Welcome to Flat-Broke Films
Independent Film Makers

“LOUISA”
Screenplay by William G Homewood. 
Research by David S Reynolds.

The 1969 novel “The Overland Launch” by C Walter Hodges (deceased), has sold in excess of 25 million copies around the World which confirms the tremendous interest in the heroic deeds of the 1899 lifeboat crew of “LOUISA” when it was transported some 13 miles overland in a bid to save the endangered Forrest Hall merchant sailing ship caught in a force 10 storm in the Bristol Channel.

Our “LOUISA” story conveys all the real events and people of that heroic period, but we have added many fictional characters and situations for the sake of fluent story-telling. We have used similar sounding names of the 1899 lifeboat crew and local people from the villages. This allows us to use the full liberty of the fictional technique especially in the use of conversations.

Through extensive research we have tried to capture the harsh reality of working on board the “LOUISA” lifeboat; the Forrest Hall ship, and of the hardworking fishermen and folk in the close-nit villages of Lynton and Lynmouth. Transport was difficult then when stagecoaches had to use muddy tracks making travelling very slow and dangerous between isolated Devon & Somerset villages. Morse code and the Telegram service were in their infancy which made communications very difficult especially in Exmoor.

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“Forrest Hall” The Sequel
We considered concluding the ”LOUISA” story with the demise of the Forrest Hall ship when in 1909 she ran onto a sandbank at Ninety Mile Beach off North Island, New Zealand. However it proved impossible, and so we are planning to produce a sequel about the Forrest Hall’s crew and the tribunal conducted against the ship’s Captain which took place in Auckland, New Zealand. We have already been approached by film production companies who are interested in reading our finished “LOUISA” screenplay, which is very encouraging.

To help Market these films we would like to see the lifeboat crew awarded posthumous GOLD MEDALS for their bravery as presented by the Royal National Lifeboat Society, whilst promoting the voluntary work of the RNLI.