Origins: KILLER REELS by Rob Kitchin

Editor’s Note: Now and again, although not nearly half often enough, I step to one side here at CAP and let a proper writer do the talking. The ‘series’ is called Origins, and allows a writer to explain the original idea for a story, character, setting, etc. This week: Rob Kitchin, author of KILLER REELS.

Jimmy Kiley’s stars are only ever one hit wonders…

“The initial spark for KILLER REELS was the hook - a killer would show a video of the death of his previous victim to the star of the next. After than it was simply a case of imagining who the movie-maker was, the reason why the stars were selected, and determining how the previous victim died and how the next would meet his or her maker.
  “The whole lot dropped quickly into place and the first story, ‘King Canute’, was drafted in a couple of hours, unleashing the ruthless criminal, Jimmy Kiley, onto Dublin’s north side. The story and characters almost seemed to write themselves and I was both fascinated and deplored by Kiley’s inventive imagination.
  “As a keen amateur movie maker, Kiley sees no reason why he shouldn’t mix his own brand of law with his hobby. He views himself as a director: guiding his stars and crafting scenes. He’s calm, collected, ambitious and street smart. He pays attention to detail. He believes in loyalty to people and place and despite his wealth and power he still lives in a corporation house in the same area in which he grew up and he cohabits with his long term partner. His reputation for calculated violence precedes him and he expects to be respected and obeyed as a matter of course. He invariably is. Those that fail to do so suffer the consequences. And their downfall is recorded for posterity.
  “Kiley has two ambitions. To become the criminal leader for the whole city and to make a full length feature film. He’s well on the way to achieving both. And whilst he tries for the first, using the opportunity to create a series of interlinked short films, he gains valuable real-world training for the second. The result is twelve Kiley films where his hapless victims become one hit wonders. And the price for viewing Kiley’s private collection is to star in the next.
  “KILLER REELS documents Kiley’s movie-making and his rise to the top of Dublin’s underworld. It’s gritty, urban, Irish noir. Violent and menacing, but not gory. Tight, taut stories that pack a punch.” - Rob Kitchin