EAST Lancashire could soon be giving Hollywood a run for its money thanks to a film produced by a former Blackburn College lecturer.

'Diary of a Bad Lad' is Jonathan Williams' low-budget mock-documentary about a businessman involved in property rackets, pornography, prostitution and drugs.

It is filmed in the same camcorder style as The Blair Witch Project, which became an international success in the early 1990s, and cost only £3,500 to make.

It will have its first screening in front of an audience in Manchester on Saturday as part of the independent Kino Film Festival.

Producer Jonathan is hoping the screening will attract a UK distributor and an international sales agent who would help the film reach cinemas everywhere.

The film tells the story of disgraced lecturer Barry Lick who attempts to make an expos on Blackburn's murky underworld with dire consequences.

Shot in Blackburn, Darwen and Great Harwood, the film stars some of the North West's best up-and-coming talent.

Jonathan's hopes are shared by the cast, who gave up their spare time to make the film in return for a slice of the profits.

Mr Williams, 56, of Parsonage Road, Blackburn, said: "There could not be a better time for this to come out. The Film Council is undertaking a project this Easter to install 150 screens up and down the country to allow them to show digital video as well as celluloid, which cuts the costs for independent film makers enormously.

"There will be a shortage of the product at the start so we're hopefully going to surf on the crest of that wave. This could be the Blackburn equivalent of the beginning of the Manchester music scene."

Mr Williams came up with the idea of making the film after illness meant he had to give up his job as lecturer in charge of video production at Blackburn College in 1997.

He first wrote the story as an 80,000-word novel then adapted it into a script.

Mr Williams said: "This is like nothing you will have ever seen before - we hope it will become a cult classic."

Mr Williams plays Lick, a film lecturer who has been suspended amid allegations of misconduct.

Blackburn corporate film maker Michael Booth, one of Jon's former students, directed the film, and also appears on screen as Lick's director.

The gangster is played by Tom Miller, a part-time actor who also runs a textile stall on Blackburn market, under his other name Martin Simmons. sHis sidekick is played by Bolton actor Joe O'Byrne, who has appeared in Channel Four's Queer As Folk.

Some scenes were shot in Jon's former home in Shear Brow and in the home and offices of local businessman John Sturgess, of M&G Plastics, Darwen.

Blackburn's flamboyant pub and club owner and Evening Telegraph columnist Margo Grimshaw also makes a cameo appearance.