28 03 2017 - Media release Introducing Fresh Blood's Class of 2017
Twenty sketch comedy teams have been selected as the 2017 recipients of Fresh Blood, the highly successful joint initiative between ABC and Screen Australia designed to unearth a new generation of comedic talent.
Each team will receive $15,000 to create 3 x 3-5min sketches that will be released on iview in the second half of 2017. In addition, all teams will benefit from a two-day workshop in June led by industry representatives where they will explore how to work towards a sustainable career.
Mike Cowap, Investment Manager at Screen Australia said: Fresh Blood is such an incredible opportunity for emerging comedy filmmakers. What quickly became apparent with this exciting new cohort many of whom were from diverse backgrounds was that so many of the talent had already built significant audiences on social media, with impressively risky, witty and weird comedy. We're thrilled to give these unique voices invaluable access to a major Australian broadcaster, and the opportunity to share their humour on a premier platform.
In total 364 applications were received by ABC and Screen Australia following the callout in December 2016. From the 20 teams selected: 20% of projects are animated, 60% had key team members who identified as being from diverse backgrounds; 60% of projects funded were from creative teams (writer, producer, director and protagonist) that were at least 50% female.
Lou Porter, Acting Head of Entertainment at ABC said: The first series of Fresh Blood unearthed some truly great talent both in front and behind the camera. We're so excited to be running this initiative again in partnerships with Screen Australia. It's a great platform to unearth new talent who are producing funny and compelling new content for our viewers.
Among the projects funded are:
LEFTOVERS from the sketch comedy trio of Pippa Mills, Helena Ruse and Andrew Mills, who have established their brand of comedy through YouTube and Facebook, amassing over 1 million views for their viral videos. A sharply observed social commentary about modern insecurities, Helena and Pippa playfully parody the lives and trending obsessions of young Australian adults.
Co-Writer/Director Andrew Mills said: This funding will allow us to expand on the world and characters we ve created in our online videos. We hope the financial assistance from Fresh Blood will allow us greater freedom in our storytelling and production values, something we ve long been aiming to achieve.
THE ANGUS PROJECT from writer/director/producer Nina Oyama and starring Angus Thompson, about a hedonistic university student who happens to have cerebral palsy. Angus employs his fellow students to help him with grocery shopping, studying and - most importantly to party like a legend. A challenging but warm take on life with a significant disability.
Nina Oyama said: I was introduced to Angus at university and I started working as his carer shortly after we met. We bonded mostly over our love of TV, and over the years we kind of realised we d never really seen a realistic portrayal of someone who has cerebral palsy in the mainstream media, and so together we started writing short comedic scripts about his life. We re grateful for Fresh Blood funding because it means we re finally able to broadcast his story on a bigger platform whilst also making a greater statement about diversity and ableism, hopefully while making people laugh too.
LET'S BREAK EM UP, a game show spoof from stand-up comedian Nath Valvo and Tandem Media. Valvo takes to the streets of Melbourne to find unsuspecting couples and put them to the love test' if they win the game there is absolutely no reward, and if they lose they have to break up on camera. Valvo mines the quiz genre with his trademark humour, peppered with everyday observations and a dash of social commentary.
Nath Valvo said: I m very grateful that Fresh Blood have the balls to back my gameshow idea! It s exciting and also very scary that it s someone else s money. More than anything Fresh Blood is going to force me to finally learn Excel. I d be lying if I said money wasn t the key factor in getting stuff made - having ideas you love is one thing but finding the cash to film pilots and get a crew together to make it look nice is really tough. The bar is so high now for online content - there s some YouTube stuff that s already broadcast quality so to be given help to get this idea in front of people is really great. There s some top notch sitcom and skit comedy around at the moment so I wanted to pitch something different. I ve been playing a live version of the game for a couple of years now and have always thought it would be a ridiculous TV show ... so ... I entered!
Absurdist comedy 1800 SUCCESS about young schemers, Aaron and Jon, who will do just about anything to scrounge up some cash - except get a job, because they're sassy millennials who think jobs are oppressive. Aaron Chen and Jonathan Lo will write and star, with Henry Stone directing.
Henry Stone said: Aaron and Jon are undeniably funny and they are using this as an opportunity to get a real-world education in how to speak the language of the baby boomer commissioning bureaucrat. For this I have made them defer their university degrees.
Jon and Aaron add: "Henry our director is a total psycho and keeps making us recite what he calls his industry truths . We think iview is cool and Screen Australia is futuristic. We like doing our private comedy for new friends."
Following the iview broadcast, ABC and Screen Australia will select four teams to progress to the second phase of Fresh Blood in 2018 who will receive $75,000 to produce a full pilot episode. Previous Fresh Blood recipients include Aunty Donna, Fancy Boy and Wham Bam Thank You Ma
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28 03 2017 - Media release Introducing Fresh Blood's Class of 2017 
