I have always had a creative bent. When I was young I wanted to be a writer and was obsessed with Agatha Christie, but I got confused looks when I said I wanted to be a writer, I guess I should have said I wanted to be a fireman!

I have always had a passionate love of animals and an inner feeling of duty to protect them so I spent my youth and early college years hoping to become a vet and then took a dramatic turn towards film. I can see all of my early influences in my love of wildlife and an appreciation for a good detective story, which is what the cahow story is, but you will have to see the film to see what I mean.

Q: So how do you go about becoming a film-maker?

A: I took a non-practical degree in communications (film theory, etc.) at Tulane University in New Orleans then worked at VSB for a year where I was taught linear editing. I then did a one-year graduate degree at the University of Bristol, an MA in Film and Video Production.

I think it's important to have a skill so after that I worked as a freelance editor in England for a few years and did a lot of unpaid jobs on fiction films. I don't think I could be a film-maker without my experience as an editor ? it was formative.

Then I taught myself Final Cut Pro, saved up, bought my first system, my father bought me a camera, and I moved back to Bermuda, and here I am.

Q: Why did you want to become a documentary film-maker rather than work in feature films?

A: I love all films, but documentaries are far more resonant.

For one, they are true and they are a distinctly creative medium. I think as a film-maker you have a responsibility to tell the truth but it can only really be from your perspective. Every choice you make in a film informs the story, so although I believe in responsibility I don't believe in objectivity ? it doesn't exist.

There are all sorts of types of documentary ? personal, wildlife, activist, historical.

Q: What inspires you to choose a particular subject to film?

A: The films that I want most to make are heavily story-based ? the most important thing in any film ? and contain stories that are better than fiction.

I made a short film about a murder mystery which was an unbelievable story of a man who was shot in a cinema at the same time as a shot rang out on film, masking the sound and letting the culprit get away with murder.

I also seem to be drawn to complex storylines ? stories with a lot of things happening all at the same time ? as is the case with . You have the cahow's story and legend, you have (former Government Conservation Officer) David Wingate's parallel story, the environmental story of Bermuda, and the emerging story of (current Government Conservation Officer) Jeremy Madeiros. Then in the detective sequence you have all the other people coming together figuring out pieces of the mystery of the cahow.

Most of all, I like to tell stories that are inspiring. I feel an absolute purpose in my life to do this. above anything else, is an inspiring story of survival, and let's face it, it's unbelievable ? who rediscovers a bird that has been extinct for 300 years?

It seems like something out of but it's real and it has a powerful message for conservation. We are telling a success story but also a moral story about the long-term commitment to conservation.

As we can attest to after Hurricane Fabian, which is a big part of the film, the cahow is not safe yet. With global warming the cahows might have the biggest challenge ahead of them. So in the future we will need ten David Wingates and ten Jeremy Madeiroses and really that's why I am making this film.

Last but not least, I am a Bermudian and I want to tell local stories. First of all, there are lots of them and they are important to everyone here. I can remember as a child my father would take us out to Nonsuch in the summers with David's permission and David would take us around the island.

I remember being afraid to walk on the south beach for fear I would tread on a clutch of turtle eggs. Experiencing the wonder of Nonsuch as a child is an amazing story ? one that was fun to tell in through Karen, one of David's three daughters.

I believe there is a need for local material and reflection in Bermuda. For instance one of the most rewarding things about making is being able to give Bermuda, and David and Jeremy a tool to educate people about the cahow. Most people have never even seen a picture and have no idea what a cahow looks like, and it's our national bird!

There is also the practical side to choosing a subject. Firstly, there has to be an audience for your film, and hopefully an international audience. is designed to appeal to Bermudians and Americans and everyone all over the world.

In fact, the US government say that there are 50 million Americans who consider themselves birdwatchers ? that is an enormous potential audience. And with the recent success of , and along with the rediscovery of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker, I feel the stage is set for . (In honesty all these things happened while I was working away at the film).

You absolutely must believe in the film's potential but you also have to be prepared to make it.

In hindsight, it was probably stupid to start with a wildlife film for my first feature because they are harder, especially when you are trying to film a nocturnal bird. We did have technical issues but in the end we got what we needed - all the important shots.

It's also very expensive to make any kind of film and it's time-consuming, both of which are important issues to consider. I haven't been persuaded to change my career yet as I have another Bermudian feature documentary which I have already set about developing.

Q: How long do your films normally take to make and what's the process from initial concept to finished article? How long do you spend actually filming, and how much more time do you have to put in post-production?

A: A long time is the short answer. From first day of work to last day of work it took two-and-a-half years to complete althoughI was thinking about it way before I started and will be working on outreach and distribution for at least another year ? maybe in total it will be four years, two-and-a-half of which was almost full time.

This is really heartbreaking to aspiring film-makers ? two-and-a-half years is really fast for an independent film. In the US independent documentaries take about three years to get the funding on board and another two years before it is complete ? that's five years.

Many more take much longer. However, I do know one Canadian film-maker who makes three films a year. Actual filming with my cameraman we shot for six weeks for in three, two-week blocks.

However, I was shooting for who knows how long all throughout the year to capture the bird at different stages of its life and also all through post production when we suddenly needed another shot. II would fly back to Bermuda from Boston and Washington, DC where we were editing, and film it.

We have about 80 hours of tape, most feature documentaries are in the region of 80-100 hours and is 80 minutes long so we have about an 8-1 shooting ratio which is expected.

Post-production is where your budget just disappears. We edited for almost one year when I thought it was going to take four months ? I was a bit off on that estimation. Just to get 80 hours of tape onto a computer took six weeks. My editor was digitising while we were on our last shoot last spring I was paying my editor $2,000 a week so that's where a lot of the money went.

On top of that there's all of the development and fund-raising which is is very time consuming. I asked almost every big company in Bermuda and many of the smaller ones, and many of my donors are individuals. I tried cold calling and it was a pretty miserable experience ? "Hi my name is Lucinda Spurling and I am very brilliant. Will you give me lots of money to make a film about the cahow?"

It's extremely difficult but I am proud I did it all by myself, without any help, except from my sister who edited my proposal and gave me a few pointers.

Q: What's your role within Afflare Films? Is it actually your company? When was it set up and how many people does it employ?

A: Afflare Films Ltd. was only just set up as a company during production ? it is only me ? and the motivation for incorporation was to have limited liability and to separate myself from the films, because it's a risky business.

I am the only employee and I don't really get paid for the work on . I am the producer and director. I often hire Robert Zuill on a freelance basis. He has his own company but does a lot of camera and sound recording for me.

There are a few more interesting things about the people who worked on that I think I should mention. There is no way you can make a film by yourself and they really worked hard.

My editor, Connie Rinehart, was a long-time editor and now runs her own boutique production company. She has won two Emmy Awards.

My composer Lenny Williams has I think about four Emmy awards. He got the last one this year with Dave Hurley my sound mixer, so I had the honour to work with an award- winning crew.

I have had no training in business but my family is full of corporate lawyers so I get a lot of advice. It's a learning curve for me, for sure. The most important thing is to keep good records, and I am meticulous, I don't throw away anything.

I am messy and people might be tempted to think I am disorganised but actually I'm the opposite ? I live and work in an organised chaos. Accounting is always a worry but it's not all that time consuming yet ? perhaps I should answer that after I have had my first AGM.

Q: Where does your funding come from? Is financing a permanent headache? Do you have budget limitations, which have had an adverse effect on your work, such as not being able to obtain a piece of equipment or visit a particular location?

A: Yes, yes, yes. It's awful really, but that's not a complaint ? I have had so much support. The first thing people wonder is, how do you raise money if you're not a charity? What I do is a common practice in the United States for documentary films ? you pair up with a charity sponsor.

My charity sponsor is the Bermuda Biological Station for Research and I raise funds under their auspices, which then funds the production costs. So what's in it for them? They have their name attached as a sponsor and I work closely with them after I finish to see how they might want to use the film.

But that is also dependent on distribution ? what happens to the film after we finish. The bottom line is I do all the fund-raising myself ? that's the deal. The problem with fund-raising is you never know if you will be able to meet your target, or if your target will be enough. In the beginning of , I budgeted $300,000 with an included $50,000 contingency.

My safety net is also myself. I have an editor and, as I said, that's the really expensive part, although I could edit it myself.

But I would probably be finishing in a few years from now if I had to go that route and having another person's creativity and perspective is an asset and my editor, Connie is an amazing and talented woman.

So we were lucky and we seemed to get another donation right at the fatal moment. Even towards the end I had to go back to my sponsors and ask for more money ? something I desperately did not ever want to have to do. Luckily, Shell, Bank of Bermuda Foundation and Zurich came to the rescue and we made our target of $300,000.

We are at the fabulous end of our project but I am in debt by about $15,000 on my credit cards. I know that people must think $300,000 is a lot for a film but it's not ? a low-budget film for fiction is anything under about $8 million. Documentaries cost less, but it's still a film. I have dreams about what I could do with a million-dollar budget!

One of the other terrible expensive parts of making a film is stock footage and photography ? the use of one still image from the Bermuda Archives costs $250 plus duplication costs. Also equipment is an issue.

To rent something for a few weeks, with the travel expenses, costs so much it's sometimes worth it to just buy the equipment. The reasons for finishing in debt are not that I didn't budget enough money or another error, but that the project really got more and more ambitious as we went along.

Like I said before, I didn't get paid for any of my work, which puts me in a unique situation. I was able to do this for a few years because of the generosity of my family ? living on a family compound and paying no rent.

The budget of the film paid for my health insurance, and the rest of my expenses were paid for by editing commercials on the weekend and a few historical short documentaries I did in the down-time in the first year or so but when post-production started I couldn't do much other work.

Oh yes, I don't have children and I had no social life for a few years so I could afford to not have any money. That's my investment in film. Now that the film is done I can go back to doing other work while trying to distribute and develop my next project.

If the film is ever sold to a distributor then that money will pay off my debt, pay off stock footage rights, pay off deferred fees to people who worked for less than they normally charge and will then go into outreach of the film. We really hope this happens.

And for my next project, I will hopefully employ or convince someone to help me fundraise because as I said before it's very difficult to fundraise for yourself.

Q: What are your ambitions for both yourself and ?

A: The dream of every film-maker today is to have their documentary theatrically released. That's my dream for myself and . I think is a magical story, like a great love story ? it is about survival over amazing odds.

Therefore, I want the most people possible to see . If we can't get a distributor I will do it myself, what they call "guerrilla marketing". I also hope the film will show on cable TV in the US and countries all around the world.

Last but not least, I hope every Bermudian will understand the struggle of the cahow even better ? and I hope I never hear anyone say, "What's the point of trying to save an almost extinct species?" I hope that someone who watches will be inspired to follow in the footsteps of David and Jeremy.

The first thing we do after finishing is try to get the film accepted at film festivals. While entering into film festivals I will be trying to get a publicist to create a buzz about the film and I also will need an agent to help find distributors.

Hopefully, I find a distributor ? if I don't, it's back to the drawing board. I may directly approach or the BBC to show the film ? beyond that I can distribute a DVD via Amazon, and travel the education circuit, screening the film for activist groups, colleges and schools internationally.

We hope to premiere at BIFF (Bermuda International Film Festival), but they have yet to announce their line-up. I want the film to reach the biggest audience possible. In my mind, there is no point making a film if nobody sees it.