A YEAR after getting his big break following 10 years of knocking on doors with limited success, Horwich writer Chris Lunt now exchanges emails with Simon Pegg, and spent an afternoon with Ricky Gervais.

Chris, who wrote the hit ITV series Prey, was named as one of Bafta's Breakthrough Brits in October last year and his profile within the industry has since rocketed.

The scheme involves Bafta delivering one-to-one mentoring, guidance sessions and networking opportunities for 12 months.

He is now in talks with a major Hollywood studio to write a feature film, and is in the final stages of creating sci-fi series Robot Overloads for Sky TV.

The father-of-two says being put onto the elite mentoring scheme for writers has opened doors he never dreamed of, and has since rubbed shoulders with James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli, as well as JJ Abrams, who directed the new Star Wars film.

All this came after he took redundancy from a graphics company, and used the money to allow himself to write full time.

Chris said: "When I met Simon through Bafta we were just talking about geeky things, and about how he is getting a cameo in the new Star Wars film.

"He is genuinely a really nice guy, I am glad to report.

"It was a long road for me, but professional writers are just amateur writers who never gave up.

"I remember being told no 99 times out of 100, but the Bafta scheme has helped me open doors and has helped me get more established in the industry."

Chris says his new projects are starting to move closer to his dream of writing science fiction, having been a huge fan of both Star Wars and Star Trek.

He said: "It is more difficult to pitch science fiction. Prey was a cop drama but it was also a thriller and I demonstrated that I could do the action properly, so that has helped me in that respect."

A second series of Bafta nominated Prey has been filmed, with locations including the Wilson and Co Vauxhall dealership in Manchester Road, and is set to be screened before the end of the year.

This series features Life on Mars star Philip Glenister as prison officer David Murdoch, who goes on the run and becomes the 'prey'.

Chris, a former pupil at Rivington and Blackrod High School, said: "I am going to be in New Zealand and Australia for all of December so I will have to catch up with it when I get back."

After benefitting from the mentoring of such A-list stars, Chris hopes that in future he will become an ambassador for the project and help other writers get the 'leg-up' he did.

He added: "I am quite an ambitious writer, and I want to go as far as I can and hopefully even be involved in a new Star Wars film one day. But it would also be great to put something back and help other people in my situation."