Born in Liverpool, Mike Jefferies is a British

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

and

film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...

. Jefferies founded the media and publishing group Mondiale in 1991 which he sold to the

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

in 1999 after winning the

Queen's Award for Enterprise The Queen's Awards for Enterprise is an awards programme for British businesses and other organizations who excel at international trade, innovation, sustainable development or promoting opportunity (through social mobility). They are the highest ...

in 1998. In 2000 Jefferies moved to Los Angeles where he founded and subsequently sold the B2B media group Line 56. In 2002 he moved into the world of feature films, beginning with soccer trilogy Goal!. Jefferies co-wrote the screenplay for the first '' Goal!'' with contributions from veteran British writers

Dick Clement Dick Clement (born 5 September 1937) is an English writer, director and producer. He became known for his writing partnership with Ian La Frenais for television series including ''The Likely Lads'', ''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'', ...

and

Ian La Frenais Ian La Frenais (born 7 January 1937) is an English writer best known for his creative partnership with Dick Clement. They are most famous for television series including ''The Likely Lads'', ''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'', ''Porridg ...

. The story of a young illegal immigrant, rising from poverty to become one of the world's greatest players was released by

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

and has been shown in 38 countries worldwide. Goal! grossed $27.6m at the box office. The $50m deal that was struck between the producers and Adidas was the biggest ever between a corporate brand and a film production. Jefferies was one of the writers on the second part of the trilogy, '' Goal! 2: Living the Dream...''. In September 2004 Jefferies, together with Stuart Ford, fronted a bid backed by the Kraft family, to purchase

Liverpool Football Club Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has p ...

. The bid would have valued the club at approximately £200m. In 2005 the club was subsequently purchased in a deal by Tom Hicks and George Gillett which valued the club at £218.9m. In October 2010, as part of a fans' campaign against the ownership, Jefferies conceived and directed a short film entitled 'Dear Mr Hicks' which was released virally via YouTube. The Independent newspaper praised the video saying: "True to the city's capacity to create something out of adversity, a wonderfully inventive viral film, ''Dear Mr Hicks'', has been published online to make it clear where he ought to go. The fans' view can be summarised thus: ''away, and soon".''

Filmography

*'' Goal!'' (2005) (writer & producer) *'' Goal II: Living the Dream'' (2007) (writer & producer) *'' Goal III: Taking on the World'' (2009) (producer) *Dear Mr Hicks (2010) (director & producer)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jefferies, Mike Year of birth missing (living people) Living people English screenwriters English male screenwriters English film producers