The Cannes film festival, now in its first week, conjures up visions of Michael Caine striding out of the Aeroport Nice-Cote d'Azur in the nattiest of suits, hailing a taxi in clipped cockney tones and cruising the coast road to the Croisette.But on the coat tails of the media luvvies, power-brokers and dollar-dealers, come the la wyers.One of London's leading film and television practices is Marriott Harrison, which will be sending three partners to do business during the Cote d'Azur's most manic two weeks of the year.One of them, David Norris, with more than 25 years experience working with the film industry, dismisses talk in the popular press of a Cannes boycott by the big US production companies.

'There may not be the usual swank, but there will still be the business,' he says.

And it is not all cocktails at the Carlton and falling off yachts.

'A multi-million dollar deal doesn't happen without the lawyers putting their noses in,' Mr Norris points out.

Taking the film festival very seriously indeed in 1994 is Theodore Goddard, a City-based firm with a strong media bent.

The firm has taken the innovative step of setting up a dedicated film festival office on the Croisette, manned by partner Mark Westaway and senior associate Keith Cousins, plus support staff.During the festival, most deals are settled on a heads of agreement or deal memo basis, with the long-form agreements settled when the parties have returned to their home countries.

'Cannes is important because all the main players within an industry are accessible within one square mile,' says Bob Storer of Harbottle & Lewis - another firm with a strong TV and film track record - who puts in five days at the festival.

'It's got a lot more serious than it used to be, and while 90-page contracts are not often signed at the festival, the seeds are sown for a lot of important business.'Denton Hall, London's major media law firm, makes use of 'checklist' contracts - basically skeletons of heads of agreement - as a means of making sure that something can be got down on paper between parties during the hurly-burly of the festival.

An important element is establishing at an early stage which jurisdiction will be the governing law for the negotiations or any subsequent agreement.According to Angela Jackson, entertainment lawyer with Denton Hall: 'The ten days are very intense and concentrated.

All the work that had been dragging along has the chance to come to fruition.' She adds: 'Cannes is the ideal moment to do business, but I think a deal has to be quite special for negotiations to be concluded.

Indeed, you shouldn't conclude a contract unless you really want to.

There is a great deal of posturing and that's why it helps to have a checklist as a framework.' A total of six Denton Hall lawyers from London make the trip to Cannes, plus lawyers from Denton International's associate firms in Holland and Germany.

A cocktail party at Le Voilier beach restaurant for financiers, film-makers and sales agents is a focal point for the firm.

And, on Monday, Denton Hall consultant Michael Flint is also taking the chair at a joint European Commission-American Film Marketing Association seminar on the commission's recent green paper on the future of audio-visual industry policy in the community.

'We are instrumental in getting people together,' says Ms Jackson.But law firms themselves cannot penetrate an industry like film 'cold', Mr Storer agrees.

The Cannes festival is the opportunity for professionals to network, get to know the personalities and understand how the business works.'It's all good fun, but I'll be absolutely knackered when I get back.

You are effectively on duty from breakfast until midnight while you're there,' Mr Storer says.

Ms Jackson shares this view: 'Business and socialising go hand in hand in Cannes - but you have to pace yourself.'But even in full schmooze, most senio r film industry figures will have their lawyers in tow as a matter of course.

Nonetheless, lawyers' time spent sipping dry Martinis is at a premium, Theodore Goddard's Mr Cousins insists, with clients pressing lawyers to work late into the night drafting agreements that can be seen by backers and producers the following morning.

In fact, the key role for lawyers at Cannes now lies in tying producers and proposed film projects up with the finance and distribution agreements required to get a picture off the ground.'If you are there to do non-Hollywood films, then you have to cobble together finances from a variety of sources, and lawyers are an integral part of that,' says Marriott Harrison's Mr Norris.

'Lawyers help glue the bits and pieces together.'And in a multi-media world, the number of elements that need to be soldered together is multiplying all the time - from cable channels and operators, through to distributors, merchandising specialists, producers, bankers and investors.

And while Mr Norris says business for law firms supporting the film industry has been patchy over recent years, he scents a whiff of improved economic circumstances in the Riviera's sea air.'My nose tells me there is going to be an upswing,' he says.