An aspiring filmmaker from Chingford is one step away from having her film professionally critiqued by Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm writer Larry Charles, having reached the finals of a national competition.

Actress and comedy writer Alexis Strum has previously starred in Persona, a drama series only available on mobile phones, and has acted alongside Sir Ian McKellen and Richard E Grant.

She wrote and starred in the surreal six-minute comedy Shoes, about a terrible waitress, after becoming disheartened by comedy scripts she was sent.

The film is now in the finals for Shooting People's Film of the Month. The winner, determined by viewer votes, will be announced next Friday.

She said: "I wrote the film after having some terrible experiences with bad customer service. And I was sick of reading unfunny scripts I was sent to act in, so I decided that like Miranda and Ricky Gervais before me, I would write a role for myself. I wrote the script, then approached Jewish actor Steve Furst, who has appeared in Little Britain and Skins.

"I then courted a few directors before I secured BBC director Dermot Canterbury to make the short film and I am currently entering it into worldwide film festivals."

Ms Strum said she was desperate for Borat writer Mr Charles to see her film, describing him as "my idol."

She added: "However, the real plan for Shoes is to find a producer to help me turn it into a TV series."