The idea of transforming a story from the pages of a newspaper into a movie came to me more than 10 years ago, when I first read about the one-armed bandit murder.
Convicted killers Dennis Stafford and Michael Luvaglio were seeking leave to appeal against conviction; protesting their innocence as they had done since their arrests in January, 1967.
The story had all the ingredients – murder, mystery, fast cars, beautiful women, great music, lots of cash floating around and links to the London underworld.
Now, more than 40 years after the murder which influenced the classic Get Carter, and almost 15 years since I first read the about the case, I have a final draft screenplay. This month I will take the project to the world's biggest film market, the Cannes Film Festival.
The film is based on the murder of Angus Sibbet, who worked for Sunderland-based Sunderland Social Club Services, run by tycoon Vince Landa (real name Luvaglio), the brother of one of the convicted killers.
The journey from newsprint to script has involved raising a substantial amount of development money and more than a dozen trips to London – the only place I could find a specialist film lawyer and accountancy firm.
It also happens that the film's director, Myles Thomas, is a true Cockney.
Myles crafted the script, along with award-winning writer Jon Gilbert, and the writing process has been overseen by myself and script editor and development consultant Paul de Vos.
The London link came about through Sunderland's Oscar-winner David Parfitt, who has guided me on the production over the past two years.
The film-making road to London has been one-directional because that is the way the industry is.
More than 100 London-based film production companies are registered for the Marche du Film (Film Market) in Cannes, where movies completed, in production, or even, like mine, in development, are bought and sold.
The deals done will total billions, not millions.


Putting the North East on movie-making map

The £300million film studio planned south of Seaham is a massively ambitious scheme which could put the North East firmly on the map.
All associated with the industry in the region will be given a massive boost if the development goes ahead.
And the North East has the potential talent and hunger to succeed in this most competitive of industries.A quick head-count reveals no fewer than 20 North East film companies attending Cannes this year – the highest number for any region outside London.
Companies include those based in Newcastle, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Berwick, Stokesley and even Wingate in County Durham.
All the companies, many of which have received development support from the regional film agency Northern Film and Media, have either got movies to sell or for which they need to attract substantial investment.
Many are looking for agents willing to enter pre-sales agreements for the rights to sell movies in certain territories (North America being the biggest), which would involve a down-payment which could get the production made.
Seaham's Wayne Thompson, of Wingate-based Eze As Pi Productions, and business partner Phil Clark, an American who lives in Newcastle, have nine films in development, three of which Phil is taking to Cannes.
These include Precious Cargo, an action movie based on real events with a budget of £1million, up to fantasy drama Icebreakers, which has a budget of £30million.
Wayne said: "The problem we have is that the North East is not recognised as a region for film-making. But people here are fed up with having to travel down to London to progress their projects.
"The plan for the new studio in East Durham is fantastic.
"The north of England has some real talented film-makers and some great scenery and locations, many of which lend themselves to period drama because the locations have hardly changed."
Chris Taylor, a producer at Newcastle-based Superkrush Films, produced Sub Zero, based in Middlesbrough, which was screened at the town's Cineworld Cinema.
He is taking two projects to Cannes – political comedy Maggie's World, adapted for the screen by playwrights and former journalists Trevor Wood and Ed Waugh, and comedy Life Is Swede, about a man's attempt to break the world turnip-throwing record.
Chris said: "We will be looking for a sales agent and a distributor and different forms of finance. At the moment there isn't a film industry in the North East, there just isn't enough finance or support."
Mark Lavender, of Newcastle-based RS Productions, has an "emotional thriller" feature film in pre-production (the step up from development), titled Midday Sun.
He said: "Cannes is a fantastic opportunity to meet a lot of people in the business in a short space of time. It is just a great place to network and try to move your projects forward."
Ed Skelding, of Newcastle-based Ed Skelding Productions, is attending Cannes to develop Bravest of the Brave, the true story of Australia's greatest war hero, South Shields-born John Simpson Kirkpatrick.
Ed told me: "I sent the script off to Ridley Scott's office and they have just responded by saying they like it.
"If we can get Ridley Scott interested, that's fantastic."
Ridley Scott was born and grew up in South Shields – thus Ed's efforts to link him to his proposed £14.5million budget movie about a Shields-born hero.
With the same kind of thinking, I approached Oscar-winner David Parfitt, who is now my production advisor.
Will any of the North East film-makers going to Cannes see their productions on the big screen?
This week I was sent a personal invite from a leading accountancy firm, specialising in film, to join them on a £20million yacht off Cannes for a drinks and canapés party.
Last year if someone had told me I would be receiving this invite, my reaction would have been straightforward …"Yeah, in your dreams!"
* Patrick Lavelle will be reporting from the Cannes International Film Festival, May 14 to 28, for The Sunderland Echo.