Nigel McGuinness
As mentioned earlier this week we are heading into a very exciting time in wrestling and among the things to look forward to is the possible development and production of L.A. Fights, a bold new project that is the brain child of Nigel McGuinness. McGuinness is of course familiar to most wrestling fans from his time in Ring of Honor as well as in TNA, as Desmond Wolf, but maybe to some from his earlier Kickstarter project The Last of the McGuinness, a deeply personal movie documenting his retirement tour.
He has now returned to Kickstarter with a new project and since we at the Guild love both crowdfunding and wrestling we wanted to pick his brain about L.A. Fights. With a substantial amount of money needing to be raised to get this exciting project off the ground and 21 days to go he has been doing a lot of promotional interviews and we wanted our readers to hear about it also. According to the Kickstarter page the story is as follows:
“A diverse group of amateur fighters and their morally ambivalent promoter struggle to coexist in their upstart fight league.”
He wants it to be a reinvention of the wrestling genre, so we asked him about it:
W: How long has this project been in the works? From first idea to where you are at now.
NM: Five years in my head, eighteen months extensively working in the script, in ring style and development.
W: Is there a statement that you want to make when producing LA Fights?
NM: That there is a huge gap in the market for a product like this, that we have only painted on a small part of the canvas.
W: Do you feel there is a void in wrestling that needs to be filled, or does wrestling simply need to evolve?
NM: I don’t like talking in negative terms. I believe the current wrestling products have their own niches and audiences, and that there is a huge gap and audience beyond it for a scripted series like I’m proposing that could evolve the industry.
W: Are there any wrestling companies that you have found that put out a different product, in part or completely, other than Lucha Underground?
NM: Of course. But LA Fights and Lucha Underground are not wrestling companies. They are TV shows. ROH, PWG, EVOLVE, Chikara all present different takes on the pro wrestling people see on Monday nights.
W: You have cited shows like Breaking Bad as successful shows that you enjoy. What element from shows like it will you add to your product?
NM: Complex characters with genuine conflicts that have no easy answers. Non-traditional storytelling.
W: Is the roster set and if so will there be established wrestlers and actors?
NM: The roster is not set. That happens during casting and will depends who is available for the time, who can work the in-ring style, who has the acting chops and life experience to fit the roles and who has other commitments. The fighters will be pro wrestlers or MMA fighters while the rest of the cast will be actors. The budget is extremely limited so only people passionate about the project will be cast.
W: What experiences from the companies that you’ve been pasrt of will you bring to LA Fights?
NM: I’ve learned stuff from everywhere I worked. Watching what works and doesn’t in matches. Seeing how story lines get over or don’t.
W: How much of the production will you be involved in?
NM: Almost all of it. There simply isn’t the budget to hand it off to anyone else. But I will be employing experienced professionals every step of the way.
W: Will this project still go through even if the Kickstarter is unsuccessful?
NM: I have had a lot of support from people who believe in it, so I don’t want to give up on it for them as much as for how positive an impact it could have on the industry. But the reality is that if there isn’t enough financial support for the project it is unlikely it will see the light of day in the way I have envisioned. Having said that I will continue to pursue other options including a pilot and traditional private investors. The truth, however, is that is people want to see this they have to support it financially. It’s as simple as that.
W: If funded have you planned for an eventual continuation?
NM: The show is written to build to a second season, yes, perhaps with life imitating art where a big channel or platform came on board to help produce it.
If you support the project you will be able to see it before every one else, granted that you support on a specific level. Go to Nigel McGuinness official homepage http://www.nigelwrestling.com/ to see what he has in store for you or just go to the Kickstarter page and back the project it is something we need to see.
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