A former sales assistant at Threshers off licence is to see his tentative film script turned into one of the biggest all-action movie to be made in Britain for decades.

It is the sort of happy ending Stel Pavlou would never dream of writing for himself. For years he has been working in the Rochester branch of Threshers by day and writing by night.

Now the 29 year old is to see The 51st State, the first attempt to set a blockbuster buddy movie, in the style of Lethal Weapon, on this side of the Atlantic, start shooting in Liverpool with the American star Samuel L Jackson in October. Robert Carlyle, of Full Monty and Bond fame, is being pursued to play his white sidekick.

With a $30m budget, shoot-outs, car chases, stunts and "all the pyrotechnics of a Bond movie" culminating in a showdown in Liverpool's Anfield stadium, it is certainly the most expensive British debut ever.

It is also a huge gamble for Momentum Films, the new British distributor which launched yesterday in Cannes, pledging to fill the gap left by Polygram, the major player taken over by the Americans two years ago after kickstarting the British film revival with Elizabeth, Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill.

Led by the several of Polygram's former executives, Momentum claims it will "make films in the Polygram spirit" that brought in Oscars for Fargo and the kind of international success British films had not seen for decades.

Managing director David Kosse, who worked on Being John Malkovich and Angela's Ashes, said he was not afraid of risking half the $60m he had set aside for new films on The 51st State.

"We have the talent and infrastructure in Britain to build our own Hollywood here," he said. "We shouldn't be afraid of bigger budget films - Polygram proved that. This is just a fantastic script. Every aspect of the story is remarkable. I have never known a first-time writer ever to get the go ahead on a film this big, and I think that says it all about the story."

Pavlou, who until recently lived with his Greek-born mother, a home help in Rochester, Kent, sent nearly 20 ideas to Jackson, the cult star of Pulp Fiction, who is said to have jumped up and said: "This guy is me!" when he read the outline of his character, a drug smuggler who tries to double cross his bosses when they invent a new drug.

But the fairytale had another twist for Pavlou. For the man who applied for 600 jobs in media and publishing without success after getting his degree from Liverpool University, has also landed a lucrative deal with publishers Simon & Schuster for his first book, Decipher, a thriller in the John Grisham mode. He has now given up the day job.