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New comedy teams announced for Fresh Blood

A whopping 364 applications were received for ABC / Screen Australia comedy initiative, and these are the 20 selected.


20 emerging comedy teams have been jointly funded in the latest Fresh Blood initiative by Screen Australia and ABC. A whopping 364 applications were received in total.

Each team will receive $15,000 to create 3 x 3-5min sketches and join a two-day workshop in June.

They include everything from slapstick to sitcom, game show, animation and mockumentary.

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.”

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.”

A new Fresh Blood season will launch on iview in the second half of 2017.

1800 Success
Genre Rowdy
Producers Aaron Chen, Henry Stone
Director Henry Stone
Writers Aaron Chen, Jonathan Lo
Synopsis 1800 Success follows two young schemers on the hunt for cash. Aaron and Jonathan need money. They always need money. This is because they’re poor little students who just want to buy textbooks and movie tickets and MDMA but they don’t want jobs because they’re also cheeky little millennials and jobs are oppressive. Each episode of 1800 Success finds them trying to lean on a subculture that they are affiliated with in order to make that crispy cashola and keep living their tasty uni student lives.

Bin Chickens
Genre Animation
Producers Nikos Andronicos, Dave Carter
Director Dave Carter
Writer Nikos Andronicos
Synopsis The animated adventures of three ibises who eat garbage and live life to the max in the jewel in Sydney’s crown, Darling Harbour.

Collective Noun
Genre Comedy
Directors Zach Mander, Michael Parente
Writers Zach Mander, Dom Fay
Synopsis Collective Noun is rebooting the ABC to be more relevant to millennials. This series of sketches will see the ABC line up adjusted to be more Gen Y focused. The ABC will have more smashed avo, more ride sharing services, and be more self-interested – just how millennials like it.

Freudian Nip
Genre Sketch comedy
Producer Bronte Rose Jovevski
Director Jenna Owen, Victoria Zerbst, Bronte Rose Jovevski
Writers Victoria Zerbst, Jenna Owen, Jess Bush, Geraldine Viswanathan
Synopsis Freudian Nip is a comedy collective from Sydney, and a champion high school cheerleading squad. After discovering its previous captain stole all their best routines from an inner-city school, they must scramble to compete at this year’s championships. May the best moves win.

Headswapsies
Genre Slapstick
Producers Bec Schultz
Writers/Directors Mitch McTaggart, Djovan Caro
Synopsis Two stupid scientists swap heads in a vain attempt to advance medicine, but instead just lose control of their bodies.

Ibis Queen
Genre Animation
Producers Melody Ha, Anna Bateman, James Hackett
Directors/Writers Nick Simpson, James Hackett
Synopsis The polar ice caps have melted and the Ibis Queen is a floating cruise ship that offers a world of infinite activities and entertainment. Captain Caveri is the debauched master of misrule on this vessel. She needs to watch her back as diving instructor Numa is trying to recruit the struggling musician Paul to help her sink the Ibis and create an aquatic haven for transgender dugongs.

Koala Man
Genre Animation
Producer/Director/Writer Michael Cusack
Synopsis Koala Man is about a local suburban superhero with no special powers but a strong and burning passion to snuff out petty crime and bring order to the community. Patrolling the streets in his 91’ Toyota Corolla, Koala Man is constantly on the lookout for trouble makers.

Leftovers
Genre Comedy
Producer Mark Ruse
Director Andrew Mills
Writers Pippa Mills, Helena Ruse, Andrew Mills
Synopsis Already world-weary in their early twenties, Pippa and Helena are a couple of young people struggling not to constantly embarrass themselves. Based on the experiences of its two stars and creators, Leftovers finds the satirical in the mundane lives of young people.

Let’s Break Em Up
Genre Street game show
Producer/Director/Writer Nath Valvo, Tandem Media
Synopsis Nath Valvo will hit the streets of Australia, hunt down unsuspecting couples and put their love to the test. If they pass the game they win nothing, if they lose they have to break up.

Mars 500
Genre Comedy sitcom
Producer/Director/Writer Lewis Hobba
Synopsis Mars 500 follows six astronauts pretending to travel to Mars in a fake space shuttle in Australia’s red centre. Their task is to answer a simple but important scientific question: can six people live in a tiny space shuttle for the time it takes to fly to Mars and back without killing each other? Inspired by real world events, Mars 500 tells the story of a ridiculous yet noble journey to nowhere, and the idiots who signed up for it.

No-One Suspected The Cat
Genre Animation
Producer Doug Bayne
Director Trudy Cooper
Writers David Collins, Rebecca De Unamuno, Carlo Ritchie
Synopsis Three improvisers enter a sound studio, three animated films come out. What will they even be about? We don’t know. Perhaps we never will.

The Angus Project
Genre Comedy
Producer Craig Anderson, Alessandro Zotti, Nina Oyama
Director/Writer Nina Oyama
Synopsis Angus Thompson is a 20 year old wheelchair bound university student with cerebral palsy who lives by himself in Bathurst NSW. Cerebral Palsy is a disease which affects motor skills, but not the brain, so Angus employs other students as disability carers to help him eat, study and clean…but most importantly, to help him party. This webseries is about Angus and his carers, and the hedonistic shenanigans they get up to.

The Big Day
Genre Comedy
Producers Laura Hughes. Carolina Sorensen
Director Bryan Moses
Writers Laura Hughes, Bryan Moses
Synopsis The Big Day is a series of 3 connected sketches that celebrate the ridiculous people who manage to make someone else’s wedding all about themselves. Laura Hughes will be bringing to life all three hilarious characters; the suffocatingly considerate bridesmaid, an aggressively enthusiastic groomsman, and the self-proclaimed ‘fun mum’ of the bride. The series will also star Shari Sebbens and Christiaan Van Vuuren.

The Lost Tapes
Genre Fake archival footage
Producers Penny Greenhalgh, Stef Smith, Josh Ladgrove
Director Stef Smith
Writers Penny Greenhalgh, Josh Ladgrove
Synopsis The Lost Tapes is an offbeat, unconventional comedy starring Penny Greenhalgh and Josh Ladgrove. The three sketches will be shot as fake ‘forgotten archival footage’ from various eras and genres; so wonderfully bizarre and funny you might just believe they’re real.

Tiger Cops
Genre Parody retro-cop
Producer Maria Tran
Director/Writer Adrian Castro
Synopsis Two mismatched cops Inspector Tiger (Maria Tran) and Detective Wombat (Steven Oliver) are on a mission to take down a Hong Kong crime lord, The White Ghost.

Too Pretty To Be Witty
Genre Satirical sketch
Producer Petra Lovrencic
Directors Petra Lovrencic, Fiona Gillman
Writer Fiona Gillman
Synopsis A pop song about a basic bitch, a movie trailer starring Hollywood’s most stereotypical cast, and a dating game show for the career-driven independent woman. In Too Pretty To Be Witty, Fiona Gillman plays three different “types” of women, satirising the generalisations created for them by modern media and society.

True Murder
Genre Parody true-crime documentary
Producer Erasmo Raimundo
Director Greta Lee Jackson
Writers Cameron James, Becky Lucas
Synopsis Every year hundreds of murders go unsolved – until now. Each episode, True Murder attempts to solve the most bloodcurdling, notorious (and 100% made up) crimes in Australian history. And every time, they fail embarrassingly and miserably.

Walk In My Shoes
Genre Mockumentary
Producer Mitchell Stanley
Director Peter Nizic
Writer Johnny Lahoud
Synopsis A decade after being disqualified from the Men’s 50km Race Walking event at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, race walking legend, Herbert Seaman, is making his much anticipated comeback with the help of his wife/coach, Sandy Seaman. Feeling positive after his public mental breakdown due to his emotionally shattering disqualification, Herbert’s training to walk again, striving towards that Olympic gold medal he desperately craves.

Why Are You Like This?
Genre Comedy
Producers/Directors Adam Murfet, Jesse Oldfield
Writers Naomi Higgins, Humyara Mahbub, Mark Samual Bonanno
Synopsis Why Are You Like This? is about two girls, Penny and Mia, who always say the wrong thing. As they inadvertently dissect the dark side of human nature – premises that are often taboo – they swiftly move through social interactions, leaving destruction in their wake, with anyone they come across being forced to pick up the pieces. Why Are You Like This? is a dark, dialogue comedy that is unforgivingly harsh, punchy and sharp.

Yeah Nah
Genre Comedy
Producers Madeline Kelly, Julia Corcoran
Directors Yasmin Suteja, Claudia Allison
Writer Kai Suteja
Synopsis A comedy about two millennial misfits stuck in a perpetual state of irresponsibility.

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