The Story Lab, Hand Made Productions and P&G Team Up for Documentary Film 'The Tent Mender'

Hand Made Productions released this month a limited three-part series, The Tent Mender, a documentary film spotlighting people experiencing homelessness. Filmed entirely in the heart of Skid Row, it introduces raw, inspirational, and true stories. The series is now exclusively available to stream on IMDb TV, Amazon's free streaming service.   

Directed by filmmaker and founder of Hand Made Productions, Laura Hand, and voiced by Emmy-award-winning, acclaimed actor and humanitarian Peter Coyote. "The Tent Mender is a fictional character whose story of service to others helps him find redemption. Through his journey of self-discovery, we experience an intimate look that helps us see the humanity in all of us," said filmmaker Laura Hand. Ted, Jocelyn, Dusty, and others share their personal and candid testimony illustrating hardship but also hope. "One of the things that interested me about this project was the deeper meaning of The Tent Mender," said Peter. "The Tent Mender is a metaphor for mending life. And if he can do that, there's always some way we can be helpful." 

Supported in partnership with P&G and co-produced by Emmy-nominated studio The Story Lab, the effort was led by Kimberly Doebereiner, executive producer and head of P&G Studios, and Marc Pritchard, P&G chief brand officer. The Tent Mender is the latest in the growing list of thought-provoking storytelling from P&G – joining the Queen Collective Films, 8:46 Films, The Cost of Winning, CODED and many others. 

When P&G heard about the film, they saw an opportunity to help those in need, ultimately leading to creating the first permanent Tide Loads of Hope laundry room within the Midnight Mission. "Helping families in times of crisis has long been our core mission." said Amy Krehbiel, Tide brand vice president. The new laundry room was built in partnership with Gensler Architecture, Clark Construction, and Whirlpool brand, bringing together companies who took the initiative to act as a force for good.   

Another great part of this program is that viewers can take action and support the Midnight Mission. They will be able to either donate essential items from The Midnight Mission AmazonSmile Charity List, which Amazon delivers directly to the charity, or make a monetary donation to the Tide Loads of Hope Fund. Viewers can also set The Midnight Mission as their AmazonSmile charity, so when they shop at smile.amazon.com, the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate a portion of their eligible orders to the Midnight Mission. 

The series includes original songs by Domestic Human Rights Award winner Michael Franti. In addition to BAFTA Best Original Music at Award winners Lukas Nelson and MILCK. "One of the things that really gives me the most meaning is to be able to sit down one-on-one and share a song. And I feel really blessed and grateful that Ted has entrusted me with his story," said Michael.  

The project was spear-headed by Tom Sebastian, of the BroknWorks Collective, who brought together people with a shared vision. “The Tent Mender became the voice within us all, to be part of something larger than yourself,” commented Tom.   

Supported in partnership with P&G and co-produced by Emmy-nominated studio The Story Lab, the effort was led by Kimberly Doebereiner, executive producer and head of P&G Studios, and Marc Pritchard, P&G chief brand officer. The Tent Mender is the latest in the growing list of thought-provoking storytelling from P&G – joining the Queen Collective Films, 8:46 Films, The Cost of Winning, CODED and many others. 

"We believe in the power of stories to shine the light on important issues facing our communities and inspire acts of good where our brands can make a meaningful difference," Marc said. "When things become personal, empathy grows. The Tent Mender will touch hearts with a new and more intimate perspective on people facing homelessness," added Kimberly.  

Mike Ferry, EVP development, The Story Lab said: “Tent Mender is an innovative documentary told through powerful stories to raise awareness around one of the most critical social issues – homelessness. This collaboration with P&G Studios was a natural follow up to our Emmy nominated HBO series ‘The Cost of Winning’, and together with Hand Made Productions -- we wanted to bring these untold and overlooked stories to audiences and inspire real action.” 

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