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Shane Meadows - A Biography.

Shane Meadows was born on 26th December 1972 in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, England. Shane's break into the world of Cinema was when he persuaded a local video production company to allow him to borrow their equipment to make short films, whilst in return he would work for them free of charge. Armed with video equipment, he and his friends and family were soon co-opted into his short films that would be shown at open nights in a small local cinema. It is one of the shorts, called "Where's The Money, Ronnie?" that brought him to the attention of Channel 4 TV, who commissioned Shane to make a documentary. The project called "The King of The Gypsies" a short documentary about a bare knuckle boxer who, like Shane, was also born in Uttoxeter and who Shane had known for many years.

This commission in turn led to Shane's first step onto the "commercial" rung of the film ladder when he was given £5,000 by The BFI (British Film Institute) to help him complete an extended short movie, that he had been making with his friends who had appeared in his previous shorts. This hour long film turned out to be "Small Time". Small Time together with the completed short of "Where's the Money, Ronnie?" was shown at various film festivals and it garnered much interest from the industry, so much so that Shane was able to finance his first proper feature film.

In 1997 with £1.5 million secured from the BBC for "Twenty Four Seven", he made a film about Alan, a man trying to help local youths from a rough estate to find some purpose and direction in their lives by starting up a boxing club. The man Shane persuaded to play Alan was Bob Hoskins. With a great performance from Hoskins, an excellent script and a refreshing approach to film making, this black and white film meant the film garnered much critical and popular praise alike and went on to win many awards and nominations.

In 1999 Shane Meadows started work on his next feature "A Room For Romeo Brass". The film was loosely based on his childhood friendship with the film's co-writer Paul Fraser. Whilst it again managed to gain some favourable reviews it did not manage to maintain the critical interest that had been afforded the previous film (despite the film introducing the world to the talents of debutant Paddy Considine).

In 2002 Shane's next film marked a considerable departure from his previous body of work with "Once Upon a Time In The Midlands" - a spaghetti western transplanted into the heart of a council estate in the Midlands. With a considerably increased budget, Shane chose to cast some big names to lead his movie including Robert Carlyle, Ricky Tomlinson, Kathy Burke, and Rhys Ifans. Despite the film's accessibility, the move into the "big league" was not entirely satisfactory and was considered a backward step in some circles.

In 2004 Shane Meadows began to rise again with the critically acclaimed "Dead Man's Shoes". The film was made on a shoestring budget (reputedly £750,000) that allowed him to retain complete control of the movie he wanted to make, and from the time of first discussing making a movie to the completion of filming was only a matter of three months (a truly remarkable feat). "Dead Man's Shoes" received much critical and popular praise, and gained a much wider audience than any of his previous films.

Shane Meadows latest film is entitled "This Is England". A loosely auto biographical story set in 1983 surrounding an isolated young boy growing up in post Falklands conflict England, that falls under the influence of a gang of skinheads. This film looks certain to be Shane Meadows biggest success so far, as it was extremely well received in international film festivals at the end of 2006, and its UK release in early May 2007 has seen receipts exceed those received for all of his other films put together.

Most of Shane Meadows films have a consistent quality to them. He has remained loyal to this area of the Midlands and indeed his films have all thus far been set in the Midlands. His "schooling" in making lots of short films (which he continues to do) has stood him in good stead in terms of both unobtrusive camera work and his ability to obtain superb performances from both experienced actors and new comers alike. Indeed his approach to casting seems similar in approach to that of Ken Loach, in that "local" talent is preferred in order to preserve authenticity. Whilst his parochial settings may at times hinder the ability of his films to translate to a mass worldwide audience (America) his films particularly Dead Man's Shoes continue to shine like a beacon for the ethics of quality over style, and story over budget. He also shows particular mastery in his choice and use of music in his films, indeed the soundtracks of his films are absolutely superb.

Of the new wave of British Directors Shane Meadows has had maybe the hardest journey to bring his work to the screen, but his work is ultimately the most rewarding of any of his peers, and with his recent offerings, "Dead Man's Shoes" and "This Is England", his films are finally beginning to receive the mass exposure that they deserve.

He is undoubtedly the most gifted British director of his generation, and he is fast joining the likes of Ken Loach and Mike Leigh for the integrity and mastery in bringing his stories to the big screen.

Sept 2007. Shane Meadows has now been honoured with a UK box set release of his films. Entitled This Is Shane Meadows the set includes the films TwentyFourSeven, A Room For Romeo Brass, Dead Man's Shoes and the critically lauded This Is England. Its lack of exclusive extras content means this is a release aimed at new fans of Shane Meadows rather than those who already have all of his films on DVD. Also released on 3rd September is This Is England which is released as a two disc edition with tons of fantastic extras. Both of these are available to by from our very own Shane Meadows UK Store or Shane Meadows USA Store in association with Amazon.com.

April 2008 - Shane Meadows official site has been updated with details of his forthcoming projects - both of which started life intending to be shorts. The first is Somers Town written by Shane's long term writing partner Paul Fraser. The story revolves around a young Polish boy (Marek) who comes over to London with his father to live and work in Somers Town. Marek meets a young lad who has run away from a Sheffield care home and an unlikely friendship begins, as as they both fall in love with a French girl who works in the local cafe. The film has been shot in the UK plus Paris and Warsaw.The cast will include Thomas Turgoose, Kate Dickie, Andrew Shim and Perry Benson. The film has already been accepted into the prestigious Berlin FIlm Festival. The 70 minute film looks set to be broadcast on TV sometime before the summer (video recorders at the ready then). Check Shane Meadows Official site for more info.

Also announced is 'Le Donk' starring Paddy Considine. The story centers around Le Donk a builder, rock drummer and roadie played by Paddy Considine, and who roadies for The Arctic Monkeys. The feature length film looks set to be released on DVD this year. A 'Le Donk' teaser trailer for has been posted up on Youtube. (Think the personal story behind the scenes at Spinal Tap but wi' more mushy peas).

The long awaited project 'King Of The Gypsies' looks like its finally going ahead. In interviews the wonderful Mr Meadows has often talked about his dreams of making this project a reality, but to do the story justice he required substantial finance for the story. This story is about the life of bare-knuckle boxing champion Bartley Gorman (who will be played by Paddy Considine). This again started off as a 10 minute documentary in 1995. Shane's official site has the original 10 minute King Of The Gypsies documentary posted on it.