On the mean streets of Nottingham, an inept bunch of crooks rob from the rich and sell to the poor at half price.
Ready to steal anything, Jumbo (Shane Meadows) and his friends drink, dance and plan their biggest heist yet, a raid on the local Snienton hippies.
As 'the lads' gear up for the big heist, Malc and Kate are trying to break free from this world of petty theft and dodgy deals. Kate is keen to make a fresh start away from Sneinton, but can she get Malc to leave his long term friends behind?
CAST
Malc
- Mat Hand
Kate
- Dena Smiles
Jumbo
- Shane Meadows
Ruby
- Gena Kawecka
Lenny the Fence - Tim Cunningham
Willy
- Jimmy Hynd
Bets
- Leon Hammond
Mad Terry
- Dominic Dillon
BACKGROUND
After making about 20 short films on the same few streets of Nottingham, Shane came to realise that most of the people he worked with were all about to start moving away from the area pretty soon. The idea behind Smalltime was to make a longer piece to celebrate their time working together before everyone went their seperate ways.
Shane wrote the original script (originally titled 'Left') during his lunch breaks whilst he was working as a volunteer at Intermedia Film and Video in Nottingham. This was the first time Shane had written a script, and although he enjoyed the writing process, he found it became difficult to complete as he approached the end. It was at this point that he decided to let the cast improvise their way through it.
Shane approached the BFI Production Board looking for funds to complete the film. After seeing just ten minutes of footage, they snapped up the rights to both 'Small Time' and his short film 'Where's the Money, Ronnie?'
TRIVIA
The film was originally titled 'Left' and an earlier, alternate cut of the film exists with this name, but sadly it has never seen the light of day.
Approximately 13 hours of footage was shot during the filming of Small Time. The final cut of the film is just over an hour in length.
The budget for the film was approximately £5000. Funding came from the BFI Production Board who also got the film shown at the London Film Festival in 1996 (complete with the short film 'Where's the Money, Ronnie?'). BFI overview of the film.
BVE North Q&A 2011
Shane talks about about the unusual story of getting funding for his short film Where's The Money, Ronnie? (the short film which accompanied Small Time on it's release).
