LIFE has started at 40 for writer John Metcalfe.

After 25 years of submitting film and television scripts without

success, Mr Metcalfe looks as if he has finally cracked it, a day after his 40th birthday.

Filming started last week on a short movie he co-wrote.

The 12-and-a-half minute film is set in no-man's land during the First World War and is the graduation film of London International Film School director and former actor Edward Hicks. Once completed Mr Metcalfe hopes the film will be screened at film festivals across Europe.

He said: "I was on the verge of giving up on my dream - I have had so many knock-backs and disappointments.

"I had submitted scripts to agents, TV and production companies and while I had received plenty of encouragement and was shortlisted for a number of scriptwriting initiatives, nothing even came close to being made.

"But out of the blue I received a letter from Mr Hicks last Christmas saying he needed scripts to complete his course at film school.

"We first met in 1987 when a script I had written about life in a Lake District boarding school had been selected for the Lloyds Bank National Screenwriting programme.

"Mr Hicks, then a young actor, was assigned to my project and we stayed in touch."

Mr Hicks had enjoyed a stop-start acting career, appearing in Michael Palin's films East of Ipswich and American Friends and episodes of Bulman, Casualty and Lovejoy, among others.

Mr Metcalfe, who lives in Restmore Avenue, Guiseley, said: "Edward was anxious for his career to take a new direction and so signed up for a directors course at the London International Film School where he made a short film called 'Lost' with actress Nerys Hughes and was the man responsible for singer Robbie Williams' video for the recent Jeans for Genes campaign. We hope to continue working together and we have a number of ideas for both short films and feature length films."

John Metcalfe is a sports reporter on the Halifax Evening Courier. He has also worked for the Scarborough Evening News and the Telegraph and Argus in Bradford. (42-018-AH)