Legacies on film: StoryOak’s offering for prepaid funerals

The funeral industry has an inexhaustible supply of ways to keep the deceased’s memory alive – keepsakes in the form of personalised jewellery, memorial garden plaques, charitable donations in the deceased’s name, and even online memorials at the funeral service or wake, where friends and families share slideshows of photos and videos. 

While digitised memorials became a necessity at the height of the pandemic, they have still proven resilient within many communities. Even now, Crematoria are being opened with live streaming capabilities, screens and speakers, while other venues are making adjustments to offer this service. Westerleigh Group’s Great Glen Crematorium, for example, has installed live streaming equipment in its Pooja Hall after noticing a demand. 

As an offering, StoryOak is somewhat aligned with the rise in online memorials, but it’s less DIY and more akin to a professional biopic documentary. 

StoryOak was Krishnan Patel’s idea, as he shared his journey of the past five years, which were “centred around narratives”. From building schools in Uganda to helping the homeless off the streets and into employment, Patel’s path eventually led him back to Tom Daly, a videographer with a family history in video production.

Daly and Patel knew of each other before they ever began StoryOak seriously; they went to the same school, albeit years apart, and both of their brothers were friends. When Patel wanted to find a videographer for this idea, all he did was reach out. 

While Patel had always been fond of storytelling and cinematography, he shared that what led him to cook up StoryOak as a pre-planned funeral offering was the passing of his grandfather. The regret, he shared, fueled a desire to ensure that “others didn’t face the same missed opportunity”. 

During the pandemic in 2020, Patel and Daly recorded Patel’s grandmother’s story, turning it into a unique Christmas gift. Witnessing the profound impact, the duo recognised a gap in the market: the absence of a service capturing life stories on film.

Daly spoke of the process of creating a multi-episode series for each of the stories they capture on film. He says: “The journey begins with understanding the individual’s life stages through questionnaires. On the day of filming, a comfortable and conversational environment is created, resulting in two to three hour interviews. The collected footage, including memorabilia, is then expertly edited into a three to five episode series and delivered to families via a secure cloud platform.”

StoryOak primarily caters to the children or grandchildren of older individuals, typically aged 40 to 50. Patel and Daly’s clientele often purchase StoryOak as a gift for parents or grandparents, with filmed subjects ranging from 55 to 80-years-old. The service has resonated with those who feel a compelling need to share their unique life stories.

While the initial strategy involved personal connections, social media efforts and outreach to businesses within StoryOak’s target market, Patel also noted that the pandemic afforded them time to refine the brand. As a company, it is less than three-years-old and expanding it to funeral providers is the latest idea.

Daly shed light on StoryOak’s B2B funeral care offering, which both business partners designed with prepaid funeral plans in mind. This includes both a short snippet for the funeral service dn a full life story video for the family. Funeral homes that partner with StoryOak also get an annual membership, which subsidises the costs for their clients. 

Patel says: “The vision is a win-win scenario, providing funeral homes with a unique service while clients enjoy a discounted rate. Looking ahead, StoryOak aims to expand partnerships and continue offering a meaningful way to capture and share life stories.”

Manchester-based Arthur Kershaw Funeral Services was among the first independent funeral homes to partner with StoryOak. This led Michael Taylor, who has been the organ player at his local church since 1957, to take an interest in this service and film a short video for his funeral. 

“I’ve been playing the organ here since 1957 and I’m not about to stop now,” Taylor says in the video, “so I’m going to play at my own funeral.” He goes on to play the organ in some scenes, while in others he delivers a final message to the attendees at his own service. 

The co-founders of StoryOak are working towards expanding partnerships to turn their service into a mainstay of the funeral industry – “preserving legacies for generations to come”.