Actress Kate Madison, a fan of the Lord of the Rings (LOTR) trilogy, spent six years and her entire life savings creating a prequel to the films.

True love: Kate Madison

Madison (31), spent u00a325,000 (Rs 18 lakh) on the film, Born of Hope, which has already been watched by more than half a million people on YouTube. The story was inspired by just a couple of paragraphs written by JRR Tolkein in the appendices of The Lord of The Rings.

"The film has gone down really well with the fans and some say it is even better than the Peter Jackson movies which is amazing," she said.

Madison decided to make the spin-off after seeing a fan film competition advertised online. "I didn't know much about LOTR until the Peter Jackson movies came out Then I spotted something online in 2003 about a LOTR convention, which was going to do a film fan competition and got the idea," she said.

The competition wanted fans to create a five-minute film in the style of Jackson's trilogy, but Madison made far more ambitious plans.

"I advertised for actors and got more than 100 CVs" she said. Kate joined the Cambridge Filmmakers Network and then decided to give Born of Hope another go. She spent her savings on the project and raised another u00a317,000 (Rs 12 lakh) by posting a trailer on YouTube appealing for donations.

She spent all her u00a38,000 savings on the project and raised another u00a317,000 by posting a short trailer on YouTube appealing to fans for donations.