The metaphor for Mother’s commercial for Make My Money Matter is great but what’s even more striking is that you won’t see the “punchline’ coming. You’ll see two minutes of credit card payments triggering fires and you’ll wonder. The a-hah moment will stay in your mind.
The film, Beep, continues the work of Make My Money Matter, the campaign group founded by filmmaker and activist, Richard Curtis, to put pressure on UK high-street banks – Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC, Santander, and NatWest – to stop financing new fossil fuels. It follows on from previous films raising awareness of the links between the UK financial sector and the climate harm caused by the fossil fuel companies they finance – Oblivia Coalmine, starring Olivia Colman and The Hidden Relationship, starring on and off-screen couple, Kit Harington and Rose Leslie. Beep features Ambika Mod, star of One Day and This Is Going to Hurt.
The film, created by Mother and produced by Biscuit Filmworks, hopes the film aims to connect people’s banking choices with the climate crisis and provide consumers with greener options that don’t finance fossil fuels, such as Nationwide, fin-tech bank Starling and gold-standard Triodos Bank.
James Ross Edwards, creative director at Mother, stated, “We didn’t want to leave any room for uncertainty regarding the damage investments in the fossil fuel industry by UK high street banks is causing our planet. We really hope the film encourages people to reconsider who they’re banking with.”
This year began with the climate crisis dominating headlines, with wildfires causing destruction in the US State of California, the effects of which were worsened by climate change according to scientists.* 2024 was the hottest on record and the first with an average temperature exceeding 1.5C above the pre-industrial level – the threshold set by the 2016 Paris Agreement to significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change.
The UK Big Five high-street banks have financed fossil fuel companies with $556 billion since the Paris Agreement. None have ruled out financing oil and gas companies expanding their operations, a key step to urgently limiting global heating as the International Energy Agency outlined.
Izzy Howden, senior campaign manager, Make My Money Matter, commented, “For too long the big five UK high-street banks have actively financed the climate crisis because they rake in large profits while destroying the planet. As we see climate chaos in action – from California to Australia, from Brazil to Portugal – these banks shirk responsibility and greenwash their reputations while continuing to support fossil fuel companies. It’s time for this to change. People can send a message by ditching these fossil-fuel banks for good and switching to a greener alternative.”
Ben Strebel, director of Beep, added, “With everything that’s happening in the world at the moment, there’s little more important than facing up to the climate crisis. Our latest film for Make My Money Matter brings some much-needed urgency to the conversation around the funding of fossil fuel companies, and the way they are destroying our planet. As a dad, I think this message is really about protecting the world for the younger generations and striving to inspire significant action, NOW.”
Credits
Client: Make My Money Matter
Agency: Mother
Creative: Mother
Strategy: Mother
Director: Ben Strebel
Production Company: Biscuit Filmworks UK
Founding Partner: Shawn Lacy
Managing Director: Rupert Reynolds-Maclean
Executive Producer: Katie Keith
Head of Production Uk: Emily Atterton
Producer: Tom Ford
Production Manager: Tim Steele
Director’s Assistant: Ollie Watts
1st Assistant Director: Sean Cotter
Director of Photography: Ben Todd
Production Designer: Dan Taylor
SFX Company: Machine Shop
SFX Designer: Matt Rivens
Stylist: Emily Wilson
Hair And Makeup: Eve Coles
Casting Director: Claire Catterson
Editing Company: Trim Editing
Editor: James Forbes-Robertson
Post Production: Black Kite
Head of VFX & Project Supervisor: Adam Crocker
VFX Supervisor: Dan Sanders
Colourist: Tom Mangham
Senior Producer: Tamara Mennell
Audio Post Production: No. 8
Sound Designer: Sam Robson
Audio Executive Producer: Karen Noden
