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  The Football Factory Production NotesThe Football Factory was filmed over six weeks during April and May 2003 on location in South East London.
The film has been written and directed by Nick Love whose debut film Goodbye Charlie Bright was critically acclaimed upon release in 2001.
From the best selling author John King comes the adaptation of his cult novel ‘The Football Factory’. The film was produced by award winning producer Allan Niblo (‘Human Traffic’, ‘South West 9’) and James Richardson (‘ Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’).
The all British cast include Danny Dyer (Human Traffic), Frank Harper (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Twenty Four Seven, Bend it Like Beckham), Jamie Foreman (Nil By Mouth, Gangster No. 1), Roland Manookian (Goodbye Charlie Bright, GMT), Neil Maskell (Nil By Mouth) and veteran actor Dudley Sutton (Felini’s Casanova)
Following closely in the footsteps of the book the film is a violent and humorous snap-shot of the infamous Chelsea Headhunters. Both hard hitting and hugely entertaining it speaks directly to its generation.
The Football Factory is a study of loyalty, football violence and male culture. The story centres around Tommy Johnson a bored twenty-something who lives for the weekend, casual sex, watered down lager, heavily cut drugs…. and occasionally kicking the f*ck out of someone. Tommy’s life ambles along until a violent encounter with a rival firm starts a war and a series of nightmares force him to ask him the question about his life: is it worth it?
Told through Tommy’s eyes and linked together by his relationships with three other generations of males, The Football Factory is a drug fuelled adrenaline rush of a story about friendship, revenge and violence.
This is England’s worst nightmare. Enjoy it.
Characters
The story unfolds through the eyes of Tommy Johnson, a bored twenty-something. Tommy has always been involved in fighting, whether it was for the attention of a girl or off the football pitch, he has always been addicted to the rush. After a night out with his best mate Rod, he unintentionally upsets Millwall’s head boy Fred. Soon a tit for tat revenge situation begins and Tommy starts to have recurring nightmares. Not having anyone to turn to he faces his fears head on and suffers the consequences.
Billy Bright is part of the older generation of The Firm, he is full of bitterness in what he sees as the country and system that have failed him. Away from the crowds he commands an audience to impress the younger guys, but he’s a sad and isolated character whose life is fast spiralling out of control.
Fred heads the rival Millwall firm, the arch enemy of Chelsea. Things come to a head when Tommy inadvertently crosses path with him.
Zeberdee, a mouthy young guy coming through the ranks of The Firm has already run into a cul de sac of crime and drugs. Zeberdee aspires to be a future top boy, unfortunately his lack of intellectual guile gets him into hot water.
Rod is Tommy’s oldest friend and confidante, ambling along the path lead by his mates. His life comes to a turning point when he meets the woman of his dreams only to find love has its strings attached and some strings are harder to break than others.
 Second World War veteran Bill Farrell is in his mid seventies who is living out the remainder of his days with his childhood friend Albert Moss. Together they replace each others passed away wives and enjoy every day to the limit, still trying to pull women and getting drunk together. But when Albert dies Bill's life starts to fall apart as he struggles to cope with life on his own and a new future in Australia beckons.When arch-rivals Chelsea draw Millwall in the FA cup, ardent Chelsea supporters Tommy, Billy and co start to plan the action off pitch. It’s a big day for younger members like Zeberdee who get the chance to prove themselves to the head boys. It’s also an opportunity for old hands like Billy Bright to prove they still have the fighting power.
The date, time and place are set. A plan of action to avoid detection by the police is in motion. All Tommy has to do is hold his nerve and not let his paranoid nightmares get the better of him as he tries to stay out of the way of Fred who is vying for his blood.
Just as the match on pitch stops the fight off pitch begins. Can the Chelsea Firm take on the Millwall Firm....?
About The Production / Page To The Big Screen
Published in 1996, The Football Factory by John King has attracted critical acclaim and commercial success. The novel addresses the epidemic of football hooliganism within British culture in a candid and balanced style, which has prompted a stream of debate and opposition amongst middle England.
The Football Factory was also a successful stage production by The Brighton Theatre Company in 1998. The play was adapted and directed by Paul Hodson and Chris Stagg. Actor Steve North (also an Associate Producer in the film) was starring in the play when he introduced Allan Niblo to the novel.
"After reading The Football Factory, I knew it was vital to turn it into a feature film both from a cultural and cinematic point of view’’, explains Producer Allan Niblo. "The book captures football culture’s underbelly better than any fiction I had come across. To portray this we needed to find a director who not only knew the background to the book but also understood how to translate the story to the big screen".
"We both knew of Nick Love as a talented young director and after watching his first feature film ‘Goodbye Charlie Bright’, he became our top choice for directing The Football Factory. We felt his ability to translate relationships within modern day Britain was to be a key factor in making the film an authentic representation of the book" recalls James Richardson.
Nick Love adds, "I tried to acquire the film rights to John King’s novel but found they had already been sold. So later when I was approached by Allan and James to direct the movie I immediately said yes".
To the producers amazement Nick wrote and delivered the script within four days. "The script far exceeded what we had expected from a first draft, this contained all the elements of how we envisaged the film being brought to the big screen", adds James.
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