July 12th 2019
Derby Double was not meant to be a trilogy, but Seamus O’Brien became such an intriguing character, that I felt the need to explore the man further. I wrote a sequel called Derby Double Redemption, which follows the season after the match fixing scandal. The FA not only decide M15 should be punished for allowing some fixes to go, but they decide to expunge the season as if it never happened. Now Sheffield United are forced o prove they are a legitimate contender to the First Division. The focus lands mostly on Mick as we explore his relationship with a former Sheffield Wednesday nemesis, David Muckwith as he joint United We also meet David’s rather quirky sister, English woman’s Snooker champion, Audrey. Audrey becomes Mick’s love interest. Mick will not only find love, but during the movie we watch Mick learn the harsh lessons of what it means to be Captain.
I had started a third movie to tie up some loose ends with Elizabeth’s backstory, in which she discovers who her real father is and that her brother is her former boss at MI5. All this is set around the backdrop of the Champions League. Unfortunately I scrapped the idea for the time. In this movie Sheffield United main rival is a team from the French League. I haven’t decided who yet. This club is run by a Corsican Mafia Boss, who lives in a big castle with his Falcons.
Through the last month I have found cutting scenes and dialogue to be a tedious task and each time I thought I was moving closer, I discovered I had only taken about 5 pages off the script. I found myself frustrated and decided some eyes were needed on this script to see where or how it could be cut.
Last night I spoke to one of those eyes on Facebook. She gave me some good areas to cut and within our conversation, I discovered I was trying to put two movies into one. Then an epiphany hit me. I’ll just make the Second Movie the Fix and the third movie Redemption. Then add the fourth movie if I wish to.
My idea for the first movie now deals with Seamus’ backstory in Northern Ireland. He starts as a kid with his two buddies Roary and Paddy and we move into his relationship with Hannah. I can also bring back some previous scenes that I was forced to cut.
This morning as I was running through what I needed to do, I suddenly realized that the name of the movie needs to change. I always thought Derby Double was kind of clunky to begin with so for the moment I am going with a working title of Seamus O’Brien. It’s short, simple and you can remember it.
I want to say thanks to Leigh, she really helped me see another side of where I need to go with this. Now I move forward and as I do, I will keep you appraised as to where the movie stands.
The Script is the thing 