ONCE UPON A TIME, IN THE 90's...
The Gutter Girls, a feisty all-female bowling team, have it all. Their own homemade bowling alley, all the milkshakes they can drink, and a dedicated coach. Or so they thought. When Coach bets their bowling alley on a game with their arch rivals, the Splits, it's up to Ace (the undoubtable leader of the team and trusted narrator of this story) to lead them to victory. What could go wrong?
There isn't a film production quite like the Gutter Girls.
THE VISION
This script is unique, as it was written by a production designer - Charlii Kerr. Because of this, our film has had a strong style from the get go: a pastel world full of homemade inventions such as levered mechanisms that return the balls, and a mysterious hand that replaces the pins. The film is a humorous observation of female characters, forming a likeable friendship in a familiar environment. The girls must work together to attempt to keep what matters most to them. Inspired by "Derry Girls", "Ladybird" and German bowling alleys of the 80's, the world of the film entirely revolves around ten pin bowling and the teams colourful fate.
MEET THE REAL LIFE GUTTER GIRLS! (AND BOYS)
No film goes ahead without all the fantastic creatives behind the scenes, so here's an introduction to our crew.
"As an enthusiast for early 2000s pop, sandals with socks and Scrabble - I was greedy enough to take two roles on Gutter Girls: Scriptwriter and Production Designer. Ask anyone and they would say sports and Charlii Kerr don’t usually mix, so writing a film about a ball game did not come naturally, but writing sarcastic female characters (somehow) did. Striving to achieve a film set in a world in which 10-pin bowling is top priority, I am ecstatic to see these characters come to life in the capable hands of George Carmichael, our energetic director, surrounded by a number of talented girls and boys in our crew.
Written with design heavily in mind, the girls’ bowling alley was inspired by colours used in Wayne Thiebauds paintings, 1990s IKEA magazine covers and German bowling alleys used for the game ‘Kegeln’ (see Robert Goetzfried’s photography). Production Design is an unpredictable world of problem solving, and when art department experience has already given me creating realistic horse poo, setting up a party for 18th century prostitutes and prop hunting for ken dolls...it’s time to start a new conversation with hardware store employees and build the world in which the Gutter Girls reside."
- Charlii Kerr
"To say I’m excited to direct this film would be akin to saying Coach has a minor drinking problem: it’s obvious. In that way, I’m sure by the end of it we’ll share one similarity. Our keen leadership skills. A fondness for comedy in particular, I have directed half a dozen shorts whilst at university and as such I cannot wait to start on this one. The fact that I’ve been trusted to take charge of an enormously talented cast and crew in a home-made bowling alley constructed by our visionary writer and production designer, Charlii Kerr, is a daunting task but an unbelievably thrilling one. Anyway, I’ve got to go meet with our fantastic director of photography, Francesca Hartley, to finalise our shots. I don’t have a moment to spare! Damn, that was a good one. Charlii, do we have a tag-line sorted yet?"
- George Carmichael
"Hi! I’m Francesca and to say that I am excited to be director of photography for Gutter Girls would be a huge understatement. I have been enthusiastically invested in the story of this hilarious, quirky group of girls since the script’s beginnings and I am so grateful to be a part of making it come to life! We want to exhibit how amazing female driven projects are, in a field where that is often forgotten. And even more importantly show that projects like these fit into the world of comedy without the word female in front of it. Drawing inspiration from visual storytellers like Edgar Wright and Wes Anderson, we hope to entice viewers into our reinvention of 98’ to join our band of oddballs, The Gutter Girls.
We hope you love them as much as we do!"
- Francesca Hartley
"I am so thrilled to be the producer of Gutter Girls. It isn't often a funny, genuine script comes your way - and on top of all of that it's completely unique. As well as that I finally got to go bowling for the first time in my life (strictly for research purposes) - if that doesn't make me qualified, I don't know what does."
- Molly Wise
"Hey! I'm the editor of this amazing project Gutter Girls. Unfortunately this will be my last film in university and I'm glad we saved the best to last."
- -Lasanda Salmon
"My name is Skyler and I’m the costume designer for Gutter Girls with a background in art and textiles. Having designed two previous AUB short film productions I am very excited to bring my working knowledge into the action-packed world of Gutter Girls. I plan on bringing to life the unique personalities of the characters through their costumes with a strong 90s influence. Making sure each gutter girl has a fun and unique edge to her costume that celebrates the complexities of her character and translates them through the pastel screen."
- Skyler Watts
"Hi I’m William the gaffer for Gutter Girls and I’ll be in charge of the lighting department. I work very closely with the cinematographer to ensure the world the camera is capturing has the right tone and atmosphere. I chose to work on this film as it has a strong visual aesthetic which allows for a great deal of creativity when it comes to the lighting of the film, also the fact that we are building a bowling alley from scratch makes the project challenging as the lighting will be very important to make sure the whole set is lit."
- Will Wilson
- Bexultan Bayekenov
Was born in Kazakhstan in April 1996. I grew up in a family of cinema lovers and had a great childhood watching films on VHS. Since high school, I started learning about Film Production. My dream since thn has been to work in the Film Industry, and I will try to level up the Kazakhstan film industry.
As a hobby, I started making and editing music. Films without soundtracks are hard to watch - that's why I was always interested in making musical scores for movies and designing sound for films. Making music helped me learning sound editing for film.
I’m feeling very confident about this project and will make the best effort to make this film sound good!
"I’m super excited to bring this bowling alley to life. This set and everything within in will be bursting with energy, colour and so much girl power!"
- Violet Lewis
"Hey! I’m Emerald and I will be Art Director for Gutter Girls. Working with production designer Charlii Kerr and the other Art Director Violet Lewis, we will be be drawing inspiration from Wes Anderson’s style of pastel colour palettes and symmetrical style, as well as all time classic bowling movie The Big Lebowski. We aim to create a fun and playful set in which the characters will come to life! I’m really excited to be involved in such a fun project and can’t wait to get building!"
- Emerald Baxter
"Hi, I'm Eleanor, the 1st AD for Gutter Girls. I was thrilled to be asked to 1st for this because the script really had the ability to create a world full of colour and action when I read it. The aesthetic of this film, combined with it's powerhouse female cast will make a film people won't soon forget!"
- Eleanor Lodge
"Hi, I’m Sam the camera operator for Gutter Girls! I’m keen to get behind the camera and begin tackling some of the complex camera movements we’ll be executing on set. Gutter Girls is a high energy and fun story, I’m excited to help convey that narrative via the movement of the camera"
- Sam Loane
- Tom Allen
- Nichelle Charles and Hayley Rofkind
"NEVER A GAMBLE, ALWAYS AN INVESTMENT"
As coach always says: "Never a gamble, always an investment" and truer words couldn't be spoken. Your donations will help bring a truly unique vision to life, and from £5 upwards that's not all you'll get for your investment! Access to the script, a thank you from our characters, special credits and more are available in our rewards tiers. For a year and a half now, the story of "Gutter Girls" has been forming, attracting people to it as it got bigger and bigger. We care about this story, and we know you will too.
We've got a big game coming up - we're counting on you.