A ST ANNES cinema usher is calling all the shots now as he sets about directing his first short film.

James Wolstenholme, of Coniston Avenue, St Annes, along with two friends Simon Morgan and Jemma Twist, start shooting a 20-minute film called Psycho Babble in August.

James, aged 18, has just finished an A-level in film theory at Preston College, and says he has always wanted to go behind the lens and make his mark on the silver screen.

And with a job at St Annes Pleasure Island cinema he is never too far from the films he loves. "I mostly like American independent films such as Clerks, which is directed by Kevin Smith, and I like a lot of early horror films -- especially John Carpenter," he said.

"I think it is that love of horror films which got me so excited about the script for Psycho Babble, which was written by a man called Colin Davies.

"Although it's only a short film it is quite a complex story with all sorts of twists.

"The plot centres around a serial killer, and what we wanted to do is show him in a very realistic way. "Often in big budget Hollywood films the serial killer is some kind of maniac, but we wanted him to be a very normal bloke next door -- which makes it scarier in a way."

James, pictured here working with a film reel, will be sharing directorial duties with Simon, and how to spend the film's extremely tight £2,000 budget is in the hands of producer Jemma.

The three became friends when they worked together at the Odeon in Blackpool.

"We are working on a very short schedule with probably only around four days filming," said James

"We are going to have to distribute it ourselves as well, so we are going to travel around the film festivals entering it."

But as far as premieres go, James has pulled off a bit of a coup -- his boss, the manager of Pleasure Island cinema, has decided to let him screen it there first.

"We are filming in August and then there is the process of editing which takes time, but we aim to have the film ready to show on Hallow'een," James added

If you would like to help him out with financing this film project, please call him on (01253) 781055 or visit the website on www.underground-film-works.co.uk