" ... and out of that fiery hell the assassins league was birthed."
We had a water pistol laden dream...
Honestly it started out as a title. That's not all true, but it's pretty epic right? This is how it actually began. At university in freshers week there's normally a tonne of stalls around campus all pitching for you to join their club. And at Sheffield where I (Grant) went I noticed something called the 'Assassins Guild'. It was crazy. You got assigned a target and throughout the semester you had to 'take them out' in any way you can. When I say 'take them out' I heard that you could hold something pretend up to someone at any point and it was over. Rumour had it that some hits were extreme and others were as innocuous of being stood next to someone at the urinal at a club and realising that they were your target and you told them 'you're dead'. It sounded fun, but it also sounded lame and from what I heard it got banned. I did not sign up.
But years later I remembered this assassination thing and came up with an idea called Death by Water Pistol. I didn't know what it was but I knew that the title was amazing and it could be something. Enter Nathan Bryon...
Since I first met Nathan we've worked and collaborated on a lot of projects, mainly his web series #Reality. But after Series 2 wrapped we got together to discuss making some other ideas. In a bar near Waterloo I pitched him a few ideas for projects which varied from TV shows to feature films and you can't hide someone face lighting up when you pitch something good. That was Death by Water Pistol. Over a load of beers and lots of laughs we talked through a number of ideas about what the hell it could be.
The first iteration was a feature film. The lead character was called Casey, she's fresh out of prison and her wayward thinking parole officer signs her up to the assassins league... something she's forced to do but is not remotely interested in. There she's paired up with Marvin, a devout water pistol head intent on winning the shoot-em-up competition. Throughout the story she learns to care and take back control of her life. She builds a friendship with Marvin and learns that he's a young carer looking after his disabled Mum. Ultimately she sacrifices her parole for her friend. It was a heartfelt action-comedy and it was rude. We loved it and entered it into ifeatures, a UK-based film fund that green lights a number a projects each year. We got an amazing poster drawn up, wrote out an in-depth application and... didn't get in. Sad times indeed.
After a short period of sulking I had this revelation and emailed Nathan with an idea.
Enthused we got working. We cut Casey and decided to focus the story on Marvin and his Mum. Nathan is and was always going to be Marvin the lead. The story revolved around a young carer juggling life and the assassination league, a disaster waiting to happen. We came up with around 7 different plots, pages of fun 'kills' all pastiching much loved action movies. And lots and lots of jokes. After outlining our favourite plot we got writing and that is another story in itself.
Till next time. Peace.