Hand Made Productions Announces The Tent Mender, a Profoundly Moving Documentary Series on People Experiencing Homelessness, in Partnership with P&G

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Hand Made Productions, is proud to announce the release of 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 will be exclusively available to stream on August 6 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 Coyote. “The Tent Mender is a metaphor for mending life. And if he can do that, there’s always some way we can be helpful.”

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 Franti.

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 Sebastian.

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,” Pritchard 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 Doebereiner.

IMDb TV, Amazon’s free streaming service, is available as an app on Fire TV and a free Channel within the Prime Video and IMDb apps across hundreds of devices. IMDb TV is also available as an app on third-party devices, including Roku, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Sony Android TV devices, Chromecast with Google TV, LG Smart TVs, PlayStation 4 consoles, NVIDIA Shield, and TiVo Stream 4K.

Partners

About Hand Made Productions

‘Hand Made Productions is a production studio dedicated to illustrating stories of purpose. These stories are crafted to move hearts and open minds, inspiring and creating tangible good in the world’.

About P&G’s 2,021 Acts of Good in 2021

At P&G, supporting our communities, fostering equality and inclusion, and protecting the planet are embedded in how we do business. We believe we have a responsibility to make the world better — through the products we create and the positive impact our brands and company can have. Under our Lead with Love campaign, P&G and its brands like Tide and Dawn have committed to 2,021 acts of good this year. In the U.S., consumers can do even more through P&G Good Everyday, a new consumer rewards program that helps turn everyday actions into acts of good. Each activity on the website earns points that can be redeemed for rewards; as consumers report their own acts of good, P&G makes donations to causes consumers care about.

About Procter & Gamble

P&G serves consumers around the world with one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Always®, Ambi Pur®, Ariel®, Bounty®, Charmin®, Crest®, Dawn®, Downy®, Fairy®, Febreze®, Gain®, Gillette®, Head & Shoulders®, Lenor®, Olay®, Oral-B®, Pampers®, Pantene®, SK-II®, Tide®, Vicks®, and Whisper®. The P&G community includes operations in approximately 70 countries worldwide. Please visit https://www.pg.com for the latest news and information about P&G and its brands. For other P&G news, visit us at https://www.pg.com/news.

About Tide Loads of Hope

After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Tide Loads of Hope program was created to provide renewed hope and optimism through the basic comfort of clean clothing for families and responders in the aftermath of natural disasters. Tide Loads of Hope partners with Matthew: 25 Ministries, who shares a mission to restore a sense of normalcy to those most impacted by natural disasters. Since 2005, Tide Loads of Hope has donated nearly 350,000 units of detergent and benefitted more than 90,000 families across the U.S. and Canada. And this year, Tide committed to expanding its Tide Loads of Hope program tenfold by 2030, providing clean clothes to millions of people in times of need, with a focus on communities most impacted by climate change as natural disasters continue to worsen.

About IMDb TV

IMDb TV is a free streaming video service with thousands of premium movies and TV shows available anytime. Always entertaining. Always Free.

• Expansive Catalog: IMDb TV is a modern television network, offering viewers ambitious originals and an always updating library of broadly appealing hit movies and TV shows that customers would expect to see on a paid service. IMDb TV adds new titles to the service every month across a wide selection of genres including comedy, family, romance, thrillers, science fiction, documentaries, horror and more.
• Free: IMDb TV is free. No paid subscriptions necessary.
• Half the Ads: IMDb TV has half the ads of traditional linear TV.
• Instant Access: IMDb TV is available as an app on Fire TV and a free Channel within the Prime Video and IMDb apps across hundreds of devices. To use IMDb TV on Fire TV, customers can find the icon in the “Your Apps & Channels” row or using the Alexa Voice Remote, simply say “Alexa, go to IMDb TV.” IMDb TV is also available as an app on third-party devices including Roku, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Sony Android TV devices, Chromecast with Google TV, LG Smart TVs, PlayStation 4 consoles, NVIDIA Shield and TiVo Stream 4K.

About dentsu International

Part of dentsu, dentsu international is made up of six leadership brands – Carat, dentsu X, iProspect, Isobar, dentsumcgarrybowen, Merkle, and supported by its specialist brands. Dentsu International helps clients to win, keep and grow their best customers and achieve meaningful progress for their businesses. With best-in-class services and solutions in media, CXM and creative, dentsu international operates in over 145 markets worldwide with more than 45,000 dedicated specialists. www.dentsu.com

About The Midnight Mission: Founded in 1914, The Midnight Mission offers paths to self-sufficiency to men, women, and children who have lost direction. Our emergency services and 12-step recovery, family living, job training, education, and workforce development programs offer a compassionate bridge to achieve and maintain healthy, productive lives. We remove obstacles and provide the accountability and structure that people who are experiencing homelessness need to be productive in their communities. Our conviction and commitment to their success define us.

Contacts

Courtney Kaczak

[email protected]