Dead Funny
Through laughter, friendship and much-loved childhood keepsakes, Dead Funny explores the comfort we find in one another. We hope audiences will feel less alone in their experiences of loss, more able to talk, and reminded that there is still room for joy.
Even in the darkness, there is light.
Short Film in Development
A catastrophic spiritual error by a pair of apprentice guardian angels leaves two Yorkshire lads stuck in limbo. Desperate funeral directors search for their missing bodies, while Jake and Paul make one failed attempt after another to escape the darkened graveyard—until a higher authority issues a Papal Decree.
Help bring Dead Funny to life
Stories can give us a way to talk about feelings we struggle to express. Through humour, friendship and two much-loved childhood toys, Dead Funny explores loss, connection and the love we carry with us.
We want audiences to leave feeling a little less alone—with room to laugh, remember and talk about what matters.
Any amount towards making the film is welcome.
A film to share with you
As a thank-you for your contribution, we’d love to share The Valley: A Keeping, our completed poetic short film exploring landscape, memory and presence in Nidderdale.
After contributing, email mark@niddfilms.com with the name or email used for your payment, and we’ll send you a viewing link. No subscription is required.
Thank you for helping us tell this story.
The Film
Paul and Jake awaken in the cradle of a Yorkshire church, trapped between the lives they have left behind and whatever may be waiting for them next.
With no phones, no map and no clear way home, they are forced to slow down, look closely at the world around them and consider possibilities beyond the paths they have been taught to follow.
Beyond the churchyard, the people who love them are preparing to say goodbye—but Paul and Jake’s journey may not be over.
Dead Funny begins with death, but it is ultimately about life—and the possibilities waiting when we dare to step off the path and explore new ways forward.
Funding and Partnerships Now in Development
Story
Paul and Jake have been best friends for as long as either can remember—growing up together in Nidderdale, sharing secrets, daft adventures and the small keepsakes of childhood.
Then, on Midwinter Night, an angelic error changes everything.
The pair awaken in limbo with no phones, no map and no intention of accepting that their lives might be over.
Frightened and apprehensive, they do what they have always done: face the impossible together, finding comfort in the Yorkshire banter and brotherly bond that have always held them together.
Small keepsakes from childhood keep love present, even in the darkness of loss.
So what happens next? Is this the end—or could the longest night mark the beginning of the light’s return?
Why This Story Matters
What happens when life forces us to stop—and everything we use to distract ourselves falls away?
We move quickly through a world of boxes: homes, schools, workplaces, cars and screens. These structures can guide and protect us, but they can also shape our lives before we have stopped to consider who we are or what truly matters.
The boxes we inhabit are not equal. For some, a box is a comfortable home; for others, it may be a caravan, a temporary shelter or a piece of cardboard offering protection from the night. Dead Funny asks us to look beyond the structure and see the person inside it.
In limbo, Paul and Jake have no phones, no map and nowhere else to be. All they have are the familiar humour that has always connected them, the small keepsakes carrying memories of childhood and the people whose love surrounds them—even when they cannot see it.
By placing laughter beside uncertainty and loss, Dead Funny creates space to approach difficult questions without being overwhelmed by them. Its comedy does not avoid darkness; it helps the characters—and the audience—find their way through it.
The film asks us to slow down, look again and notice the lives, possibilities and acts of care that are easily overlooked.
No life should be forgotten—least of all while it is still being lived.
Help Bring Dead Funny to Life
Dead Funny is a film about noticing people, possibilities and the acts of care that can easily be overlooked. Bringing it to the screen will depend upon that same spirit of care and collaboration.
Your support will help us make the film safely, fairly and professionally—paying cast and crew, securing Yorkshire locations, hiring equipment and completing the final film to the standard its story deserves.
There are many ways to become part of the journey. You can support Dead Funny as an individual, business sponsor or creative partner, or by offering practical help with catering, transport, equipment, accommodation or production services.
Every contribution matters. Together, they will help bring an independent Yorkshire story to the screen and ensure the people making it are seen, valued and treated fairly.
By supporting Dead Funny, you are not simply helping to fund a film. You are helping to create a story that asks audiences to slow down, look again and remember that no life should be forgotten while it is still being lived.
To get involved, request a supporter pack or contact Nidd Films to discuss sponsorship, partnership or practical support.
Funding
Why £25,400?
Dead Funny is being developed as a professional short film for festival submission, audience screenings and future development through Nidd Films. It will also serve as a proof of concept for the larger journey of Dead Funny On Tour (working title).
The £25,400 working production budget reflects the current cost of making the film safely, fairly and professionally. It includes fair payment for cast and crew, Yorkshire locations, equipment, insurance, transport, accommodation, catering, post-production, sound, music, festival submissions and audience outreach.
Nidd Films has committed £2,000 to the production, leaving £23,400 to be secured through a flexible combination of screen-agency funding, grants, aligned business and production partnerships, individual giving and genuine in-kind support.
Every contribution will help take Dead Funny from script to screen while ensuring that the people bringing it to life are properly supported and valued.
Themes
CARE & CONNECTION
At the heart of Dead Funny is the care between two lads who do not always know how to express it. Their Yorkshire banter and small childhood keepsakes reveal the love and connection that have quietly held them together.
THE BOXES
WE INHABIT
Homes, cars, screens and expectations all shape how we live. Some boxes protect us; others hold us back. Removed from ordinary life, Paul and Jake are given a chance to look beyond the paths they have always followed.
DARKNESS &
LIGHT
Dead Funny unfolds on the longest night of the year. By placing humour beside uncertainty and loss, the film reminds us that darkness is not always an ending—it can also mark the moment when the light begins to return.
Development Status
Dead Funny is currently in development as part of the Nidd Films slate.
The project is being developed as a contained, character-led short film and proof of concept for a larger screen journey. Rooted in Yorkshire humour and emotional honesty, it combines supernatural comedy-drama and limbo fantasy with a warm, accessible exploration of care, connection and the possibilities hidden within ordinary life.
The short will stand alone as a complete story while introducing Paul, Jake and the distinctive darkly comic world that surrounds them. It will establish the characters, tone and visual language of Dead Funny, helping us build an audience and create a strong foundation for its future development.
The story opens the door to Dead Funny On Tour (working title), a feature-length continuation in which Paul and Jake’s journey expands beyond the churchyard. Through encounters with Britain’s landscapes, communities, traditions and stories, they begin to look beyond the lives expected of them and explore new ways forward.
Bringing the short to the screen is the first achievable step in allowing that larger journey to begin.
Setting
Nestled among the valleys, roads and churchyards of Nidderdale, Yorkshire, Dead Funny unfolds on Midwinter Night—the longest night of the year.
The setting is not simply a backdrop. Winter may appear still and lifeless, yet beneath the surface the natural world is waiting to begin again. The darkness marks not only an ending, but the moment when the light begins to return.
Through its wildlife, weather, history and folklore, the landscape invites Paul and Jake—and the audience—to slow down, look more closely and notice the possibilities hiding within the familiar.
POETIC INSPIRATION
Dead Funny is quietly inspired by Christina Rossetti’s poem In the Bleak Midwinter.
Its image of new life emerging from a harsh winter landscape echoes the film’s Midwinter Night setting, where the deepest darkness also marks the beginning of returning light.
At the end of Rossetti’s poem, when everything else is stripped away, the offering that remains is the heart. That idea sits quietly at the centre of Dead Funny: whatever paths we follow or boxes we inhabit, what ultimately matters is our capacity to care.
Support Dead Funny
Dead Funny is being built from the ground up through care, craft and the support of people who believe independent film still matters.
Your contribution will help move the project closer to production and strengthen the growing creative community around Nidd Films.
By supporting Dead Funny, you are helping bring a warm, funny and life-affirming Yorkshire story from limbo to screen.