Fresh Blood 3 recipients
Ten new creative teams have been tasked with writing and producing a short-form comedy video series by ABC,
- Published by David Knox
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ABC has announced ten teams in the first round of productions in its Fresh Blood 3 comedy initiative.
Teas were selected in 2023 from a staggering 400 submissions and tasked with writing and producing a short-form comedy video series. Across January and February 2024, the projects have each had a premiere via the ABC iview YouTube channel, and the creators’ own social media platforms. They can be viewed on the ABC TV + iview YouTube channel.
Fresh Blood is a joint ABC and Screen Australia initiative designed to unearth the next generation of creative talent behind and in front of the camera. It has previously helped launch the careers of some of Australia’s best comedy writers, directors, and performers, including Aunty Donna, Nina Oyama, Freudian Nip, Fancy Boy, and Skit Box.
ABC Head of Entertainment Rachel Millar said: “It’s been a joy to watch the rollout of the first stage of Fresh Blood’s class of ‘24. It’s so exciting to see how diverse these projects are, with such a wide range of fresh comedic voices and stories being told across the ten projects. The future of Australian screen comedy is in safe hands!”
Screen Australia Head of Online and Games Lee Naimo said: “Fresh Blood continues to be an incredibly successful platform for supporting and showcasing Australia’s emerging comedic talent. Each of the teams have brought their unique perspectives to their projects, and we couldn’t be more excited about the impact that will have on the future of Australian storytelling.”
In the next stage, teams will submit a treatment for a six-episode series to an ABC-Screen Australia judging panel. Up to three creative teams will develop their projects into a longer pilot, between 20-27 minutes, with the potential to be commissioned by the ABC as a series. The successful teams will each receive up to $400,000 (up to $200,000 from Screen Australia and up to $200,000 from the ABC) for the development and production of their pilots.
Bad Ancestors
Team: Wendy Mocke, Rizcel Gagawanan, Jessica Magro and Vanilla Tupu
Synopsis: Best Friends Norah and Charli must spend their afterlife providing ancestral guidance to young black people.
Day Job
Team: Paul Georghiou, Brooke Kymberley, Todor Manojlovic and Heather Riley
Synopsis: Day Job is an animated documentary that follows the lives of the over-qualified young staff of a dingy local bowling alley. Watch as that dream life of passion, love and career triumph always narrowly eludes them. But that stack of used bowling shoes is always there for them, just waiting to be cleaned.
Fine Art
Team: Emma Holland and Xavier Hazard
Synopsis: Kooky children’s art presenter Emma struggles to teach morals to a new generation through the joy of crafting, as the puppets, set, and even herself, derail the show in increasingly unsettling sketches (for adults only).
Going Under
Team: Danielle Walker, Lauren Bonner, Greta Lee Jackson, and Jono Mastrippolito.
Synopsis: The town of Gowa must evacuate within six months. Sam, an aspiring journalist, returns home to document her family and home for the last time ever.
I’m So Sorry For Your Loss
Team: Annie Louey, Jemma Cotter, Joshua Ladgrove, Oscar Axel Thorborg and Annie Thiele
Synopsis: After her father dies unexpectedly, Annie lands a job at a funeral home in an attempt to gain closure. The shambolic small business, run by her dysfunctional boss Sal, opens Annie’s eyes to the bizarre world of funerals.
Westerners
Team: Munasib Hamid, Miski Omar, Kevin Jin and Shehryar Hussain.
Synopsis: A surrealist comedy-drama that follows three young adults of the diaspora that move out from the Western Suburbs of Sydney to the Inner West in need of the freedom to express their inner realities. Always finding themselves walking the wire between worlds; their families, their inner monologue, and the world around them, they face a set of absurd and hilarious circumstances.
Ruby Rai
Team: Vidya Rajan, Nicholas Colla, Elyce Phillips, Nicolette Minster and Jesse Vogelaar.
Synopsis: Ruby Rai is a down-and-out Private Investigator… which is exactly how she likes it. But it’s not easy being your best hard-boiled self when inept co-workers, meddlesome family, and the endless weirdos (clients and ex-lovers) of the big city are waiting to thwart your every turn.
Starship Q Star
Team: Lauren Anderson and Meegan May
Synopsis: Based on the award-winning fiction podcast created by Meegan May and Lauren Anderson, STARSHIP Q STAR follows the ‘first all women and non-binary crew’ on a PR mission to Mars, when they inadvertently end up the last six humans in the universe.
Urvi Went to an All Girls School
Team: Urvi Majumdar, Sophie Braham, Rohan Ganju, Suren Jayemanne, Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa, Nina Oyama, and Sashi Perera
Synopsis: In 2010 Melbourne, a nerdy Indian girl struggles to fit in and find love amidst her parents’ traditional expectations and in the heightened, competitive environment of an elite academic all girls’ school.
Kingsland
Team: Josh Yasserie, Jon Rex Williams and Gita Irwin
Synopsis: Reg, a hot-headed animated First Nations man living in real-world Redfern, gets evicted from his home and goes in search of his place of belonging (which he can’t remember) guided only by the spirit of his late wife Agnes and Wiiny: a little gum-stoned furry flirt who he can’t understand.
Kingsland will be available to view on ABC TV and iview soon.