A not so grim, reaper
“He’s just a man whose intentions are good, don’t let him be misunderstood…”
To make an iconic series you need an iconic character. The hooded cape, the faceless form and let’s not forget that giant scythe, this guy is the icon of icons but historically there’s a problem, too scary. But the image is not the man. It’s a costume, uniform of the day job, a way for the bosses to create a monster to do their dirty work. The real Grim is an entirely different soul.
Look inside Grim's afterlife locker and you’ll find a beat box, a mixtape and some old skool memorabilia. Seems our hero was there back in the day, saw things going down in New York City circa '88. You see the true Grim lives for Hip Hop.
Don’t believe me? Look under the cape and you’ll find a pair of Adidas Ultrastar 80s, made to walk this way. And inside the hooded cape, sequins. Total bling.
Misread for millennia the Grim Reaper is sick of finding his sneakers in the trashcan, sick of hiding in the locker rooms of the afterlife so he's made up his mind to come clean and follow his dream. Understandably it’s not a popular decision – Grim Reapers don’t dance.
Undeterred by his boss’s disapproval Grim approaches a series of street dance crews but bad news travels fast and his attempts to reach out are greeted by empty rehearsal rooms, spinning disco balls and a lot of barren tongue and groove. Nobody wants to partner with… Death.
Seems the world isn’t able to see past the robes. Of course it’s easy to say don’t worry, big G’s not going to hurt you, but would you shake hands with seven feet of swirling nothing-ness? You’d need proof, right?
Enter a crew of rejects, people who’ve had just the same treatment as our iconic hero. These are people who’ve fallen through the cracks, been rejected by the mainstream, people in need of a tribe. There’s a petty criminal who’s eager to hide inside a group, any group; a young girl recovering from some devastating news and a washed up trainer and former dance guru known only as THE MAN. Together they’ll form the most unlikely of dance crews to enter the national street championships and the world of dance will never be the same again. But first…
They have to learn to work together and that’s not easy if falling out is your only qualification. This combination of character faults will give us our comic sensibility and human tone. A tone that will make the audience root for our crew until the bitter end, also worrying it could go terribly wrong at any moment, classic edge of the seat storytelling.
Dead Good is a universal story based of common emotional themes: second chances, recovery and learning to the confidence to succeed. It’s a tale of regular folk conquering some irregular behaviour thanks to a very extraordinary character:
With The Grim Reaper on your side, anything’s possible.
Of course there’s more than a little fantasy along the way. Without some supernatural moments we wouldn’t be able to see what really goes on in the afterlife and exactly how The Reapers manage their most essential of jobs. There’s time bending, alternative realities and a fair amount of strange goings on. But that’s nothing compared to what goes on in our world, which is truly extraordinary.
This is the story of one of the world’s most iconic characters, remixed for the 21st century.
