ABOUT
WOKE UP DEAD will be the second feature film from writer-director James Gardner and follows on from the break-out success of his multi-award winning debut JELLYFISH.
LOGLINE
A trainee ambulance technician is pushed to breaking point by the senior paramedic training him.
SYNOPSIS
Fast-living City Boy DANNY (27) is feeding his addiction in the toilet of an upmarket cocktail bar when his heart gives out. One year later, sober and reformed, he’s gearing up for his first day of on-the-job training as an AMBULANCE TECHNICIAN, keen to start saving lives the way the service saved his.
However, the no-nonsense senior paramedic stuck mentoring him, SHELLEY (50), and her wise-cracking ECA TONY (56) have other ideas and are quick to put him in his place.
Danny’s dream of playing the hero quickly turns into a nightmare as the grim reality of the job hits him like a freight train. As the shift-from-hell lurches from crisis to catastrophe Danny’s demons resurface forcing him to turn away from his newfound vocation and back to the deadly crutches of the person he used to be.
WOKE UP DEAD will take the frantic, on-the-job immediacy of a day-in-the-life of a paramedic, marry it with a fractious pupil-mentor relationship, set them against the real-world life-and-death stakes of the collapsing NHS and throw it all in the back of an ambulance hurtling down a one-way street at a hundred miles an hour.
lead cast
DANNY
SHELLEY
PROLOGUE
The prologue to WOKE UP DEAD, which is the first six pages of the full script, is viewable below. We shot this in March 2024 for a few reasons…
The prologue takes place a year before the day the rest of the story plays out, so it will be beneficial for Jack to have aged as Danny would have.
We will be shooting the rest of the film in the summer, so shooting the prologue in winter gives it a very different visual aesthetic and tone, which marries perfectly with the evolution in Danny’s character.
Being able to show the opening of the film to potential partners and supporters alike, in order to raise awareness and generate excitement, is invaluable.
We hope you enjoy it and then see below for ways in which you can help us get the rest of the film made.
*The prologue contains scenes of drug use and flashing imagery. Viewer discretion advised.
BACKSTORY
WHY TELL THIS STORY?
Brexit. Covid. War. The rising cost of living. These are the things which have brought back to our hearts and minds old questions about things we had long put aside. They’ve reminded us to consider our relationship to each other, our health as individuals and also that of society as a whole. As something that we all share in the United Kingdom, the NHS is a telling barometer of how we are functioning (or not) as a society. WOKE UP DEAD will timestamp this critical issue by asking the difficult questions that bring into focus societal tensions we know are there, but often find so hard to articulate; “Who is the Government for? Are they operating in my best interests, or am I on my own? Do I owe anyone anything, and what do they owe me?”
“Ambulance calls have almost doubled to 14 million a year since 2010…”
Source: GMB
WHY TELL IT NOW?
The catastrophic failings and rapid decline of the NHS have made front-page news with increasing urgency over the last few years, yet what is so striking and painfully relevant to our story is the exodus of healthcare professionals leaving the NHS for the sake of their physical and mental well-being. The ambulance service has seen the sharpest, hardest impact, and this shows on the bodies, in the lives and tragic deaths of frontline ambulance crew. A recent ONS survey found that between 2011 and 2015 there were twenty suicide deaths among paramedics in England alone, and the risk of suicide among male paramedics was 75% higher than the national average.
“Staff leaving England’s ambulance services annually has increased by 51.2% since 2019”
Source: LibDem FOI
These headlines struck a chord with writer-director James Gardner and got him thinking about how someone can give so much of themselves away to people they don’t even know. He quickly realised that this was the same dramatically fertile ground that he explored in his debut feature film JELLYFISH, which tells the story of an unpaid young-carer who is forced to look after her siblings because of her mother’s mental illness. Spending time in research with many young carers gave him a strong connection and deep human insight into how they live and what they feel and, most importantly, how best to tell their story. The time spent with paramedics while researching WOKE UP DEAD has done the same, and we will be telling their life-and-death stories with the same passion and purpose.
FILMMAKERS
SUPPORT US
SPREAD THE WORD
Share our website on your own social media channels to help us raise awareness about the film.
GET INVOLVED
Want to work with us on the film? Great! Please contact us using the form below and let us know how you’d like to get involved.
SUPPORT US IN KIND
Do you live in Ramsgate and have a spare room to put our crew up? Do you own an ambulance or know someone that does? There are many ways in which you could help our production so even if you’re not sure how but want to support us, please drop us a line using the form below.
DONATE
It’s no secret that raising money is often the hardest part of making films. If you are in a position to make a direct or indirect financial contribution to the film and want to become involved in the production we’d love to hear from you. Alternatively, if you want to make a commitment-free donation then you can do so simply by clicking the PayPal button below. Your contribution will go a lot further than you think.