A former criminal from Liverpool says he is involved in negotiations with Hollywood-based production companies interested in making a film about his life.
Shaun Smith, who grew up in Kirkdale, served out a prison sentence after he was linked by police to a handgun.
Mr Smith, 55, started a new life in Warrington after he was released from the prison system on licence several years ago.
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He bought a gym in the Bewsey area of the town, and began training a stable of fighters in the dark arts of bare knuckle boxing.
Mr Smith says he is now involved in advanced stage negotiations with production companies and agents who are interested in dramatising his life story.
He said: "The background to all of this is the documentaries with Vice which showed me collecting debts and trying to get the gym going. They generated a surprising amount of interest around the world and received millions of views.
"But the real story is about how the gym helped me break with the past and move forward."
Journalist and author Graham Johnson is Mr Smith's business partner and has been leading the negotiations.
Mr Johnson said: "Lockdown has delayed this project but the film and television industry appears to be returning to normality. As Shaun said the background to the interest are the two documentaries with Vice a few years ago, and an Netflix series which I originated and produced.
"To his credit The Debt Collector is one of the most successful true crime documentaries ever made, watched over 50 million times.
"I think that projected Shaun to a wide , international audience.
"One of the people who saw it was Dwayne Johnson, who is The Rock. He liked it, and asked Vice about acquiring the rights.
“I don’t have much interest in making films because they take up a lot of time and there’s a lot of uncertainty - I prefer writing books - but then Vice Studios in LA rang up and we sold them the rights, with a view to them selling them onto The Rock.
"We’ve have been talking to producer Will Fairman in London, who produced the The Debt Collector, film and television companies in London and his colleagues in Los Angeles about a the storyline a film that shows Shaun growing up in Liverpool in the 80s and becoming involved in serious crime in the 90s.
"But the key point will be that he turned his back on that world after serving a prison sentence and found a form of redemption in a gym.
"The Rock has taken an interest in Shaun's story because we understand he likes the fact that the gym became the place where Shaun could put the past behind him and create something new."
Mr Smith worked for gangs in the 1990s as an enforcer and then formed his own security company, which became embroiled in the so called 'door wars' era when violent criminals fell out with nightclub owners.
Mr Smith said he was forced to arm himself due to threats his life, which led to the prison sentence after police linked him to a gun.
Mr Smith said: "The gym is really the key to me. I have a background in boxing and street fighting, and I have been able to use that help a younger generation of fighters prepared to have a go at bare knuckle boxing.
"My wife and I have hosted a series of successful events at the BEC Arena in Manchester, which have been successful.
"The gym has also become a bit a hub in the community, where locals are free to call in for a chat.
"The kettle is always on and Amanda and I try and find the time to listen to people and their problems.
"We help where we can. Yes sometimes I am able to use my previous life experiences to give people a reality check.
"When people are angry and upset I try and calm things down."
Mr Johnson said: "Vice also bought the rights to The Cartel, a book I wrote about organised the crime scene in Liverpool several years ago. Vice Ideally the film or television series will wanted to use it because it tells some of Shaun’s life in there some Cartel and it shows the context that he was operating in.
"A lot of this is the social history of the city, with drug gangs becoming more and more powerful over recent decades.
"When I started writing books about organised crime in Liverpool in 2003 it was very much a cult audience – now it’s mainstream."
Mr Johnson was behind two investigative books on how Liverpool criminal John Haase managed to dupe the authorities into releasing him from prison several months into a 20-year-prison sentence for drug offences.
He said: "Shaun has a great personal story, although unlike many of the people I wrote about he never sold drugs. My understanding is that Shaun needed a gun for his own protection because he was being threatened by dangerous people. "
Mr Smith's next show is at the BEC Arena in Manchester on July 31. For more information go here
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