If you are a newbie to the film industry dreaming of making your first movie, you will soon find out that it is difficult to find the cash to get your film off the ground. Where do producers go to get funding?

These days even so-called "low-budget" movies cost around the £1m mark to make, and the majority will not even recoup their costs, so you can forget about asking the bank manager to take a risk on you.

There are many routes to getting started, but unless you are independently wealthy or exceptionally well connected, none of it will be easy. It is highly unlikely that an unknown will be able to raise money without some sort of track record. The best way to get some profile is to make short films in the first instance and start taking them to film festivals."

Short films tend to be about 10-12 minutes long and can cost anything from £3,000 to £30,000 in exceptional cases. In many instances producers will pay for some or all of the production costs out of their own pocket.

There are a multitude of regional and national schemes, funds and competitions awarding some money to novices. Some give development money (which goes into refining a script) or production and completion funding.

A new producer whose first feature film is about to be taken on the international festival circuit, says: "Before approaching anyone for money for their project, producers need to have thought about who will go to see their film. It's about bums on seats. Financiers will want to know if it will make money. The same is true of commercial or art house movies. It's about finding an audience that means people will risk their money on it."

To read the full Guardian report, click here