Projects in genres: Sport and with status: Pre-production

Synopsis

George Best was one of the greatest footballers who ever lived. But he was so much more than that. Although the football pitch was his arena, Best was essentially a pop star - young, stylish, strikingly beautiful, possessed of a creative confidence that bordered on arrogance, and worshipped by young men and women alike. Like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. This film is simultaneously a celebration of a genius and an exploration of the demons that brought him down. We all know how these biopics traditionally work: in this case a talented but innocent young man from the backstreets of a divided but still pre-Troubles Belfast, becomes a star. But his time at the top is agonizingly short: a family history of alcoholism doesn’t help, in those pre-drug Sixties everyone wanted to buy him a drink, and before he was thirty, he was a washed up drunk. But we’re taking the Benjamin Button approach here. No-one wants to go out on a downer, with the end card telling us how many hundreds of thousands lined the streets of his home town to bid him farewell, along with the millions watching on live television.

Synopsis

You’re nearly 14, a massive Aston Villa fan and sharing a bedroom with your older Wolves supporting brother. Life in the Midlands in 1980 should be fun, but when all your hopes hang on a Saturday afternoon score line, there’s too much left to chance. For Jonathan Stadler, he’s trying to navigate his way safely through school and home life – and failing miserably. He can’t even love his football team in peace. Tuning in his lucky radio to hear if Villa can win or if he’s confined to misery for the rest of the weekend and then further torment on Monday at school. Jonathan leans heavily on his Grandad for comfort and support to help him through. At school, with his gang of local football team fans starting to become distracted by girls, Jonathan is trying hard to focus on what really matters – The Villa – but the world around him seems intent on interfering. ‘Just 14’ instantly transports us back to the time when happiness was dictated by simple league tables and who was Top of the Pops. Grange Hill was more like therapy than television, with Tucker, Benny, Alan and Tricia the on-screen version of Jonathan’s friends – Jonathan’s gang even had their own Tucker. For Jonathan, Gripper Stebson’s shoes were filled by bully Kenny Bellingham. While Bellingham worked hard to make life a living hell for Jonathan in school, his brother Mark was his rival at home. Filled with disdain for Jonathan’s love of Villa – and any notion that his lucky radio was indeed lucky – Wolves’ fan, Mark, fuelled the sibling rivalry that often bubbled over into family life. It wasn’t all bad, though. When you need an opponent for Subbuteo to add a frisson of excitement to a family holiday, Mark would do just fine. There was a bond between the two that was strengthened by their footballing rivalries. In ‘Just 14’, we meet Jonathan on the cusp of something else. Still trying to hang on to his childhood innocence for dear life but having to face up to the reality of how the world really works, join Jonathan as he discovers that change is coming. Jonathan exists in a world divided; people perching on the edge of their sofas to find out who shot JR while still coming to terms with the shooting of John Lennon. The early 80s were tough – Great Britain wasn’t, well, great. Unless you counted winning the Eurovision Song Contest as a major achievement (and we did). Margaret Thatcher ruled Britannia and, as in Jonathan’s life, change was on the way, but it was clear that things were going to get worse before they got better. ‘Just 14’ is exactly what the world has been waiting for. The indie film that sets the rollercoaster 80/81 Aston Villa season against a backdrop of chips in newspaper, Roy of the Rovers comic strips and a soundtrack of pop, punk and New Wave. With nothing to protect him from the cruel world around him but his best mates (and Grandad) – and they haven’t much of a clue what’s going on – share Jonathan’s journey as he trips from a football-fantastic Saturday to suffering love and loss. ‘Just 14’ takes us back in time to the days before digital and instant communications. A time when football results, romantic chats and bad news wasn’t just a click away. This coming-of-age film brings together the humour of ‘Fever Pitch’, the endless longing of ‘Gregory’s Girl’ and ‘Bend It Like Beckham’s football fanaticism to transport us back to a time when we could trust our friends, know our enemies and life was good – not ‘Walking on Sunshine’ good, but it sparkled with possibilities. Get to know Jonathan as he experiences the pull of first love challenging his true love for his Villa in the race for the title. He’s also learning how to get through the day without getting beaten up, while his innocence only serves to expose his still-soft underbelly. With the chirp of electronic games beginning to infiltrate everyday life, let’s go back to the 1980s and see how the world works when you’re ‘Just 14’.

Synopsis

Adaptation of Donald McRae nonfiction book 'A Man’s World: The Double Life Of Emile Griffith' Story of the life of Emile Griffith, the boxer who won world titles in two weight classes but is best remembered for beating to death Benny “The Kid” Paret in the ring during a live nationwide TV broadcast. The vicious incident occurred after Paret grabbed the buttock of his opponent and called him a homosexual at the weigh-in. In reality Griffith led a secret life as a bisexual man, but in 1962, such a thing was taboo and most especially in the macho culture of boxing.

Synopsis

The rise and fall of the Von Erich family, a dynasty of wrestlers who made a huge impact on the sport from the 1960s to the present day. The Von Erichs (real name Adkisson) began their wrestling dynasty when Fritz Von Erich (born Jack Barton Adkisson) became a star in the National Wrestling Alliance, holding multiple belts in the 1960s before becoming president of the organisation. He died in 1997. He and his wife Doris had six sons, five of whom died before their father, which led to talk of a curse, colloquially dubbed the ‘Von Erich curse’. Today, two sons of Kevin Von Erich, the last surviving brother, are both pro wrestlers with Major League Wrestling. In 2009, the Von Erich family were inducted by Michael “P.S.” Hayes into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Synopsis

When the wife of Arsenal striker Brian Johnson died in childbirth, Johnson was at the top of his game with the world at his feet. Now, 30 years on, penniless, jobless and living on benefits, he manages the worst Sunday football team ever – the hapless Deportivo Wanka Football Club. And with a new record five-year losing streak, and no sign of a goal in the last 43 matches, they occupy the unenviable position at the bottom of all of Hackney’s ten leagues and if they end up last again, they’ll be removed from the league forever. It doesn’t help that the line-up of players include; his estranged son David who had trials with Arsenal but never showed up; Deano the goal keeper with a prosthetic hand and a fear of diving; Pingu, a brilliant but narcoleptic dwarf midfielder and a further assortment of violent, stupid and overweight underachievers more interested in the half-time burger van than scoring a goal. So when Brian’s life catches up with him in the form of a pitch-side heart attack, he’s brought before a football mad Almighty super-keen on meeting every passing ex-pro and coaching a football team to victory for one game (preferably Manchester United). Realising that he must do something to right his wrongs, Brian exploits God’s obsession with the beautiful game and makes a deal; he’ll put his soul on the line if God will accompany him back to earth and help coach the team to safety and give Brian one last chance to be a proper Dad to David. God agrees but there is one immutable rule; If Brian succeeds, he’ll pick up where he left off, but if he fails, his soul goes straight to Lucifer and damnation, the universal law and the price of a second chance. So Brian and God return to Earth and secure the victory extending Brian's life, but on the cusp of returning to Heaven, God learns that Lucifer has not only taken the vacant managerial position of Deportivos bitterest rivals, Salem FC but also talked Brian into signing over his soul. God, now feeling guilty for having served up Brian on a plate to the Devil, returns to Earth in recompense to help Brian undo his pact with Lucifer. However Lucifer double crosses the Lord into raising the stakes – and God ends up gambling on not just saving Brian’s soul but the souls of the entire world all on the outcome of one football match. Now all that stands between Brian and redemption is the Devil. And all that stands between the Devil and seven billion souls is God and the hapless footballing skills of one Deportivo Wanka FC. The final battle between darkness and light has just been dropped at the feet of a Sunday football team. God help us.

Synopsis

A female bare-knuckle boxer story

Synopsis

Borneo, the world’s oldest rainforest, a culture near extinction. All destroyed by a sporting event viewed by billions. Three brothers from the forest, a film crew and their activist friends become undercover investigators, following the stolen wood to its final stop: Tokyo’s new Olympic Stadium. TOUCH WOOD plays out in the build-up to the approaching Olympic spectacle, the camera following a group of friends across oceans, through a spectrum of cultures, to reveal an honest tale of a peoples’ attempt to understand the forces behind the destruction of their home. This journey, however, is not without dangers. Spying on illegal companies has obvious risks but the alienating world they discover on the way has more sinister perils. In this character-driven documentary, the brothers are a symbol of the exploited. The Tokyo Olympics in contrast typifies the insatiable consumer society validating this type of profiteering. Whilst highlighting these clear injustices, TOUCH WOOD provides a window into how indigenous peoples view the world that is driving so much change within their own communities. In doing so, exploring the costs of humanity’s addiction to progress and the effect it is having on the globe’s most vulnerable peoples and the ecosystems they inhabit.

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Biopic feature biopic about the rivalry between celebrated UK boxers Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank, charting the former world champion fighters' journeys and maverick personalities and the intense rivalry that culminated in two highly anticipated fights in the early 1990s.

Synopsis

Set against the backdrop of a giant hurricane that flattened Galveston, Texas in 1900. Local black champion Little Arthur must go head-to-head not only against prejudiced social and relational divides, but with a ringer from Chicago – Jim McBride – a dirty-fighting racist hired by the local Sporting Club to do one thing: Kill Little Arthur and restore the championship to a white fighter. As with the real Jack Johnson, Little Arthur further defies social constructs by being in a forbidden relationship with a white woman. Based on a Joe Landsdale novella that is inspired by the real life story of Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight boxing champion. Johnson was recently granted a posthumous pardon by President Donald Trump from his conviction for violating the Mann Act in 1910 at the height of the Jim Crow era in the USA.

Synopsis

Three generations of men in an Irish community: A father, Eamon, haunted by his childhood decision not to pursue trials with Liverpool Football Club; his talented teenage son, who he pressures into taking a similar opportunity; and Eamon's estranged father, whose timely return to the fold sparks a plan.

Synopsis

Action/ biopic of the Bentley Boys - a group of wealthy British motorists who raced Bentley sports cars to fame and victory in the 1920s, and helped keep the brand's reputation for high performance alive.

Synopsis

Documentary about revered UK footballer Steven Gerrard.