the film is an adaptation of an unpublished novel written by robinson in late 1969. actor friend don hawkins passed a copy of the manuscript to his friend mordecai (mody) schreiber in 1980. schreiber paid robinson £20,000 to adapt it into a screenplay, which robinson did in the early 1980s. when meeting schreiber in los angeles, robinson expressed concern that might not be able to continue because the writing broke basic screenplay rules and was hard to make work as a film. it used colloquial english to which few would connect ("give me a tanner and i'll give him a bell"); characters in dismal circumstances, and a plot prodded by not cinematic voice-overs. schreiber told him that is precisely what he wanted. on completing the script, producer paul heller urged robinson to direct it and found funding for half the film. the script was then passed to handmade films. after he read it, george harrison agreed to fund the remainder of the film.