The LPF has three areas of film funding: develop-ment, production and completion. The LPF awards up to £3,000 for development, and up to £15,000 for production and completion. "The majority of filmmakers apply for the maximum, I suppose it’s only human nature, but often the budgets don’t correspond to the proposals" says Maggie.

Maggie wants to support a variety of work, and proposals are judged on creativity and originality. She considers the strengths of the previous work submitted, the likelihood of realizing the production within the budget, and whether the film can get distribution. She likes to see productions that will "have a life outside TV" in festivals, galleries, other spaces. Awards can help people onto the next rung of the industry ladder, she says. "It’s rare to fund filmmakers more than once, but if the idea is strong, and if it isn’t a project which should be financed wholly from other sources, then we may support it."

The LPF often works in partnership with other regional organizations and has co-productions with European and American partners. In the UK, the lottery has encouraged match funding, enabling the LPF to be a lot more ambitious in selection. "Take Natasha Dack, Tiger Lily Films, for instance, with Malcolm Venville, as director - a very good combination. We gave her £3,000 to develop a piece which gets her to first draught. Natasha and Malcolm are London based, and their writer is from Scotland which helped them to get Scottish Screen money too.

Then they were lucky enough to get on the First Film Foundation ‘New Directions’ scheme which takes people off to LA and New York to pitch their ideas."

Maggie only has a small office in the London Film and Video Development Agency. She started with the Fund in 1993 and still talks with real enthusiasm about teams of directors, producers and writers she’s worked with. "What kept me here is the selection of work and the variety of filmmakers. It’s been a huge learning process in terms of what’s out there in the independent sector. It’s absolutely brilliant when you succeed - it’s such a joy when you see people moving on. It just needs one person to take the risk of putting money in to something new and challenging, something that will make a mark. Most of the shorts we’ve funded get picked up - by Shooting Gallery [C4], cinemas, and festivals. You want to reach audience, but when you commit finance, it’s always a risk."

Eighty per cent of film makers are London-based and competition for funding is fierce. The LPF has just received almost 300 applications for production. Most arrived half an hour before the 5 o’clock cut off...