A Cleethorpes man who was left “overwhelmed” by the success of his educational short film on the dangers of knife crime will soon begin filming a second short film about County Lines.
Filmmaker Rich Tipple, 36, wrote, filmed and released the short film ‘Think Twice: Don’t Carry a Knife’ last year in a bid to highlight to young people the dangers of carrying a knife. It featured local actors and reached more than 45,000 households, was played in multiple schools in the area and used by Humberside Police.
The film’s success also resulted in Rich being praised by the ‘Don’t Stop Your Future’ charity – which aims to put a stop to knife crime – on behalf of actor Idris Elba, who is heavily involved with the organisation.
He was also invited to be a public speaker in schools, colleges and universities to talk about the dangers of carrying a knife and share an insight into his troubled childhood. He also helped to run a week-long event at Cleethorpes Academy to highlight knife crime and County Lines to pupils.
Rich, who set up Cleebridge Films in 2023, will soon begin filming a second short film, the prequel ‘Think Twice: Between the Lines’ to raise awareness of County Lines.
Filming Think Twice: Don’t Carry A Knife at Sidney Park in Cleethorpes
(Image: Rich Tipple)
Speaking to Grimsby Live, Rich said: “I was overwhelmed by the first film’s success, especially with the response from schools wanting to use it as an educational viewing. I really didn’t expect that reaction – I expected a couple of hundred views – but knowing that it’s spread and potentially helped to save lives, it makes me proud to be the reason for that.
“Due to its success, I decided to carry on with the Think Twice brand and wrote a second short film. It aims to raise awareness of County Lines and will show the grooming and exploitation that takes place with our young people to get them to work within these criminal gangs. Not only will it show the dangers of drugs and drug dealing, it will give parents the opportunity to ‘look out for the signs’.
“Are their children coming home with new clothes, new technology, money? Is there a change in their behaviour? Are they coming home with bruises? Are they disappearing for days? Are they using certain ‘slang’ words? Are they being secretive about where they’ve been? This short film will explain these slang words and what they mean.
Rich hopes to educate young people on County Lines following the success of his first film
(Image: Submitted)
“The first film saw an amazing local cast and crew from young actors to professional actors, student film crew and university Special Effects students, to give people the experience of working on a production set. But the next film will be bigger – I’ll be including professional actors and college students to teach them skills in professional filmmaking.
“I’ve put out all the stops for ‘Think Twice: Between The Lines’ and it will promise to deliver more action and intense scenes, one of which ends in an arrest by armed police, all while keeping to the educational theme.”
Filming will begin in the coming weeks with a release date estimated for June 2025 – and Rich has big plans.
“I aim to use the both short films as pilot episodes as a way of gaining funding so that I can eventually create a feature film for the Think Twice franchise which can be viewed on streaming platforms and film festivals,” he said.
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“My next steps are to run Filmmaking workshops around schools and young people’s centres teaching Filmmaking skills, scriptwriting skills and on screen interview techniques to young people so they can form their own production companies.
“Gaining these skills will give the young people a chance to create their own short films and produce weekly news broadcasts where they can showcase the positive news around the local area.”
You can watch Rich’s first film ‘Think Twice: Don’t Carry a Knife’ by clicking here.