Screen test

Banker David Raymond wanted to be in the movies. So the Wandsworth resident wrote a script, got it made and is even starring in it. He tells Anwar Brett how he did it

Above: David Raymond

However his big screen debut works out, no-one can accuse David Raymond of not putting everything into it. The affable Wandsworth resident employed impressive ingenuity in getting Heroes & Villains – a movie he wrote and stars in – made, despite having no experience in the movie business. In fact he comes from the rather less glamorous world of banking.

“I had two jobs in the City,” the 26-year-old explains. “The first one I quit so I could apply for film jobs in the sales and finance side of the business. I thought I could eventually blag my way into acting or somehow find a way into the more creative side of filmmaking. But I didn’t get one interview anywhere.

“After that I was unemployed for about six months, and then ended up getting another job in the City. It’s one of those ironies where you think there must be a path in life – this sounds a bit cheesy – because I landed on my feet, getting a job with a small private bank, only three staff, I got given my own PA and my own enclosed office in the main tower of Canary Wharf.

“So you can imagine what I did all day, I was on film websites watching trailers. And it got to the point where I stumbled across an online script, started reading it and thought it would be a good way to pass the time. That’s when I thought I’d try writing.”

But David needed all his guile and chutzpah – and a few white lies – to have his script read by people in positions powerful enough to get it made. “Initially I sent it to production companies and agents, and had a few decent responses saying they liked the story but it needed some work. But by the time it came to meeting the film finance guys I had enough confidence to think creatively and back myself.

“If you say you’ve written this script, they ask what you do for a living and you say you’re a banker, it goes straight to the bottom of the pile. I told everyone that I’d bought it from a young writer at Working Title who was annoyed that they hadn’t made his film yet. When they heard that they read it straight away.”

The moral might well be never trust a banker, but this ruse clearly paid off as Heroes & Villains is scheduled for a cinema release this month. And the theme of deception is inherent in the story too. David plays an agent provocateur who is hired by suspicious lovers to test their partner’s fidelity.

The amorality that his character displays builds to a climax of moral redemption – this is a romantic comedy after all. But the danger for the currently single David is, should the female half of the audience judge him as behaving as badly in real life as his character does on screen, it may harm his own chances of finding a long term girlfriend. “I’ve been single for a while,” he nods reflectively, “but I hope [the film] isn’t viewed badly in any way whatsoever. There is a positive message in there.”

If Heroes & Villains emerges successfully from the hectic pack of movies released next month, it will be a fitting end to a story more fantastic than anything David could have written for the screen. But whatever happens, his future in the film industry seems assured. He has already formed a production company with his producer Mark Pegg, has several film ideas for future projects and is certain to give his all to every opportunity that comes his way.

“The fear of having to go back to a banking job is so overwhelming that I will work my absolute socks off. That’s why I’m writing my next script, because you never know when you’re going to get your next opportunity. I just have to think how lucky I am to get to write stuff and have people turn it into a film. That certainly gets you out of bed in the morning.”