Roz Laws looks at how a film, with actors and crew from Birmingham, hopes to made a difference in society.

It sounds like something from a nightmare. A man who seems to have it all – decent job, nice house, a family – wakes up one morning out on the street.

He has no idea how he’s become homeless and must work out what’s happened to him.

This is the starting point for the plot of a new film to be shot on location in Birmingham, but what is frightening is how close to reality this story really is.

Filming starts next month by 104 Films on NFA, which stands for No Fixed Abode.

It’s the feature film debut of writer and director Steve Rainbow, who has only made short films before but who knows about homelessness, having worked in hostels in Birmingham and London.

“The idea for NFA came from my own experiences with the homeless,” he explains. “One of the things I heard a lot from people is that they really couldn’t work out how they came to be in that situation. They’d say ‘I just woke up one morning and found myself homeless, I don’t know how it happened’.

“If events conspire against us, anyone can find themselves in that situation. We’re all just a couple of steps away from being out on the street.

“I’ve taken that idea and exaggerated it for NFA. It’s a thriller, about a regular guy, married with a kid and a job, who wakes up in a hostel for homeless people with no idea how he got there. It’s about his journey back to his family.

“We are in a desperate situation now, where Government cuts are threatening to make thousands more people homeless.”

NFA has a budget of £100,000 and will be shot in three weeks by 104 Films, named after the bus route from Sutton Coldfield to Birmingham city centre.

It’s a very Birmingham-centric production, made in partnership with the homeless charity St Basil’s and even down to the casting of the lead role.

That’s taken by Sutton Coldfield-born actor Patrick Baladi. The 39-year-old shot to fame as David Brent’s boss Neil in the hit sitcom The Office, as well as appearing in Bodies, Mistresses, Last Chance Harvey and Kidnap And Ransom.

Jo Enright, the Erdington-born comedian who’s starred in Lab Rats, Ideal and Phoenix Nights, will play the hostel manager.

But perhaps most interesting is the employment of 30 young homeless people in the film, 15 as crew members and 15 to have parts in front of the camera.