British Warrior
GENRE
MEMOIR CRIME
Core Theme
SELF-BELIEF, OVERCOMING FEAR
TIME PERIOD
1980s & '90s,2000s
COMPARABLE TITLES
FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY, THE FIGHTER, KARATE KID
CHARACTER LIST
SIMON MORRELL, ENGLISH, A MAN WHO GROWS UP BULLIED BUT GROWS UP TO OVERCOME ADVERSITY TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL MARTIAL ARTIST AND TEACHER.
JULIE – SIMON'S SUPPORTIVE AND SOMETIMES SUFFERING WIFE. SHE SHARES HIS TRIUMPHS AND TROUBLES.
PETER – SIMON'S DAD. A MANIPULATIVE AND MERCURIAL FRAUDSTER WHO ISN'T AS TOUGH AS HE THINKS.
GEOFF THOMAS – A FAVORITE AUTHOR OF SIMON'S WHO BECOMES A FRIEND AND A CONFIDANT.
NICK – A SUPPOSED FRIEND WHO'S THREATS AND BETRAYAL ENDANGER SIMON AND HIS FAMILY.
JIMMY – A NEIGHBORHOOD TOUGH WHO BULLIES SIMON AS A TEENAGER.
Logline
A true story of bullying and extreme violence a man who falls to panic attacks. His recovery to become one of the UK’s leading fighters is by a controlling father, causing the author abuse alcohol. With the love of his family he recovers again to become a Hall of Fame Top Fighter and author.
Target Audiences
Age: 18-34,35-54,55+,13-17
Target Gender: Universal
Setting
North Wales, United Kingdom
Based on a True Story
Yes
Publishing Details
Status: Yes: with a Publisher
Publisher: Blue Porch
Year Published: 2020
Starting Description
At a catholic school the protagonist suffers his first experience with bullies, spat at and punched at five years of age, continuing into his teenage years when he is set upon and nearly stabbed. He spends his teens in his bedroom with just his music, a controlling dad always in the background.
Ending Description
Finally gaining confidence and a top martial artist, he answers to gangsters for his father’s sins who owes them money. The pressure nearly kills him. Abusing alcohol he is hospitalized with withdrawal. He makes a choice to give up his dad instead fighting for his own family and his respect.
Group Specific
Information not completed
Hard Copy Available
Yes
ISBN
9780956560384
Mature Audience Themes
Extreme Violence,Substance Abuse, Language/Profanity
Plot - Other Elements
Happy Ending,Coming of Age
Plot - Premise
Quest,Overcoming Monster/Villain
Main Character Details
Name: Simon Morrell
Age: Teen to 40
Gender: Male
Role: Protagonist
Key Traits: Modest,Selfless,Skillful,Honorable,Insecure,Leader,Underdog,Aspiring,Lone Wolf,Clumsy
Additional Character Details
Name: Julie Morrell
Age: Teen to late 30s
Gender: Female
Role: Emotional
Key Traits: Modest,Selfless,Empathetic,Engaging,Funny,Romantic
Additional Character Details
Name: Peter Morrell
Age: 30s to 70
Gender: Male
Role: antagonist
Key Traits: Villainous,Narcisstic,Aggressive,Charming,Criminal,Power Hungry,Unapologetic,Outspoken
Additional Character Details
Name: Jimmy
Age: 16
Gender: Male
Role: antagonist
Key Traits: Narcisstic,Badass,Aggressive,Criminal,Crazy,Blunt,Power Hungry,Outspoken,Unapologetic
Genre
ACTION, MATURE AUDIENCE, DRAMA
Brief
Simon Morrell grows up bullied and afraid but learns to conquer his fears and becomes a top martial artist. Along the way he overcomes betrayal from friends and his father, financial ruin, threats from criminals, panic attacks and finally alcoholism that nearly costs him his family and his life.
Overall Rating
GOOD
Narrative Elements
Authors Writing Style: GOOD
Characterization: EXCELLENT
Commerciality: GOOD
Franchise Potential: FAIR
Pace: GOOD
Premise: GOOD
Structure: EXCELLENT
Theme: GOOD
Accuracy of Book Profile
The profile has grammatical errors and gives too short a summary to give an accurate picture of the story.
Draw of Story
The emotional resonance of being bullied as a young child is immediately empathetic and unfortunately something many can relate to.
Possible Drawbacks
The amount of detail in certain points can be excessive, especially in the lead up to a dramatic confrontations.
Use of Special Effects
THE STORY DOES NOT RELY ON SPECIAL EFFECTS
Primary Hook of Story
The hook is that Simon is not Rocky Balboa trying to win a world title, he's finding the strength to overcome an abusive father, a failing business, local thugs and a drug dealer next store. These are problems people can relate to.
Fanbase Potential
The themes of struggle, overcoming fears and self-belief should appeal to a wide audience. However the intense subject matter and inherent violence will turn away a significant portion of people as well.
Awards Potential
Films about fighters have often been a great showcase for actors, this story has the ingredients for a juicy role for the lead and main supporting characters.
Envisioned Budget
LOW BUDGET
Similar Films/TV Series
FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY, THE FIGHTER, KARATE KID
What’s New About the Story
The way that it's told. The first half is a seemingly straightforward story of a weak kid grows up, learns to fight, overcomes his fears, scares off the bullies in his life and with the support of family and friends achieves the success he always wanted. When it unexpectedly resets halfway through it shows the full story to be more complicated, dangerous and the hero more human than we first realized.
Lead Characters
Simon faces so many challenges that almost anyone is guaranteed to relate to at least one of them. His story shows that fear is not something that can be avoided but only overcome.
Uniqueness of Story
Yes, it gives a more complicated, more rollercoaster portrait of rocky path to success than most films or tv dramas in the same genre.
Possible Formats
Film - Indie, Film - Streaming, Film - Studio, TV Series - Limited Run / Mini-Series
Analyst Recommendation
CONSIDER
Justification
While in broad strokes in may be similar to other offerings in the fighter/uplifting narrative genre, it possesses a complicated story told in an interesting way. The inner battle Simon experiences could be a challenge to display, but the battles he fights give space to dramatize a message of courage and perseverance.
Brief
Simon Morrell grows up bullied and afraid but learns to conquer his fears and becomes a top martial artist. Along the way he overcomes betrayal from friends and his father, financial ruin, threats from criminals, panic attacks and finally alcoholism that nearly costs him his family and his life.
What We Liked
British Warrior has a nuanced and realistic take on the problems of substance abuse, family dysfunction and gaining self-belief. It shows that life is neither one rise or one descent, but many.
Film: British Warrior shows the grit and drama of surviving life in the so-called ordinary world. A struggle that exists deep in the mind is played out in karate matches, in the circle of thugs at his drug-dealing neighbor's house, in the pool cue his abusive father swings at him, in the gun wielding toughs that accuse him of theft and in the trembling hands from alcohol withdrawal. This story shows what it means to overcome fear.
TV: The story of Simon's life is naturally episodic, with each experience dramatic and unpredictable in it's own right, but all coming together to form the story of a larger struggle against a common enemy: fear. With each new challenge his life explores new ground in the struggle to overcome fear that exists in all corners of life.
Key points: Fight scenes. Family drama. Real life crime drama. Uplifting message. Happy ending.
Synopsis
Simon gets bullied on his sixth birthday, by teachers, at his new school, on his way to soccer. When you can't stand up for yourself the torment follows you everywhere.
He takes up Karate as a teen and finds success and confidence for the first time. At 19, his life is looking up, he's playing in a band and got a new girlfriend, Julie, but his life is quickly by a sudden onset of panic attacks. As he begins treatment he begins to understand that fear is not something to be avoided, but to overcome.
He continues to build a life with Julie, with a proper home and a new daughter, but he is still searching for an elusive control and purpose. He finds purpose in the desire to open his own karate gym under the banner of World Champion Alfie Lewis and with the help of new friend Geoff Thomas gains his black belt. It normally takes someone five years, it took Simon fifteen.
He wants to open his own gym. Tries to sell his rental business but is betrayed by his neighbor Nick, a fraud on his way to becoming a drug dealer. People, including his dad, urge him to resort to violence but he won't do it. He goes for the next level of blackbelt, second Dan, and gets knocked out cold. He gets back up again and finishes. He has a final confrontation with Nick, surrounded by Nick's thugs, but none of them will fight Simon. Nick is soon arrested and flees. Everything should be fine again.
But he started drinking heavily to cope with the stress of the past few years. He sleeps on the floor of his gym after a fight with Julie then tries to quit cold turkey. The hallucinations start. When he sees dancing chimneys Julie calls the police and they take him to hospital, one officer has to tie Simon's shoes because his hands shake too badly.
The rise to glory hasn't been as straightforward as it seemed.
His dad was always a wannabe gangster. A father who bought him the best drum set and ridiculed his dreams of success. Who hit and screams at his son to assert dominance.
The more contempt Simon gets, the more he craves respect.
At 38, having achieved a third Dan, Simon left a burgeoning career in Martial arts to buy his father's factory, but the business is a dead duck. Simon deals with gun wielding toughs and the IRA, both of whom his dad ripped off. In a situation where fear and intimidation are everything, Simon cleans up that mess but the business itself cannot be salvaged.
They have 1000 pounds and a decision to make as a family. Simon Morrell's Black Belt Center for Excellence is born. As they try to rebuild Simon deteriorates. He can see through the booze how his own kids are starting to work around their own dad's erratic behavior. Julie has enough, she can handle all they've been through, but not losing him to drink. Then comes hallucinations and the hospital.
At rock bottom he decides to go up, to get his fourth Dan. On his first day of training again he falls off a bike because his feet hurt too much, and he laughs. Thirteen years after his first black belt test and six months after being in the hospital he passes the test, only the latest in a life filled with them. He has his family, he has a purpose in a now successful gym, he has nobody after him. He is a warrior.