.

(Still image from our film -  India Barnett as  Alice)

Alice, 29, the kind of person who gags over meat production, but happily watches graphic horror films. Over-thinker Alice is definitely a follower, not a leader. Obsessed with true crime documentaries, Alice is convinced that a Disney happy ending won’t be a part of her story, but she really wants to be important to someone, hoping this will make a difference in her life.

(Still image from our film - Geoff Baron as Thomas)

Thomas, 72, prides himself on his ability to find the bright side in any situation. He enjoys his own company, but craves friendship - which he missed out on when he was alive - and he deeply regrets not achieving more in his life. Thomas’ deep rooted fear of his wife continued even after her death, and prevented him from enjoying the time he had left.

• Our Principal Cast

• The role of 'Alice' was played by India Barnett.
• India is an actor from Bristol, based in Manchester. Since graduating Manchester School of Theatre in 2021, India has become highly skilled in motion capture and spends a lot of time performing immersive, interactive theatre at festivals and large scale events.

The role of 'Thomas' was played by Geoff Baron. Geoff's acting experiences have taken in panto, stage plays, musical theatre and radio drama. One of his favourite 'gigs' was narratin 'The Snow Queen' for Three Left Feet. Geoff says, '"Happily Ever Afterlife" promises to be another project to file under the heading of 'fun' with a capital 'F'!

Supporting Cast

Anne Baron - Doreen

Frances Broudie Oldridge - Karen

Olly Chebrika - Beach Kid

Wasp Video

Wasp Video has been producing music videos and narrative films since 2008. Our short films ‘Rag Doll' and ‘The Best of Me’ achieved global recognition at film festivals, and we’ve worked as a team, and individually, with artists including Johnny Vegas, Craig Parkinson, Ted Robbins and Martin Freeman.

The team takes a collaborative approach to producing, and having spent almost ten years working together you can rest assured we know what we’re doing (and what the coffee order is.)

• Susan Moffat - Writer/Director

Susan has credits in both independent film and theatre, and is graduating in 2024 with a MA (Distinction) in Comedy Writing (who knew Monty Python could be an educational reference?) She’s been working with Wasp Video since 2016 and is the only member of the team without a beard. 

Find Susan on Socials 

• John Corrin - Cinematographer/Editor

John founded Wasp Video in 2008, and has worked extensively both in the UK, the United States, and Europe. John has worked as the Director of Photography for a number of short films and a feature film. John will specifically be taking the role of Director of Photography on this film. If you look very closely, you can see mini John in the background of an episode of ‘League of Gentlemen’.

• Laurie McSherry - Camera/Lighting

• Phil McMillan - Camera/Lighting

• Andrew Layfield - Location Sound

• 31 Twelve Music - Score Composer

We can hear you now, ‘We get it - you want our cash!’ 

We understand that everyone’s struggling right now, and chucking the cost of a takeaway towards a short film might not be your priority, but you can still help by following, liking, commenting and sharing our posts on social media, and sharing this page. 

Comedy is important, now more than ever, so that's ultimately why we want this film to reach it's widest audience.