Steve Pratt discovers how 20-year-old Vicky Jewson raised £1.4m to make a film which puts an original spin on the legend of Lady Godiva

THE day after completing her A-level exams, Vicky Jewson sat down and wrote her first feature film. Three years later, against all the odds, the movie is set to open in cinemas. And she's still only 22.

She's not only written and directed Lady Godiva - a modern take on the story of the woman who rode naked through the streets of Coventry - but helped raised the finance and market the film.

"It's take three-and-a-half years which is quite short apparently for film-makers, but for a young filmmaker like me it seems an age," says Oxford born and bred Jewson.

She's known since she was very young that she wanted to make films. "I've always loved telling stories. I used to do plays with my sister, and then one day someone put a video in my hand," she recalls.

She was hooked, making her first short film, a Second World War drama called Lillys White, as a teenager. She even managed to get Nicholas Parsons to premiere the film, and he's continued to be a mentor through her second short film, spy thriller Boz James, and now Lady Godiva.

"I was always building up to making a proper film. I did two minifilms when I was 16, so I'd already been taking it quite seriously. When the National Film and Television School rejected me, I thought why not just do it - write and make a feature film," says Jewson.

When she sat down to write the screenplay what emerged was a modern take on the Lady Godiva story. "My dad put me on to the story and there's loads about it that no one has done before. It's more than about a naked woman on a horse," she says.

"I looked into it and it was quite an inspiring story. I thought, this is like the undiscovered Robin Hood.

"People are intrigued. Lady Godiva's husband was overtaxing the peasants and she was this normal woman who wanted him to lower the taxes and rode through the streets naked. Everyone turned away apart from peeping Tom, which is where the expression comes from."

Jewson did what a lot of 20-yearolds couldn't have done - she found the confidence to make a feature film in difficult conditions. "I had made films and was going to approach it like that, but I have to say that ignorance is bliss. I didn't know all the hurdles that had to be overcome and when you can't see them, they don't worry you," she says.

Her producer, Rupert Whitaker, was a newcomer to the movie business too, having previously worked in the restaurant trade.

She refers to something maverick film-maker Orson Welles once said, that you can learn to make a film in three days. Once you have the rudiments, surround yourself with a wall of experience.

First stop was Barclays Bank to ask for a £20,000 loan and "for some mad reason" they gave it to her. She used that to gather a team and stage a champagne reception at which she pitched the idea to potential investors. The ploy worked and she was filming within two months with a budget of £1.4m raised from private backers.

She plays tribute to her casting director for getting such a good group of actors together for the film.

Phoebe Thomas, who plays the modern-day Godiva, teacher Jemima Honey, is now a regular on BBC1's Holby City and leading man Matthew Chambers plays Daniel Granger in BBC1's Doctors.

Filming Lady Godiva in the summer of 2006 fulfilled all Jewson's dreams. "It was wonderful," she says. "I've had my moments of disillusionment but not when I was making my movie. My only regret is that in three years I've only been on a film set for eight weeks, which isn't enough for someone like me who loves making films."

The makers are co-ordinating the release themselves, despite everyone saying the film would be harder to sell than to make. "I've had an awful lot of rejection in the last six months, but that's good because it means I have had to learn about this end of the business," she says.

One piece of good fortune was having the film picked by the British Council for screening to 250 international buyers at the National Film Theatre in London.

The makers of Lady Godiva managed to secure the release of the film in 20 Showcase cinemas nationwide, including the one on Teesside Park, which is pretty good for an independent production. A deal for the DVD release has also been done. There are also hopes of selling the film to TV.

* Lady Godiva (PG) shows at Showcase cinema, Teesside Park, from tomorrow