Film-making in the North East may still be in its infancy, but North-East Arts Writer of the Year Steve Pratt meets the man charged with ensuring that Billy Elliot was no flash in the pan.

The framed poster behind Tom Harvey is for the British film Billy Elliot, the story of the miner's son with ballet dancing ambitions that put the North-East in the movie spotlight a couple of years ago.

An Oscar nomination, a Bafta win for star Jamie Bell, critical praise and healthy box-office returns made it a winner all the way. But Harvey, chief executive of Northern Film & Media, knows that one hit film does not an industry make.

In the 18 months since setting up shop, NFM has been in the business of promoting and building a strong moving image industry in the region.

It must prove that Billy Elliot was not a one-hit wonder and that the North-East is capable of creating and sustaining a vibrant film and TV output.

"I want there to be so many Billy Elliots that the North-East becomes woven into the screen texture of the country, so you are constantly seeing the region and its stories coming out," he says.

Evidence that the plan is working comes as some 150 cinema experts from all over the country congregate in Newcastle on Tuesday - a sure sign that NFM is getting noticed within the business.

The delegates from England's nine regional screen agencies are involved in production, locations and boosting film audiences. They foster talent and help film-makers looking for out-of-London places to shoot.

"There are objectives we share and, while we have our own regional identities, we need to join together and provide a huge momentum for English-wide projects," says Harvey.

'ALOT of people wanted to have the event in Newcastle. They've heard a lot about Newcastle and Gateshead as a result of the Capital of Culture bid. It's one of those things that's incredibly important so people can see how far we've come In 18 months."

He points to the recent Royal Television Society Awards in the North-East when four projects in which NFM was involved took home awards or commendations. "It shows we're starting to invest in the right projects and people. A lot of what we do is development and stimulating the climate. When you get these moments you want to tell people about them," he says.

"At the moment you might have people in the south doing a digital film-making course or an initiative around audience development. Perhaps, after this, we'll start to coordinate things a bit more. So you can do a touring film festival or programmes around a film theme out in England not just the area of the agency that initiated it."

He sees the competition between the agencies as healthy, using rivalry to "up your game" as in any commercial company, and also become aware of the good partnerships to be made.

The NFM's successes so far include funding screens around the region where less mainstream movies can be shown, a series of digital short films, and establishing training schemes for new entrants into the film-making industry.

There was a series of pilot programmes made in conjunction with Tyne Tees Television under the Hothouse title. This Little Life, a drama about parents coping with the illness of a new-born baby, was shown on BBC2. The feature film, School for Seduction, filmed in the North-East last year with Kelly Brook, is due for release in coming months.

Work backed by NFM covers everything from community projects to feature films. Some 400 projects have been funded so far. The agency money was vital to help get projects through the early, difficult stages. What's needed now is a North-East film and television production fund, says Harvey. "If you look at Scotland, the Midlands, the North-West and Yorkshire, they have £26m to put into projects in their regions over the next three years. Here it's £1m," he points out.

NFM is talking to One NorthEast and government departments about establishing a production fund for the region. "That fund would really put us on the map," he says.

'INSTEAD of just developing projects, we could get them made. People making films and long-running dramas need an incentive to shoot here. Technicians from the North-East mostly work in the south or Leeds and Manchester. They all want to work here on their doorstep but there isn't the work. We need to get production levels up in order to get them back.

"We have people ready to make their first feature film and they have to go south to make it. We want people living and working here."

What he thinks put this region above the others is the writing talent. "That's our ace," he says. "There are a huge amount of good writers and we've been able to put development work into over 100 scripts. If we had a film and TV production fund, I think we'd overtake the rest because we have better writers."

The results of NFM's first funding endeavours won't be seen yet, as it generally takes two years to develop a project and another year for it to appear in cinemas or on TV. "So it's a three-year cycle," says Harvey. "I hope the public get a sense that more is happening - bumping into film crews more often and sensing there's more opportunity to see more different kinds of films."

Projects in development include a film based on the story of John Simpson Kirkpatrick, a South Shields man who fought on the Australians' side in Gallipoli. "That's just one of the great stories this region has to tell that can translate to the worldwide stage."

The economic benefits of bringing film-makers into the region are great, as money is pumped into the local economy. If NFM puts money into a production, it can stipulate that the film-makers spend so much locally.

"For every pound they spend in a hotel, it goes towards people's wages and they spend in the region. It's a big injection of cash," he says.

Harvey believes the North-East has a lot to offer in exchange. "It has fantastic locations and is much easier to move around than elsewhere in the country," he says.

"People are much more open to films, and friendlier to film crews and what they're trying to do. They're much more interested in it. And here it's much easier to get to talk to the authorities about what's needed."

Published: 31/01/2004