FORMER mixed martial artist Scott Clist may have retired from the ring but he’s still winning awards.

His feature film screenplay, How We Fight, has won the award for Best screenplay at The Heart of England film festival. It is a drama about the sport of mixed martial arts.

Mr Clist, 41, who manages the Boutique nightclub in Trowbridge, also owns his own film company, 8 Punch Films.

He said: “I wrote the film in 2017 and have entered it into a few film festivals. It has reached the final and official selection in three out of four occasions.”

The film made it into the finals at the Feel the Reel international film festival, the Birmingham international film festival, and The Oaxaca international film festival in Mexico.

Mr Clist was a professional fighter in the sport for eight years and held two British titles and a European title. He was also a cage warriors signed athlete.

“The plan for the film now is to arrange investment. A large amount of the pre-production for How We Fight is already in place,” he said.

“Because of the screenplay doing so well in festivals, it attracted Andrew Dymond, a film producer with over 25 years in the business who produces feature films and television programmes for UK and worldwide audiences.

“We already have a sales agent attached to the project (Tri-Coast worldwide) and I have nine UFC and Bellator athletes from past and present involved in the film.

“We plan to approach three very well-known named actors through their agents once the funding is secured and the plan is to shoot the film in South Kentucky once investment is secured.”

In the last 18 months, Mr Clist has written and directed two short films, Lost Soldiers and I Am A Soldier funded by donations through the indegogo platform.

He has also written three more short films that are planned to shoot over the summer and autumn.

He added: “I also have another feature film screenplay entered into film festivals around the world; this screenplay is an action thriller called State of Rage and hopefully it will also do as well as How We Fight has done so far.”

Mr Clist always wanted to pursue a career in film and wrote his first screenplay called Ring of Dragons at the age of 15. He then pursued a career in martial arts.

He said: “I was still writing screenplays, but my competitive career kept me busy, so I was focused on pursuing that particular career option.

“I retired from MMA in June 2017 and began to pursue a career in my other passion, film, writing and directing. I have simply swapped one goal for another.”

Mr Clist is looking for funding for the film How We Fight and investment packages start from £10,000 to £500,000.

Anyone interested in an investment package should contact the producer Andrew Dymond at Andrew@bazookabunny.tv