Chris is a teenage boy who runs away from his abusive foster house and ends up living on the streets. One day he finds a soup kitchen, and inside he befriends two other homeless people, Mike and Lewie. With nowhere else to turn, Chris stays with these quirky new friends, who invite him along to where they keep safe.
Codenamed CF-06, the Christmas Film 2006 project came together from various ideas: the film should be set, and released, around Christmas, to follow up 2005's enjoyable Hexed Christmas Special, and it should show the everyday lives of a small community of homeless people.
Homeless, as it was later called, was quite different from previous Beyond Studios projects in both structure and filming process. Scenes were outlined rather than scripted, meaning a lot of flexibility and improvisation on set. Each role came with its own unique challenges, whether standing in the rain for hours without shoes, crying on demand or sharing passionate kisses with other actors. The emergency services were even notified in advance about our use of a flaming bin.
Filming took place over a weekend in October, and passed in the usual blur of action and emotion that defines a film shoot, and then the editing process began, bringing with it yet another set of challenges. The decision was made to redub all the film's audio, and this meant getting all the actors back in to rerecord their lines, as well as recreating every sound effect individually. Finally, music and visual effects were added, completing the cold but defiantly cheerful atmosphere of Homeless.
The finished film consists more of a collage of different characters' stories than of one straightforward narrative, making it the most experimental major Beyond Studios project to date. It was premiered in December 2006, all profits going to the housing charity Shelter.