Free telephone access, which has at last arrived, is expected to bring about mass usage of the Internet in the UK.

Increasingly consumers around the world are comfortable with communications technology.

However, uncomfortable problems are arising for the moguls wishing to seize the truly enormous opportunities.'The biggest question facing us is the effect of the Internet on film distribution - it threatens those who rely on home video and television for income, half the total revenue for the film studios,' says Mark Devereux, a partner at London media and entertainment law firm Olswang.

'The strength and the power of the Internet is a global issue - how do you handle it so that it is a source of good?'The studios that matter are based in the US.

They make and frequently distribute films that dominate the British multiplexes.

The film industry in America is 30 times larger than its British equivalent, and when it catches a cold the snuffles quickly make their way across the Atlantic - US films are now often made in this country.'There are many advantages in making a film in Britain, including the tax regime and expertise,' explains Jacquie Hurt, a partner at London firm SJ Berwin.

Mr Devereux agrees.

'Britain has excellently trained heads of department -- wonderful lighting, camera and costume people, for example, and we have the National Film and Television School supported by the media and entertainment industries.'So whether or not Hollywood will ultimately rise to the new challenges matters to many people in Britain.

Frank Bloom, now a consultant at Marriott Harrison and a practitioner in the field for almost 40 years, says the Internet will make no difference to the structure of the film business.

'The owners of the movies are going to control the exploitation of it, however it is distributed.

The actual process of movie-making will still be there, and anyway people like going to the cinema as an experience with other people - they like the big screen.'Although cinema-goers in British multiplexes will probably be watching a US movie, the work of the British film lawyer will normally centre on British films.

The size of the budget - most British films are made for less than £10m - directly affects the film lawyer, whose fee comes out of the money the film's producer has managed to raise.Richard Moxon, a partner at London firm Davenport Lyons, a leader in the field, says this explains why the larger commercial firms do not offer a film law service.

'We are a relatively small community, because one is always working to a budget.

There is a fee in the budget the producer has to find.'According to Mr Bloom, the producer plays the largest role in any film.

'The art of this business is in finding the project and finding the finance,' he says.

'The producer is the hub of a wheel with many spokes, and essentially the person who will make the decisions that drive the project.'The crucial deal is normally selling the project to a distributor.

This is the surest means of attracting finance, but the credibility a producer needs to do this is not easily acquired.

'It obviously makes a big difference if a producer is carrying a letter of commitment from Harrison Ford,' says Mr Moxon.Indeed, it is not impossible for a first-time producer with a good script to secure the services of a star such as Kevin Costner, who has been known to make a big-budget studio movie on condition that the studio agrees to fund the project.

In the absence of a sale to a commercial distributor, a British producer will probably have to pursue the Arts Council, British Screen, Channel 4 or the BBC.'There are many ways to finance a film,' says Mr Devereux.

'A producer might have a few thousand pounds in his own pocket, or the Enterprise Investment Scheme might help.

There are local subsidies around the globe that can be assessed, or the movie could be pre-sold to a big studio.'A solicitor can help the producer find a distributor.

Ms Hurt, who has worked on films made in Britain such as Hilary and Jackie and Sliding Doors, as well as the forthcoming House of Mirth, starring Gillian Anderson, says: 'If a producer came to me and said they had such and such a project, I could say that a particular sales agent might be suitable.

I would never read the script in order to make a judgment, as that would not be my role, but if for example there was a front-rank star, I would be able to nominate a suitable sales agent with relevant experience in dealing with distributors in a particular territory.

Other sales agents would perhaps specialise in art-house films and have different expertise.'The sale to the distributor unlocks the crucial loan providing the money to make the film, and solicitors can help here too.

'Some financiers do not deal in film finance because it is a high-risk business,' says Ms Hurt.

'Guarantees from distributors are not cast-iron as they do not cover all eventualities, and anyway distributors can go bust.

I would be able to put a producer in touch with a financier, although I would not represent the producer in any such approach.'In 1997, the Labour government introduced a tax concession designed to have the effect of encouraging better cash flow for makers of British films.

Provided a film qualifies as British within the meaning of the Films Act 1985, and provided that the purchase falls within relevant tax regulations, a purchaser of the film, normally a group of wealthy individuals, can write off the costs of purchase against tax.

In return the producer, under a sale/leaseback arrangement, secures a financial advantage he would not otherwise have had, a net benefit typically of 8%, which can be used to make another film.

To prove the film is British, it will have to meet the requirements set out in Schedule 1 to the Act, and a certificate of 'Evidence of British Nature of a Film', obtainable from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, is conclusive that the film does.But the regulations mean that this help is available only to producers who have completed a film, and therefore who have already found a distributor for it.

Distributors, naturally, will only buy the film if there is a good chance it is going to appeal to the cinemas.

As the market atomises, distributors will be more discriminating, and lawyers will have to react.'Distributors can acquire all rights to all territories, or they can restrict it to some territories and not others,' says Ms Hurt.

'They can equally have rights to all media, or they can specify a mixture of film, Internet, book publishing, and the like.'But the focus will remain on the core product, the movie.

Nothing will sell unless the movie does.

'You need at least one of three things - a great story, a star cast, or a top director,' says Mr Bloom.

'Movies are driven by one of these things, and if you haven't got one, you haven't got a prayer.

British movies need a good story, as they will usually have no cast and no director, but stories are not strong enough, which is why most British movies go str aight to TV.'Film lawyers may be movie fans - though it is not compulsory - but in the end they are in the business of tying down project finance, and cannot afford to be star-struck.

'If you think there is a lot of glamour about the work of a film lawyer, you get disappointed pretty quickly - a lot of it is drafting documents and being a scribe,' says Ms Hurt.

But she says the role of the lawyer in negotiations and meetings is often crucial.

'You do get the deal done - very often it's you who makes the difference.'None of these lawyers has attended an Oscars ceremony, and though stars often contribute to negotiations, personal contact with outside lawyers is seldom necessary - they have their own lawyers, and beyond that there are agents and accountants and often a manager too.Occasionally a lawyer will see enough of a star to become friends - for example, Malcolm McDowell, who starred almost 30 years ago in A Clockwork Orange, shortly to be on release for the second time, is friendly with Leon Morgan, a partner at Davenport Lyons, who has been a house-guest of McDowell's in California.

But the 'wrap' party - to celebrate the end of filming - is usually as close to the stars as a solicitor gets.Ms Hurt recalls being in the same room as Gwyneth Paltrow and Hugh Grant, and Mr Devereux has been at parties attended by Meryl Streep, Sean Penn and Madonna, but, as Ms Hurt says, by that stage the lawyer's role is over.However, it is equally clear that there is a special satisfaction in being involved in a movie.

Mr Bloom, whose career is studded with films such as That'll Be The Day, Chariots Of Fire, Notting Hill, and Bugsy Malone, says: 'It's not just making widgets, which would not have interested me.

I've had masses of fun.'