MY Feral Heart has all the right credentials for a hit feature film.

Not only do the award-winning director, writer and producer all have credible professional backgrounds in their fields, but the synopsis sounds as heartwarming as it does fascinating, and has all the right ingredients for the making of a truly beautiful story.

It is about a young, independent man, Luke, who has Down’s syndrome.

He is the carer for his mother, who suddenly dies. Luke is taken away and put into a rural care home.

He feels like a fish out of water as he doesn’t need caring for, so often sneaks out. It’s then that he makes an unusual discovery and stumbles across a wild and life-changing friendship.

The writer of this wonderful sounding work is Duncan Paveling, from Westcliff.

The director – Jane Gull – grew up in Rochford, and producer James Rumsey was originally from Hockley.

The star of the film, Steven Brandon, is from Mersea, and writing the film score is Bafter Award-winning composer Barrington Pheloung, who once lived in Westcliff but now lives in High Roding.

The rest of the leading cast are made up of Shana Swash (EastEnders), Will Rastall (Game of Thrones and Hollyoaks) and Pixie Le Knot (Game of Thrones and the Devil Inside).

Filming is to start at the beginning of November, in Stambridge, Rochford and Rayleigh.

Duncan’s first job in the film industry after he left college, was working for Bafta Award-winning composer Barrington Pheloung, the man who wrote the theme tune and incidental music for Inspector Morse, Dalziel & Pascoe and Truly Madly Deeply.

“I knew him on a personal level and when I left college he offered me a job to work as his musical assistant,” explained Duncan, 37.

“He was interested in my knowledge of film, more than the music side.

“I worked for him for a couple of years and am very proud to say one of those films we worked on was Hilary and Jackie, which was Oscar nominated – with Emily Watson nominated as best actress and Rachel Griffiths as best supporting actress.

“Then I did a few years freelancing for television, working on documentaries for places like the BBC or Tiger Aspect.

“I then ended up on Magnet Films, a company owned by the late Sir David Frost. That was when I learned a lot about writing. I developed a lot of projects for the UK Film Council, now the BFI.”

Duncan said he then decided – while still writing on the side and building up work – to have a career change and retrained as counsellor and therapist.

“A lot of my work has been with young children with special needs and behaviour difficulties, which is where I have had a lot of ideas for this film” he said.

By chance, a mutual friend of Duncan’s fixed up a lunch for him and his friend Jane Rumsey, a film director, who had started her career as a dancer and actress, but moved into directing theatre shows and short films.

One of those – Sunny Boy – had done particularly well, having been screened by Channel 4 as part of their Shooting Gallery season, as well winning Le Grand Prix du Jury at Entr’2 Marches in Cannes and being screened at the Festival du Palais, alongside the 2014 Palme D’or winner, Winter Sleep.

Duncan said: “We hit it off, and I showed her my scripts and she showed me her work. We started to discuss working together, so I pitched my idea to her for My Feral Heart.

“She liked the idea and we started to develop it a couple of years back, getting the cast and putting all the work in.”

The star of the film – Steven Brandon – has Down’s syndrome.

After a six-month-long search to find the right young man to play Luke, their perfect man was “right under their noses”, says Duncan.

He explained: “When we started the project we obviously knew finding the right person to play Luke was going to be a very significant part of the cast.

“We did a six-month search to find the right person. While we were still searching, Jane had gone along to do a workshop at the Mushroom Theatre Company, in Rayleigh, run by Penni Bubb.

“It is an all-inclusive theatre company, meaning disabled and able bodied people work and perform together.

“Jane had a view we might pick up some supporting roles, who could play people living in the care home. That is when she discovered Steven. She rang me to say, ‘I think we’ve found our Luke’, and sent some footage she had taken of him.

“Of course, we completely fell in love with him. He is a really unique personality – a wonderful talent, and we believe this will really come across in the film.

“He is an unknown, only having worked in theatre with Mushroom. This is his first feature film and he is very excited.”

Money to make the film has come from a crowd funding project, a Government share investment scheme and private shareholders.

“We have been really overwhelmed by the response from local businesses." said Duncan.

“The Trinity Hotel, in Westcliff, has been very accommodating, allowing our cast to stay over.

“We’ve also had great support from Steven’s farm in Rayleigh, Belinda Barnes, whose land and barn we will be using, and we’ve had great support from the Rankins family.

“On top of that, has been invaluable support from George Ioannou and Vanessa Conroy, from Stambridge and Rochford councils respectively, in relation to locations, which has again highlighted the growing community feel within the area.”

Shooting starts at the beginning of November, in Stambridge, Rochford and Rayleigh, with the UK and world premiere set to take place in London on March 21, 2015 – which is also World Down Syndrome Day – ahead of appearing at all the major film festivals.

“It all feels very, very good” said Duncan.