Shane Meadows

Born in 1972 in Staffordshire, Shane Meadows is a self-taught film maker

Shane Meadows had plans to become a criminal mastermind after he dropped out of education after completing his O-Levels. After being taken to court for stealing a breast pump from Boots and being humiliated, he learnt that the criminal life he set out for wasn’t for him. Instead he decided to put his energy into filming. 

After gaining an interest in film, Shane Meadows worked at the Intermedia Film and Video Ltd in Nottingham where in return he was allowed to borrow filming and editing equipment for his work. It was then he began to get his family and friends involved with his filming projects. Shane made many short films which gradually began to impress his friends due to their uniqueness and quality. Then, he started to produce short films on a more regular basis.

Shane soon began to get frustrated with the fact there was nowhere to screen his and other short films. Shane and his friends decided to successfully set up their own film festival called ‘Six of the Best’ which was screened at their local cinema every couple of months. Six of the Best soon turned into ‘Flip Side’ which is an international video festival.

Shane Meadows first gained seriousrecognition in the film industry after making the short film ‘Where’smy money, Ronnie?’. This very short film led to him being given the oppertunityto film a Channel 4 documentary called ‘King of the Gypsies’.

Still working at Intermedia, Shane made another video called Smalltime which was later to be titled Left. This film won many European Film Festivals and led to him being able to make his first feature length film Twnetyfour seven.

 After Twentyfour seven he made the ever so popular This Is England which was a hit.

Although Shane makes feature length films, he still returns to short films and helping aspiring film makers break into the industry.