From the award-winning filmmakers of The Shamrock Spitfire

RAGS

The true story of a stray dog whose bond with one man in war would carry him far beyond it.

A feature film written and directed by Ian and Dominic Higgins

Watch the Proof of Concept Explore the Film

The film

Some soldiers carried rifles.
One carried hope.

During the First World War, animals served beside men as messengers, companions and lifelines. Their loyalty was unquestioned. Their sacrifice was rarely recorded.

RAGS tells the true story of a homeless terrier who found a soldier on the streets of Paris, followed him into battle and became one of the most beloved mascots of the United States First Division.

But this is more than the story of what Rags did during the war. It is the story of what he carried home.

A mud-covered stray terrier looking out from the darkness

Proof of concept

See the world of RAGS

The proof of concept establishes the intended scale, emotional register and visual language of the feature — from the mud and terror of the Western Front to the intimate human story that continues after the guns fall silent.

Concept footage, visual development and proposed cinematic approach. Final casting, production design and visual effects remain subject to financing and principal production.

The story

A story of loyalty.
A legacy of love.

Paris, 1918. American signalman James “Jimmy” Donovan rescues a filthy stray terrier from an overturned rubbish bin. He names him Rags and smuggles him back to the United States First Division.

What begins as an impulsive act becomes an extraordinary partnership. Rags learns to carry messages, detect incoming artillery and cross ground no soldier can survive. To the exhausted men around him, he becomes mascot, messenger and fellow soldier.

During the Meuse-Argonne offensive, Donovan and Rags are both gravely wounded. Rags survives. Donovan returns home, but the war has already claimed him.

Taken in by the Hardenbergh family, Rags finds shelter but continues to wait for the man he followed through France. Their eldest daughter, Helen, initially sees only a damaged stray. In time, she recognises something deeper: Rags carries the same invisible war as her father — and the same loyalty that once kept men alive.

Across the years that follow, Helen becomes his protector, his advocate and finally the person who loves him enough to let him stop waiting.

Read the expanded story

From the streets of Montmartre to the Western Front, Rags becomes part of a company of ordinary men enduring extraordinary circumstances. He warns them of shellfire, carries messages through bombardment and brings moments of humour and humanity into a world designed to destroy both.

After Donovan’s death, Rags is adopted by Major Raymond Hardenbergh and his family. Helen Hardenbergh initially resents the unruly terrier and everything his presence reveals about her father’s war. Gradually, she comes to understand that Rags is not misbehaving — he is surviving.

When institutions judge him as an unregistered mongrel rather than a decorated veteran, Helen fights to have his service recognised. At Fort Jay, Rags is reunited with Sergeant George Hickman, one of the few surviving men who understands everything the dog remembers.

The stray nobody wanted lives out his life as a soldier, a family member and a legend.

Rags looking up at a saluting soldier beside a hospital ship
Rags comforting the wounded Donovan
Rags sitting alone at the edge of Lake Michigan

The people who shape his story

A cast bound by memory

Rags changes every life he enters. The film’s emotional journey is carried by the soldier who names him, the young woman who learns to understand him and the veterans who know what he survived.

Portrait of Rags

Rags

A Paris stray who becomes messenger, mascot and survivor — and never stops looking for the man who gave him a name.

Portrait of Jimmy Donovan

Jimmy Donovan

A guarded Signal Corps veteran who gives Rags purpose and discovers a bond he cannot command or explain.

Portrait of Helen Hardenbergh

Helen Hardenbergh

Initially resistant to the damaged stray, Helen becomes his fiercest protector — and the heart of his life after war.

Portrait of George Hickman

George Hickman

Battle-hardened, dryly loyal and one of the few men who understands what Rags remembers.

Portrait of Major Raymond Hardenbergh

Major Hardenbergh

A decorated officer and wounded father carrying the silence of the war into his own home.

Portrait of Slattery

Slattery

Irish warmth, quick humour and soldierly grit — the company’s spark in its darkest hours.

Portrait of Spiel Liebermann

Spiel Liebermann

A sharp-tongued realist whose sarcasm conceals a fierce loyalty to Rags and the men around him.

Through Rags’ eyes

Dog Vision

At decisive moments, the film leaves the human viewpoint and enters Rags’ sensory world.

Colour narrows toward blue, grey and muted gold. Movement becomes more important than detail. Sound stretches, fractures and disappears. Light, vibration and instinct guide him through a battlefield he cannot understand but has learned to survive.

Dog Vision is not a visual gimmick. It allows the audience to experience war without strategy, nationality or explanation.

Only danger. Scent. Sound. Memory. And the need to find Donovan.

Early visual-development test. Final Dog Vision sequences will combine cinematography, sound design, practical plates and selective visual effects.

Human vision
Canine vision

Dogs primarily distinguish blue and yellow wavelengths, with reduced red-green discrimination.

Close portrait of Rags
Rags comforting Jimmy Donovan on the battlefield

Bringing Rags to life

A real dog at the heart of the film

Rags will be portrayed principally by a real, professionally trained dog.

The role has been conceived around the physical presence, instinct and unpredictability that only a living animal can bring to the screen. Rags will not be a fully digital character, and his performance will never depend upon exaggerated human behaviour.

Pets on Set is attached to the production, bringing professional animal training and on-set experience into the project from the earliest stages of preparation. Casting, training and the dog’s relationship with the principal performers will begin well before photography.

Real trained animal performance Early bonding and rehearsal Trained doubles where appropriate Selective puppetry and visual effects
The audience should always believe in Rags as a living, breathing animal — because, at the centre of the performance, he will be.
Meet Pets on Set

No shot is more important than the animal performing it.

The hybrid production model

A £1 million film designed to carry the scale of a much larger production

RAGS has been designed from the outset around a hybrid production pipeline combining traditional live-action filmmaking with selective digital expansion and AI-assisted visual production.

Actors, the animal performance, principal locations, costumes, props and the emotional centre of every scene will be photographed practically. That foundation will then be extended through environment work, crowd multiplication, aircraft, battlefield scale, hazardous animal moments and carefully controlled visual effects.

01

Practical where it matters

Human performance, the dog, physical texture and immediate surroundings remain tangible and photographed in camera.

02

Expanded where scale demands it

Battlefields, armies, aircraft and distant action can extend far beyond the physical footprint of the shoot.

03

Controlled by the filmmakers

Editorial, visual development and selected effects stay integrated with the directors, protecting tone and reducing costly handovers.

The pipeline in practice

Developed and refined on Nagasaki

The new edition of Nagasaki provided a practical proving ground for this workflow. The original actors and performances remained at the heart of the film while restored imagery, expanded environments, visual effects, a new edit and a new score brought the production closer to its original ambition.

For RAGS, that experience becomes part of the production design from the beginning rather than being applied retrospectively — allowing the team to plan every practical plate, extension and effect around the finished film.

The emotional authenticity of traditional filmmaking. The screen value of a substantially larger production.

Explore Nagasaki Watch BTS on YouTube

Audience & positioning

Familiar emotion. A distinctive cinematic experience.

RAGS combines the scale of a First World War drama with the emotional accessibility of a mature, multigenerational family film.

✦

A true story

Documented history with immediate emotional weight.

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A canine hero

A visual central character able to cross language and culture.

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Epic scale

The First World War seen through a fresh and intimate viewpoint.

♥

Emotional depth

War, trauma, family, remembrance and the power of loyalty.

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Dog Vision

A distinctive sensory language that belongs only to this film.

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Long-tail appeal

Broadcast, streaming, home entertainment, education and community screenings.

Rags walking through a hospital ward of smiling wounded soldiers
Warmth and multigenerational appeal
Rags resting between two soldiers
Comradeship and character
Helen kneeling beside Rags at the New York waterfront
A story that lives beyond the war
War Horse — prestige wartime emotion Hachi — enduring canine devotion 1917 — immersive battlefield tension

Production approach

Cinematic scale through disciplined filmmaking

RAGS is designed from the outset as a £1 million independent feature, with production choices built around what the audience will actually see and feel on screen.

Practical foundations

Actors, trained dogs, physical locations, period costume, props, mud, weather and controlled battlefield elements.

Selective digital extension

Environment extensions, crowd multiplication, aircraft, distant action, hazardous animal moments and Dog Vision.

Designed battlefield coverage

A limited number of major environments redressed, re-lit and photographed from multiple directions.

Animal-led scheduling

Short controlled working windows, doubles, early rehearsal, second unit and handler-led decision-making.

Soldiers advancing across a devastated battlefield Donovan repairing a broken communication wire beside Rags Donovan fitting a protective mask to Rags

Animal welfare

The welfare of the animal comes before the shot.

No animal will be required to experience genuine fear, distress, explosive effects, violent impacts or unsafe terrain for the sake of a performance.

  • Qualified trainers and handlers from pre-production onward
  • More than one trained dog where appropriate
  • Restricted working periods and rehearsed cues
  • Animal-free plates, doubles, puppetry and visual effects
  • Handler authority to stop or alter any setup

The investment opportunity

Seeking a lead investment partner

A disciplined finance proposition for a cinematic period feature with a clear route from greenlight to delivery.

Total budget£1,000,000

Full production through final delivery.

Private equity soughtUp to £700k

Single lead partner, consortium or aligned co-producer.

Anticipated UK incentivec. £300k*

Independent Film Tax Credit, subject to qualification.

Delivery timeline12–15 months

From finance close to completed delivery.

*Illustrative planning assumption only. The current Independent Film Tax Credit offers a 53% credit on qualifying expenditure, subject to the scheme criteria, the lower of UK core expenditure or 80% of total core expenditure, BFI certification, production accounting and tax treatment. Final finance structure to be confirmed by specialist advisers.

Working budget breakdown
Production areaAllocation
Above the line — writers, directors, producers and principal cast£130,000
Crew and production staff£155,000
Supporting cast and background artists£55,000
Locations, sets and art department£115,000
Costume, props, vehicles and armoury£70,000
Camera, lighting, grip and data£60,000
Animal unit, trainers and welfare£60,000
Practical effects, action and safety£30,000
Transport, accommodation and catering£55,000
Post-production, score, sound, grade, VFX and deliverables£185,000
Insurance, legal, accounting and production office£35,000
Festival, publicity and sales materials£15,000
Contingency£35,000
Total£1,000,000
What the finance delivers
  • Principal photography, professional cast and crew
  • Period locations, art direction, costume and hero props
  • Trained animal performers and welfare supervision
  • Practical battlefield effects and controlled action
  • Editing, original score, sound, grade and visual effects
  • Dog Vision sequences and full technical delivery
  • Legal, insurance, production accounting and initial sales materials

Major theatrical or platform-specific advertising expenditure would be arranged separately with the eventual distributor or releasing partner.

Production timeline

From greenlight to delivery

The film is expected to reach completed delivery approximately 12–15 months after finance closes.

  1. 01

    Finance close & legal preparation

    8–12 weeks

    Production company structure, investment agreements, accounting, insurance planning and tax-credit preparation.

  2. 02

    Final pre-production

    12 weeks

    Casting, locations, animal training, rehearsals, design, costume, scheduling and technical tests.

  3. 03

    Principal photography

    6 weeks

    Approximately 30 shooting days, including controlled animal, battlefield and second-unit coverage.

  4. 04

    Post-production

    24 weeks

    Edit, sound, original score, ADR, Dog Vision, visual effects, grade and test screenings.

  5. 05

    Delivery & launch preparation

    6–8 weeks

    Masters, QC, legal delivery, sales materials, festival submissions and market preparation.

Route to market

Prestige positioning. Practical revenue windows.

RAGS will be prepared for a flexible international release strategy rather than depending on a single buyer or platform.

Launch

Selected festivals, industry markets, premiere events, military and remembrance screenings, and canine-community partnerships.

Sales & licensing

International sales, territorial distribution, UK broadcast, streaming-platform licensing and transactional VOD.

Long-tail exploitation

Home entertainment, educational licensing, non-theatrical screenings, historical institutions and values-led audience partnerships.

Not a single-window gamble — a durable true story built for repeated discovery across territories, formats and generations.

Execution confidence

A proven independent filmmaking team

Pixel Revolution Productions specialises in true stories, historical drama and emotionally driven cinema made with ambition, discipline and creative control.

Writers / Directors

Ian & Dominic Higgins

Award-winning British filmmakers and co-founders of Pixel Revolution Productions. Their previous work includes The 13th Day, All That Remains, 7 Days: The Story of Blind Dave Heeley, Of Wolves and Men and The Shamrock Spitfire.

Producer

Nigel Martin Davey

An actor, filmmaker and producer with long experience across independent film, television and stage, and a trusted collaborator across several Pixel Revolution true-story dramas.

Producer

John A. Dawson

A businessman, entrepreneur and producer bringing commercial discipline, marketing insight and strategic support to the film’s financing and long-term exploitation.

Previous feature

The Shamrock Spitfire

The team’s most recent feature secured international distribution, UK television exposure on Sky Cinema and extensive festival recognition — demonstrating the ability to deliver ambitious period storytelling on controlled independent budgets.

A film worth bringing home.

RAGS is a true story of courage, sacrifice and the loyalty that survives long after war has ended.

We are seeking the partner who will help us bring Rags home.

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Full screenplay, line budget, finance plan, schedule, investment memorandum and supporting production materials are available to qualified parties under NDA.