New initiative launched

A £50,000 scheme to develop new female comedy writers and directors has been launched across England.

The iShorts+ Funny Girls project from Creative England will fund five film-making teams to the tune of £10,000 each, to make a short comedy film.

Leading producers Baby Cow and Big Talk are also involved in the initiative, and will offer expert industry tuition to those selected.

The cash goes to teams of film-makers, as long as the director or writer/director is female, and has not directed a film that had a theatrical release. A key criterion is that sketches, sitcoms and improv are ineligible –the money must be for a narrative, live-action comedy short, ideally between five and 15 minutes long.

Celine Haddad of Creative England said: 'We know that there is a wealth of female filmmaking talent out there but we also know that we need to see more of this diverse talent and their projects making it onto our screens. We don’t believe the difficulties achieving this in the wider UK film landscape speaks to an inherent lack of comedic talent, so much as a lack of opportunity.'

Click here for more information. The deadline is August 29.

Published: 15 Jul 2014