We have now seen all the Funny Women Stage Award 2017 entries in 25 heats across the UK, so now it’s time to turn our focus to the other Awards in the competition, including the Funny Women Comedy Shorts Award.
“To celebrate this being the 15th year of Funny Women, we’re reflecting the ever-increasing relevance and importance of film and online video as a route to success, by making 2017’s Comedy Shorts Award much bigger and bolder in scope,” comments Becky Singh of Funny Women’s advisory board. “This will be the competition that really could be the winner’s big break into the industry.”
We’ve handpicked a panel of the UK’s top comedy TV and film industry experts to judge this year’s entries for the Comedy Shorts Award and we’re delighted to announce our first judge will be writer, producer and star of hit TV series GameFace, Roisin Conaty!
Our other judges include: director of Avalon Entertainment and TV executive producer, Rob Aslett; TV comedy and development producer at Wicked Little Critter, Baby Cow, Phil McIntyre, Richard Grocock; Merman co-founder and executive producer Clelia Mountford; Underwire Film festival director, Anna Bogutskaya, commissioning editor for Comedy at BBC, Kate Daughton and assistant editor for comedy at Channel 4 Laura Riseam.
We’re also really excited to announce that we have partnered with Comedy Central UK. Our top 10 finalists will be given the opportunity to have their film hosted on Comedy Central’s website & digital platforms for the UK’s comedy viewers to see!
“It is so exciting to see how the Comedy Shorts have grown since I created the new category in 2014,” says Kate Stone, editor of Funny Women, “I cannot wait to see all the entries this year!”
The overall winner will receive her award at a special Comedy Shorts screening of all the Comedy Shorts Award finalists’ films at the Vault Festival in London. She will also be mentored by a leading comedy video expert and may be invited by Funny Women and Comedy Central to develop or be mentored on their next break-out online series.
“This is an incredible opportunity to be seen by the industry and with those prizes it’s going to be an amazing competition,” says Becky, who has been working with Comedy Central to develop the partnership. “I believe that women have an amazing capacity for comedy and there’s no better time to show this on screen.”
So, Funny Women of Britain and Ireland, it’s time for action. The deadline for entry has been extended to 31st January 2018 and all the details are here.
