Fast Girls

1. FAST GIRLS

2. PRE-PRODUCTION
• The original inspiration for “Fast Girls” came from producer
Damian Jones. He was always influenced by athletics and was
fascinated by the idea of these dedicated talents training to get
into the public spotlight throughout competitions and
games. Jones suggested the idea to Noel Clarke and they
developed his idea with co-writer Jay Basu. “The basic focus
of the story is a British female sprint relay team who take
home a gold medal against all odds and the journey explores
their individual and collective differences”-Jones.
• As for the casting of Fast Girls it was difficult to find people
who didn't just have to act, but they had to train at the same
time and maintain their fitness levels throughout filming, they
had to convince the audience that they were really athletes
and not actors pretending to be athletes. British female
Olympians Jeanette Kwakye and Shani Anderson, who
were introduced to the 'Fast Girls' team to coach the Fast Girls
and they are both proud that a film is finally being made about
their field.

3. PRODUCTION
• For Fast Girls there were three production companies that helped produce the film. All of the companies
were not well known however they did all specify in British films. The three companies were Aegis Film
Fund, Ealing Metro International and DJ films. BFI also helped with the presentation of the film as well as
Studio Canal. These two companies are well known for helping small independent films start off, just like
Fast Girls. BFI have helped produce just over 500 films and have produced just over 200 films. In addition
to this, Studio Canal been a production, distribution and miscellaneous company for over 200 different
films.
• Aegis Film Fund had previously produced other British films such as Chalet Girl, The Horrid Henry
Movie, St Trinians 2 and The Kings Speech. Aegis Film Fund seem to be the most successful out of the
three compared to other producer, as all of these companies are only small, but are helping film makers
too distribute their films by helping them financially as well as with their marketing, distribution and
production.
• DJ Films was founded y Damien Jones and he personally helped to produce other films such as
Thunderpants, Kidulthood and Millions. However, DJ Films as company have produced minimal films
such as Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, The Iron Lady and StaightHeads.
• Ealing Metro International specialize in prestige films for sophisticated audiences and they also
represent broad commercial thrillers and art-house films as well as their theatrical documentaries.

4. DISTRIBUTION
• Fast Girls’ distribution company was Studio Canal, however abroad there was different
companies. For example Germany: Capelight Pictures, Netherlands: Film1 and Portugal: Zon
Audiovisuais. Studio Canal is is a French film production and distribution company that
owns the third-largest film library in the world.
• The film was launched at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2011, as well as this the
cast also promoted the film at the 2012 Cannes film festival to secure an international
distributor for the movie.
• Premiere of the film took place in Leicester Square weeks before the 2012 summer
Olympics, which was the year they took place in London. The red carpet had track marks to
symbolise an athletics track; significant within the film. It was on general release in the UK
on June 15th 2012. With it being released before the olympics, people were in the spirit of
sports in the UK therefore a wider range of people were enthusiastic about watching the
film.

5. The official trailer was released April 4th 2012, 2
months ahead of the release.
Official Film Poster
Marketing the film around the
build up to the Olympics inspire
those to chase their dreams and
people are already in the spirit
of Olympics, therefore there is
more influence around the film
popularity.

6. FILM MAKERS
Regan Hall- Director
• Regan Hall graduated from film school in New Zealand and started his career as an editor in
Wellington, home to Peter Jackson’s Weta Workshop. He moved to the UK in 2000 and soon after,
started his own production company, Progression Media, producing and directing films for the
advertising, fashion and music industries. Hall made his drama debut with the emotive and
short film 3 Hours, an Iraqi war drama, showing the human side of war. The award-winning film
shot in Jordan, in Arabic with and Iraqi cast and drew major industry support from the team behind
the Academy Award-winning The Hurt Locker.
Damian Jones- Producer
• Damian Jones' was successful with his most recently released international feature film, the
Award-winning The Iron Lady, for which Meryl Streep received the Oscar, the BAFTA and the Golden
Globe for Best Actress.Other major feature film credits as producer include Mat Whitecross's
acclaimed biopic of Ian Dury, Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll. Other film credits include Straightheads,
Thunderpants, Very Annie Mary, Some Voices, Dancing at the Blue Iguana, A Texas Funeral and
• Paul Brett and Graeme Law- Executive Producer
• Roy Williams- Writer
• Joy Basu- Co-Writer

7. FIGURES, RATINGS AND REVIEWS
• Production Budget: £50,000
• Box Office-
Foreign- $527,714
United Kingdom- $1,207,241
• BBFC CERTIFICATE- 12A
• GENRE- Sport/Drama
• 89 Minutes running time
RATINGS
IMDb: 6.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 82%
The Guardian: 3/5
The Guardian associated Fast Girls with Bend it like Beckham due to its sport
inspiration through the power of females. They also said: ’ This British film has
energy and fun, and feels like the great niece of Chariots of Fire’.
The Telegraph- ’There are some neat moments on the way to the finish line in Regan
Hall's debut feature Fast Girls.’ 3/5. Don’t pack away that bunting just yet: this streetwise
British drama, designed to capitalize on the mounting zeal for all things Olympian, might
have you prematurely cheering on Team GB.- This was posted on the 14th June 2012,
therefore giving the public their opinion of the Olympic inspired film. This helped to
promote the film to those who weren’t frequent fans of the cinema, simply looking
forward to the games in summer 2012.

8. CAST
• Lenora Crichlow- Shania Andrews
• Phil Danis- Brian
• Tiana Benjamin- Tara Andrews
• Lily James- Lisa Temple
• Rupert Graves- David Temple
• Emma Fielding- Ellie Temple
• Noel Clarke-Tommy Southern
• Lashana Lynch- Belle Newman
• Lorraine Burroughs- Trix Warren
• Dominique Tipper- Sarah
• Bradley James- Carl
Crichlow is the main actress within the film as
well as Lily James. She had been in various
amounts of films and TV shows before Fast
Girls such as The Bill, Casualty, Wilderness,
Death in Paradise and Material Girl. She also
presented a few documentaries for a range of
channels.
Lily James is presently well known for starring
as the princess in Cinderella which was
released in 2015; she has also starred in other
series and films. She was involved within Pride
and Prejudice, Downtown Abbey, War and
Peace and Just William. She is also the main
star in an upcoming 2017 film called Baby
Driver.

9. TARGET AUDIENCE
To begin with the BBFC certificate was rated a 12A when it was
released in the cinema, however when it was released on DVD it was
taken down to a 12 in hope to sell it to a wider range of an audience,
as this allows 12-15 to now watch it without parent supervision.
Fast Girls target audience is mainly aged 16-25, which follow the
main age groups within the film. In addition to this, besides age
this also was aimed at those who enjoy sport and was a
promotion for the lead up to the Olympics. The timing of the
release was well thought out as it managed to achieve a lot of
views from people outside of their target audience.
Themes:
• Sport (Athletics)
• Relationship ( love, friends, family)
• Dreams

10. INTERVIEWS
Crichlow:
’When I got my injury it felt like the hand of God
was striking the film down.’
'The problem was that I was using athletics spikes
and hadn’t properly learnt how to run on them.’
'In the short term we used body doubles and
camera trickery to get around the fact that I was
unable to run. When the film wrapped in
December, I spent most of my time with my feet
in an ice machine.’
Lily James:
‘Training for the sword fight scenes in Titans alongside Liam
Neeson was hard work, but nothing like as tough as the Fast
Girls regime.’
‘Top athletes are like warriors. Ten weeks of training gave me just
a taste of what those people have to put themselves through to
be the best. I’ve never experienced anything so intense.
'Out of all the girls I was the most addicted to the exercise. I
became especially addicted to sit-ups. If we were meant to do
600 a day, I’d aim for 800.

11. TECHNOLOGY & LOCATIONS
• Fast Girls was released on both Blu-Ray and DVD; these were released on October 8th and is also
available on Netflix, Amazon and Google Play Movies. It also has its own Facebook page.
The GB Qualifiers scene was filmed in Queen
Elizabeth II track, Enfield. The Championships in
Barcelona were filmed inside Lea Valley Athletic
Centre, also in Enfield. The derelict track where
Lenora's character trains is filmed in Feltham,
West London.
Fast Girls may be being pitched as Streetdance meets Bend It Like Beckham, but its star and co-writer
Noel Clarke thinks its more “Rocky, with girls in lycra”. A tempting tagline for any potential buyer.

12. MUSIC
• Strivin’ – Tor Cesay
• Hold Me Close – Sabrina Jones
• Spinnin’ for 2012 – Dionne Bromfield & Tinchy Stryder
• Style - BZerQ
• Supersize – E.J
• Stay Awake - Example
• Heaven – Emeli Sande
• Earthquake – Labrinth feat Tinie Tempah
• Just A Kid – Sabrina Jones & Robert Greenfield
• Express Yourself - Labrinth
• Special K – Arkell & Hargreaves
Labrinth is one of the main artists
for the music and these songs
were popular around the release.
With recognisable songs within
the film it makes it more modern
and ties everything together as all
of it was released around the
same period.