SHORT FILM - PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL

Damage Control

What if you found out your ex was making TikToks about your breakup?

Image-conscious Matt faces a reputational reckoning when he discovers his ex’s vitriolic (viral) TikTok break-up diary. It doesn’t help that they still live together.

Maxwell is delighted to be part of the team for this 12 minute short film, a dramatic comedy from rising writer-director EMMA PARKINSON, produced by industry stalwart LUCY BENSON-BROWN.

Damage Control was inspired by the false allure of social media breakup diaries. Wounded by a recent heartbreak, Emma caught herself doomscrolling TikTok through hundreds of similarly-scorned women sharing their healing journeys after being dumped by their loathsome ex-boyfriends: hyperaddictive 30-second narratives that cleanly divide human beings into victims and monsters.

She wrote Damage Control to challenge the myths that fuel our toxic hate-watch cycles.


The ask

We are assembling a tight circle of executive producers who will collectively invest no more than £30k.

We are excited to invite our EPs into the creative process, where they'll have visibility into script development, rehearsals and wider production design leading up to the shoot. During the shoot our EPs can come to set, the wrap party, and in the months after will observe the edit and receive an industry credit.

We anticipate the journey will culminate in private screenings, press coverage, premieres at international festivals and wider distribution - to which our EPs will of course be invited.

As with any investment, no outcome is guaranteed, but short films with an experienced production team attached do routinely pick up heat at festivals and receive distribution deals through, for example, streaming platforms. EPs will receive a defined revenue share in the short's success.

Given prior interest and strong project momentum, we anticipate a final decision on EP involvement by end of April 2026. For more information, reach out to Harry or book a meeting with Emma, Lucy and the team below:

→ book a meeting


Success for this short looks like:

From lowest to highest risk, the following outcomes are ambitious but feasible.

Given the team's prior work, it's not unfeasible to target:


Lookbook


Team

Emma Parkinson is an award-winning writer/director from Somerset with a won't-stop attitude and a glittering portfolio of painfully funny shorts exploring modern anxieties and relationship crises.

She has been relentless in pursuing her ambition, is well-known on the London short film scene and has been headhunted to assist elite directors such as Douglas Wilson (Paddington in Peru) and BAFTA-winning Simon Hynd. Emma now finds herself just a handful of projects away from creating the mainstream films and series of the next decade. A disciplined operator, she has been trusted with 7-figure budgets but has also been scrappy on tight financing plans.

She has assembled a crack team of cast and crew, including:

Jojo Macari (cast) - a rising star with acting roles in Sex Education (Netflix) & Masters of the Air (EP'd by Tom Hanks & Steven Spielberg). [wikipedia]

Priyanka Patel (cast) - known for her collaboration with Phillip Barantini, director of Adolescence. [imdb]

Lucy Benson-Brown (lead producer) - a seasoned filmmaker with experience delivering films on time & under budget. Lucy is also a sought-after commercials producer with campaigns for McDonalds, Adidas, FIFA & more. [portfolio]

Ashley Horne (executive producer) - a BAFTA-nominated shorts filmmaker known for his collaborations with E4, Lewis Capaldi and Ice Cube. Ash has a well-trained eye for the incoming cohort of top talent. [linkedin]

Harry Kingdon - a former startup founder with experience leading multimillion dollar projects at the intersection of art & technology. [linkedin]


Getting started in film?

In Hollywood, the Great British film community punches far above its weight and shorts are no exception.

Executive producing at short-form level allows time-pressed individuals to support emerging talent, gain behind-the-scenes access to the filmmaking process, and build meaningful creative relationships that can be lucrative in the long term.

Nowadays, the short film ecosystem is the de facto incubator where rising talents develop their voice, test the frontiers of cinema and are discovered by Hollywood studios, from Chloe Zhao's Daughters to Damien Chazelle's Whiplash to Wes Anderson's Bottle Rocket.


Financing

We've budgeted approximately £30k for Damage Control, across:

Emma is an unusually entrepreneurial filmmaker and has the opportunity to self-fund the project entirely through a combination of physical screenings, friends and family support, self funding and in-person speed dating events in London.

However, as expected for a project of this calibre, Damage Control has experienced meaningful interest from prospective investors. In light of that the team is throwing a wide net to assemble the best possible team, and are particularly keen to onboard those who may not have prior experience executive producing.

We expect to decide on the appropriate financier blend by end of April 2026.

The Damage Control team is experienced, with a deep love for cinema and heads tightly screwed on. To find out more, including the script, treatment and to meet Emma, Lucy and the team, please enquire below:

→ book a meeting


CONFIDENTIAL - MAXWELL MOTION PICTURES


Maxwell Motion Pictures Limited is a company registered in England & Wales under company number 17087156.

Maxwell is a member of the Producers' Alliance for Cinema & Television.