Comedy Heavyweights to Participate on UNTITLED Comedy Screenwriting Competition Panel
Competition Finalists Announced Tonight
Following a fantastic response to the UNTITLED Comedy Screenwriting Competition where 348 entries were received, the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival (JDIFF) in partnership with Bord Scannán na hÉireann/The Irish Film Board (IFB) are delighted to announce this year's selection panel. Cheryl Taylor, Comedy Controller of the BBC will join esteemed Comedy Agent Caroline Chignell (Dylan Moran, Eddie Izzard, The Mighty Boosh, Irish director Paddy Breathnach (Man About Dog, I Went Down) and Grainne Humphreys (Festival Director, JDIFF) in selecting the overall winner of the €12,000/€16,000 prize.
The 348 entries consisting of a one-page idea for a comedy feature have been whittled down to five finalist projects which will be announced at the festival opening tonight. The teams behind the shortlisted projects will be invited to write the opening scenes of their film over the duration of the festival and present their projects to the selection panel at a public interview chaired by Andrew Meehan (Development Executive, IFB) on Sunday 27th February 2011.
The event is open to the public and will take place at 1.30pm in the Dublin Writers Museum, 18 Parnell Square, Dublin 1. All are welcome.
About UNTITLED
The UNTITLED Comedy Screenwriting Competition will take place during the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival. It is a continuation of the successful 2010 Give Me Direction comedy screenwriting conference, presented by the IFB, in partnership with JDIFF. The conference was curated by Lenny Abrahamson (Garage), Sharon Horgan (Pulling) and Pat McCabe (Breakfast on Pluto) and featured major US filmmakers Bobby Farrelly (Dumb & Dumber) and Nicole Holofcener (Please Give).
The winning project will receive a First Draft development loan of €12,000 (€16,000 for a writing team) from the IFB. The four runners-up will win a season pass to Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2012.
About Cheryl Taylor
Cheryl Taylor has been the BBC's Controller, Comedy Commissioning since autumn 2009, she is the first Genre Controller to be based outside London. Before this, Cheryl was BBC Executive Editor, Out of London Comedy Commissioning where she was responsible for nurturing original comedy from the nations and regions, including Gavin and Stacey, Sunshine, Life of Riley and Lunch Monkeys. Prior to this she was Head of Comedy at Hat Trick Productions where she co-created Drop Dead Gorgeous and executive produced Worst Week Of My Life. She began her commissioning career at Channel 4 where she was responsible for Spaced and Black Books amongst others.
About Caroline Chignell
CAROLINE CHIGNELL (Chiggy) left University with a degree in Biology which lacked foresight for her eventual career direction. Having worked in theatre for four years working as an assistant to a theatre producer and co-promoting comedy tours back in the days of Alternative Comedy, she went on to set up a management company with Peter Bennett-Jones. Their USP (as it is now called) was to specialise in comedy which was at the start of its trajectory in business terms both through the medium of television, film and live. Peter was already managing Rowan Atkinson and Chiggy quickly signed Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer when they were performing their extraordinary show at the Albany Empire, Deptford. And so it went on, adding Eddie Izzard, Adam and Joe, Chris Morris, Dylan Moran, The Mighty Boosh, The League of Gentlemen, Tim Minchin, Ross Noble and Tommy Tiernan in the UK amongst many others.
About Paddy Breathnach
Paddy is one of Ireland's most accomplished comedy directors having directed two of Ireland's biggest box office hits - I Went Down and Man About Dog. Man About Dog was one of the highest grossing Irish films at the Irish box office having grossed more than €1.4million.