Despair is what I felt when I failed to get a UK broadcaster interested. Determined and with nothing to lose I applied to Media for a development loan and got it. I was new to the European scene but embraced it with enthusiasm. I then applied to Eurodoc, by now in its second year and the project was selected. From there things gathered momentum and I found an interested German co-producer in Carl-Ludwig Rettinger, a team leader at Eurodoc. First to support the project financially was the Scottish Screen Lottery fund and at the last session of my Eurodoc course I pitched to ZDF/Arte and they came on board as co-funders. I negotiated pre-sales with the History Channel, NRK Norway, BBC Scotland and last but not least I was successful in being awarded Media TV Support funds. Script development was ongoing during this period and I was now all set to go into production. None of this was easy; the endless pitching, form filling (which I hate) revising budgets and writing the all-important shooting script was hard work, needing grit, determination and passion.

Eurodoc, in my case, was without a shadow of a doubt crucial in getting this film made. The participants and tutors gave the caring and enthusiastic support so necessary in the inevitable long haul of making an internationally funded feature documentary. And true to the supportive nature of Eurodoc this five-day screening in Cologne was a celebration of the completed films developed through the training programme during the last four years. There must have been sixty of us, an intriguing eclectic mix, including, producers, broadcasters, financiers, distributors and interested local producers. Seven films had been selected and 'Through Hell and High Water' was scheduled to be screened on the Friday afternoon.(Cont. on next page)