Oriented photopolymer films were obtained by using electric field alignment of the cinnamoyl side groups near the glass transition temperature of poly(vinyl)cinnamate (PVCN) followed by photo-polymerization using unpolarized UV light. In this way the induced anisotropy could be fixed and was subsequently shown to lead to a well aligned liquid crystal texture. The combination of electric field and UV light offers a solution to the pretilt angle problem for photo-aligned substrates.