A couple of years ago, actually closer to three now, I  sat with a director friend, Mark Corden and bemoaned the fact that we should work together. Mark agreed. There was a lot of tequila involved. And a couple of other friends who egged us on. Six months later, I had written my first ever screenplay - a short film called 'The Shoot'. Three people, one terrible mistake, one act of revenge. I was committed to the cause, and from there we were busy with finding funding, crew and equipment.

 The cast of The Shoot (Sarah, Rob, Jordan) in a press release shot

We were lucky in what we found - Lee Kemp and Fullrange Media came through with the equipment and also a lot of the crew, including Director of Photography Ed Moore. Friends and family crewed for us and we had three actors who came to us through a variety of routes to play the three leads.

The filming was over two cold February days and we did have our problems - we ran out of time which meant less time on the latter scenes, the ones that (funny enough) are actually the first on screen. We had sound issues which meant that lines had to be re-dubbed and sometimes still can't be heard, we had a screenplay that (when recorded) was almost double the length of the estimated time.

But at the end of the day, we had a 16 minute film that had a beautiful and original score, a strong lead and a very polished direction. And the story was pretty damned good, too. It was something to be proud of, especially when you work out just how many of the 'professionals' working some of the roles were amateurs, or professionals that wore several hats.

Writer Tony Lee & Director Mark Corden in a press release shot

The Shoot was filmed two years ago, and was finished about a year back - but since then nothing has happened with it. Not by choice, but by situation. Of the three people involved from the start, Lee has found his company business taking off and has had to concentrate on that, Mark has become a director on Channel 5's The Gadget Show and that's taken preference and I started Doctor Who and moved to London. So we've all been a bit busy.

So when I had the chance to show The Shoot off on a public presentation, I jumped at the start. The fact that this public presentation is at Gallifrey One next month in Los Angeles just makes it even more terrifying. But if you're there, on the Saturday evening from 6pm, I'll be introducing and showing The Shoot for the first time ever to a public audience outside of Birmingham, our first 'LA Screening'.

I just hope that you like it.