A dedicated filmmaker from Bourne End is creating a video aimed at helping people with depression, after receiving inspiration from actor and comedian, the late Robin Williams.

When he was first diagnosed with depression, 27-year-old Johnny Neal – who runs Darkened Room Films - struggled with the lack of positive information and success stories available about the illness.

Following the recent increase of young suicides, the film producer said he decided to draw on his own experiences and write a film which brings depression in to the spotlight, which is aimed at men in particular.

Rope or (The Immutable Facts of Life and Death) will star Mr Neal himself and is based on a Robin Williams quote – “Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem” – who famously took his own life in 2014.

The teaser trailer for the short video was launched this month and the team hope to begin filming in September and enter it in to a number of film festivals in 2017.

Mr Neal said: “I have suffered from depression for many years and too many people lose their battle. I wanted to write something a bit different to what other people are doing and that gives people hope.

“I was struggling to find anything that puts a positive spin on the idea of depression. It is about people with mental health and how it affects people around them and how it can be beaten.

“There was not a lot of help for me and the NHS was not able to provide a lot of help for people with mental health issues.

“Men struggle to talk about their feelings because it may make them see less masculine, whereas women tend to be more open.

“Men try and bottle it up and don’t feel like they can talk about it and more men end up taking their own lives.”

The film follows a young man who plans on hanging himself in woodland, however his plans are interrupted by a young girl who gradually brings him out of his depressed state.

Mr Neal also hopes the film will create more ethnic diversity and support young actors after casting a South African mother and daughter, LA Rodgers and Kendra Mei Rodgers as the two leading females.

He continued: “There’s been a lot in the media, about diversity in the industry, particularly with the Oscars. The problem isn’t that only white people are being nominated it’s that there aren’t enough people of colour being cast."

The team are also crowdfunding for Rope. For more information about the film and to donate go to https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/rope-or-the-immutable-facts-of-life-and-death--3#/