Target reached!
With a bit more money, we can pay cast, crew and cover distribution costs. We can al...
Solar Urticaria film series
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Aim
We want to fund & produce the pilot chapter of our mini-film-series that highlights chronic illness & human connections through dark comedy.
About 
Solar Urticaria is a dark comedy mini-film-series shooting in Scotland. A parkourist postman with a hero complex, develops an unlikely alliance with a chronically ill woman - who he insensibly believes is a vampire - to take down a suspected local criminal. The project has been written and will be directed by Annie Cook and is lead-produced by Wendy Lap, both sufferers of auto-immune illnesses and chronic pain. Although the topic is a serious one and something close to their hearts, they decided to go down the dark comedy route to highlight the issue rather than produce a straight and potentially solemn drama. Wendy and Annie have both found having a dark sense of humour is something that has really helped them manage and get through physical pain.
Use of title to raise awareness
The title is 'Solar Urticaria' based on an auto-immune histamine response to skin exposure to sunlight. It is one of the more rare urticaria conditions out there that can occur at any age or time and of varying severity. Anyone could develop a sunlight allergy or increased sensitivity. One of the characters in the story suffers from multiple undiagnosed chronic illnesses and chronic pain, one of which she believes to be solar urticaria. The title is used to raise awareness of both this condition but also chronic illness and chronic pain in general which can be invisible, debilitating and are often not talked about in narrative film. In Scotland, it is estimated that around one in five people have at least one long-term condition.
Solar Urticaria support
https://www.solarurticaria.org/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2425651439/
Hopes for the project
Our goal is to share a story -with some dark comedy enjoyment value- to highlight more serious issues such as loss, chronic illness, chronic pain, loneliness that comes with it and challenging assumptions to make you question and to invoke thinking and conversations around these topics. We also wish to highlight a list of support and charities available in the credits of the film for anyone watching looking for support. We hope the key messages people take away from this series is the value of human-connections, talking to new people and enjoying life whilst, when and where you can.
Lead Producer Wendy on the mini-film series & chronic illness
Co-producer Klara on gender representation in filmmaking
Production Team
Solar Urticaria
Characters
- Patman the parkourist postman is an energetic, erratic (& insensible) guy with a hero complex and an unusual unhealthy obsession with immunology, conspiracy theories and... vampires.
- Grace mostly sticks to the shadows and is an unfortunate soul- she grieves the loss of her beloved mum and suffers multiple undiagnosed chronic illnesses. Her pain and misery give her a bit of a cutting edge- she’s got nothing left to lose…
- Jackie is a bubbly and very helpful community-driven gardener keen to build some longer-lasting human connections. She also probably knows things you don't know...
- Gareth is a lonely gym fanatic and former basketball player with a dodgy knee and an interest in painting miniature figurines. He is accused of being a recently-released-from-prison-twisted criminal…
- Martha is Grace’s dead mum. She is dark-humoured and for some reason is still hanging around in the living world… not really sure if she is quite real or not...
- Jess is a talented salon director who has everything going for her but struggles with low self-esteem and the need for approval. She concerns herself what others think to her detriment...
- Fred is a seemingly normal boyfriend but his excessive ambition in life is starting to let his mask slip…
- Michael is Martha's ex husband and Grace's estranged dad. He is a slightly unhinged, flamboyant architect with a passion for short-time-good-time affairs and is also a bit suspiciously vampyric…
Style
- Inspired by lived experience of chronic pain, chronic illness & challenging assumptions, and the psychology of how people react and respond.
- Imagine 'After Life' meets 'I don't feel at home in this world anymore' meets 'What we do in the shadows' with a bit of Derren Brown inspiration.
Themes
challenging assumptions, human connection, community spirit, chronic illness, chronic pain, allergy, relationships, grief, loss, depression, loneliness, social justice, parkour, unlikely friendships, judgement, crime, taboo, dark-comedy, conversation starter, paranormal
Synopsis
Solar Urticaria is a dark comedy mini-film-series that starts with 'Chapter 1: Patman's Obsession' an unusual alliance and attempted crime - but it’s really not what you think. Patman is the parkourist postman with a hero complex and is determined to help long-suffering local resident Grace with her undiagnosed chronic illness whilst also bringing social justice to the community. Patman insensibly believes Grace is actually a vampire in need, and uses it as the perfect excuse to convince Grace to jump down a bit of a rabbit hole.
Along the way we meet community-driven gardener Jackie, dead or undead Martha- we're not quite sure, Fred, Jess, Gareth and unusually vampiric father Michael who each in turn add twists to the story, making you continually re-assess the question: could Patman be right?
Each chapter will be between 12-15 minutes long, long enough for the story to develop but short enough to keep your attention ;)
We need your support <3
As some of you will know, everything about producing film is expensive. Before even thinking about paying the cast, the cost of paying for equipment and technical crew are prohibitive at best. We really hope we can make the budget to produce it and to try and reach this goal...
For every donation there will be fantastic rewards you can select from on the right including:
Professional photography shoot bundle £100
- 'Meet the team' personalised photography shoot in Edinburgh with x3 final edited headshots or character shots with director, stills photographer & lead producer + tea/biscuits :D
- Credit in film
- Social media shout out
Tote bag or branded suncream bundle £20
- Physical gifts such as tote bags or branded sunscreen
- Social media shout-out
- Credit in film
Lessons-learned workshop bundle £30
- How to self-produce/storytelling/writing/filmmaking workshop via Zoom at the end of production with lessons learned (option to run in-person in Edinburgh)
- Credit in film
- Social media shout out
Nico's chocolate crack cake voucher £35
Perfect for cashing in on birthdays or celebrations."The best chocolate cake you will ever taste in your life"- Annie's dad
Personal training session bundle £45
- 45 min one-to-one personal training session in Edinburgh by Castle personal training instructor Peter
- Credit in film
- Social media shout out
Language lessons online bundle £45
- French, Japanese or German language lessons at your starting level via Zoom (we're an international bunch)
- Credit in film
- Social media shout out
Lifetime subscription membership to personal training online bundle £250
- One years subscription to Healthy Post-natal-Body (online personal training)
- Credit in film
- Social media shout out
Executive producer bundle £500
- Executive producer credit
- Special signed clapperboard from all crew & cast
- Branded tote bag & suncream
- Choice of any & all of the skills-sharing workshops
Executive producer bundle £1000
- Executive producer credit
- Special signed clapperboard from all crew & cast
- Branded tote bag & suncream
- Choice of any & all of the skills-sharing workshops
- 'Meet the team' professional photography shoot with x6 final edited headshot or character images.
Budget breakdown
For transparency we have our budget breakdown here. We are working at a non-profit rate and trying to source other avenues of funding where possible but this is difficult. With £3,200 we can produce a high quality film with the budget breakdown below. However, with a healthier budget of £4,200-£6,000 we will be able to do some colour grading work, pay every person a much more reasonable fee, recruit an MUA, light technician and cover much more of our distribution costs without worry. Upwards of £6,000-£10,000 we will actually be able to plan, cast and start filming Chapter 2 and even Chapter 3, bringing new characters/actors in and taking you on the story's journey- which I guess you have to believe the team when they say it will be very intriguing to watch and worth your support!
This project successfully funded on 6th June 2022