‘Share your menopause stories’: A Very Yorkshire Christmas producer invites women to take part in new film venture
A Yorkshire film producer is inviting women to share their experiences of menopause, with a chance of being featured in a new British comedy alongside The Syndicate and Emmerdale actor Gaynor Faye.
Filmed in Yorkshire and released in cinemas this October, Hot Flash also stars Amandaland’s Samuel Anderson.
It tells the story of Geri who, despite being fired from her job, fulfils her lifelong dream of becoming an entrepreneur - all while coping with brutal menopause symptoms, and imposter syndrome.
“As a celebration of midlife women and one of the first feature films to explore the menopause, Hot Flash is one of the most important projects I’ve ever worked on,” says writer and producer Jan Birley, who lives on the East Coast of Yorkshire and is CEO of BoxTree Media.
Jan exec-produced A Very Yorkshire Christmas, which was filmed in 2019 in Knaresborough. It features Rachel Shenton, who went on to star in All Creatures Great and Small as Helen Herriot. The film is much-loved and still shown on Channel 5 each year.
Jan has also produced two short films and written a number of award-winning scripts and novels.
Of Hot Flash, she says: “We want to see our amazing community of followers being represented on the big screen in all their glory, and we’re taking it literally.”
The production team is looking for videos from those experiencing menopause. These should be between 10 seconds and two minutes long and can be filmed on a phone in landscape or portrait format.
Jan says: “Just hold up your phone and film yourself talking about how the menopause is impacting you, or perhaps any coping strategies or advice.
“Send your video to the Hot Flash Instagram account @hotflash.film - it’s as simple as that and we’ll be in touch with everyone who contributes with next steps.”
The clips will be shared at the end of the film credits on cinema screens - and ultimately on streaming platforms - on its release in October. Some will also be shared on the film’s social media accounts.
The team behind Hot Flash points out that, despite the success of Sally Wainwright’s acclaimed TV series Riot Women, menopause storylines are still uncommon, especially on the big screen.
“Of the 225 films prominently featuring a 40-plus female character released between 2009 and 2024, only 14 mentioned menopause. And just three of these came out after 2016.
"This is according to US-funded research by the Geena Davis Foundation, one of the few organisations to research representation.”
Hot Flash also features the talents of music producer Eliot Kennedy, who recently turned his hand to writing music for theatre shows, film and TV, along with music for mental health therapy.
His first global songwriting success was The Spice Girls ‘Say You’ll Be There,’ followed by a string of major hits written and produced for the likes of Celine Dion, Bryan Adams, Boyzone, Blue, S Club 7, Five, Billie Piper and Atomic Kitten.
In 1997, he won an Ivor Novello for Boyzone’s ‘Picture Of You,’ and in 2006 his song ‘Never Gonna Break My Faith’ was awarded a Grammy award and performed by Aretha Franklin and Mary J Blige for multi-award winning feature film ‘Bobby’. The song has now been adopted by the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement.