A UNIVERSITY of York student has reached the final stages of a national film competition – with a place in movie-making history up for grabs.

Ollie Wiggins is one of 30 people who have been shortlisted in The Pitch contest and must now wait until Monday to discover whether he will be in the final in London, where he would be up against nine other entrants.

The 21-year-old filmed a pitch to make a short movie from seven to 15 minutes in length called The Journey Home, which he described as a modern day retelling of the parable of the Prodigal Son from the Bible. If the English Literature student wins The Pitch, he will get to make his picture with professional cast and crew, before taking it to Hollywood for a meeting with producer Ralph Winter, of X-Men and Fantastic Four fame, who would watch the feature and give feedback on it. The piece would also be entered into at least one film festival.

Ollie, who lives in Tang Hall, York, said he was “absolutely delighted” that his effort had been shortlisted.

“I’m very excited at the possibility of taking this film further, but I’m just very pleased that I’ve got it this far,” he said.

Ollie said his pitch was shot in York – on the university campus and on a bus.

If he wins the competition, he would “love” to film the movie in the city, but does not know whether he would be able to decide the location. Asked why he chose the parable as the subject of his potential film, he said: “I think it is a story which is timeless and it is every bit as relevant today as 2,000 years ago.”

He said: “I came up with the idea myself and directed it myself, but I had people to help me shoot it and friends were in it as well.”

Ollie, who is from London, said filmmaking was an obsession of his.

“It’s definitely something I want to go into as a professional after university,” he said. The public is also able to vote for the pitches, and Ollie encouraged people to vote for his by visiting enterthepitch.com, where you can watch his clip.