Monthly Archives: April 2015

Mark Conway and Mike Nayna’s Fancy Boy is one of five groups of short sketches, from more than 70 created last year, that will be developed into a half-hour pilot in a joint Screen Australia-ABC initiative, Fresh Blood.

In the third and final stage of Fresh Blood, one of the five pilots will be commissioned for a series that will air on iView.

Mark chats to us about developing the pilot for round two.

Screen Australia: How did you come up with the concept for your pilot?

Mark Conway: We’d been kicking around the idea since the first run of Fresh Blood. We wanted a format similar to sketch comedy just so we could work with a whole bunch of our comedian mates, but with a narrative arc to it. We want to expand on that arc for a series.

SA: How far into creating your pilot are you?

MC: We wrapped filming about three weeks ago, which was a beautiful moment of unadulterated joy (many hugs and kisses were shared between previous strangers). We’re now about a week away from our first cut of the pilot and sitting down with ABC to show them.

SA: What’s the main point of difference you’ve found between creating a sketch and a TV pilot?

MC: The workload. We wanted to bite off a lot more than the first run of Fresh Blood, so [we] raised the bar on ourselves as much as we could. Writing was considered a lot more and the amount of producing needed to pull it all together was a lot, lot bigger. The catering was also much better.

SA: If you could make a feature film, what would its one line synopsis be?

MC: You’ve seen Point Break. Now see the musical.

Stay up to date with Fancy Boy on Facebook and Twitter.

Pilots will air on iView soon, but until then here’s a Fancy Boy sketch from Fresh Blood phase one:

A group of friends created web series BedHead, about awkward sexual encounters, straight out of film school. Now Jon Dalgaard, Tom Keele, Benjamin Mathews and Claire Phillips are turning BedHead into a half-hour pilot for iView in a joint Screen Australia-ABC initiative, Fresh Blood.

Last year, 24 teams created more than 70 short sketches for Fresh Blood round one. Of the 24, five teams are now developing a pilot in round two. In round three, one pilot becomes a complete series.

We caught up with Jon, Tom, Benjamin and Claire to talk about their pilot.

Screen Australia: How did you come up with the concept for your pilot?

Jon Dalgaard, Tom Keele, Benjamin Mathews and Claire Phillips: We made a web series when we were at film school about what people think about when they’re having sex. As you can imagine it was incredibly hard to come up with ideas for the series, as none of us have ever had any embarrassing sexual experiences… that we were legally allowed to talk about. Somehow we managed to cobble a few things together from stories we’d been told by other people. Friends of friends mainly. Also, we were told that you can get a lot of research done for this kind of concept by typing “sex” into Google. So that helped a lot.

When the Fresh Blood opportunity came along we took the concept of the web series and adapted it. It was actually really hard, mainly because the format is a lot longer and so we had to write more. Also Tom Keele got a little bit caught up in doing research for the pilot, and so he was out of action for a while with one bad case of repetitive strain syndrome. But, we wouldn’t have been able to write the pilot without his many, many hilariously embarrassing stories. So thank you, Tom and get well soon.

SA: How far into creating your pilot are you?

JD, TK, BM & CP: We’re almost finished. Unless the ABC want to give us a deadline extension and some more money, in which case we’re just beginning.

SA: What’s the main point of difference you’ve found between creating a sketch and a TV pilot?

JD, TK, BM & CP: The big difference for us was writing one episode together rather than one each. It meant we had to talk about our sex lives. In detail. A lot. Whilst in the same room. Together. All the time. The room was tiny. You get it, right? The one good thing about that though is that we now have some great material if we ever want to blackmail each other.

SA: If you could make a feature film, what would its one line synopsis be?

JD, TK, BM & CP: In a world where men and women live equally, side by side, one man has an idea that could change not only his marriage, but the entire world… SEXISM, a male-dominated blockbuster event movie. Coming soon to a theatre near you.

Keep up with BedHead on Facebook and Twitter.

Pilots will air on iView soon, but in the meantime here’s a BedHead sketch from Fresh Blood phase one:

Adele Vuko, Greta Lee Jackson and Sarah Bishop are Skit Box: an all-girl comedy troupe that flip gender roles with hilarious results, and they’re developing a TV pilot for iView.

Having made it to round two of joint Screen Australia-ABC initiative, Fresh Blood – which saw 24 creative teams and more than 70 sketches from last year whittled down to five teams that will develop half-hour pilots – Skit Box are in the midst of creating a pilot. In Fresh Blood round three, one pilot will be commissioned for a series.

We chat to Adele, Greta Lee and Sarah about their pilot.

Screen Australia: How did you come up with the concept for your pilot?

Greta Lee Jackson, Adele Vuko and Sarah Bishop: Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am is a compilation of ideas we’ve had from the genesis of Skit Box online in 2012, as well as development with the ABC.

The show explores themes of gender roles in film and TV, from the common female victim archetype in horror films, dating in the Victorian era, and what would a junkie crack den be like if set in a sitcom… So covering all the basics!

We came up with the concept with the ABC, who wanted to see us take our original three Fresh Blood sketches, In A Woman’s World, which aired on iView in 2014, to another level where we explore a variety of topics, genres and concepts from our unique, and sometimes twisted, all female perspective.

SA: Was it something new that you had developed specifically for Fresh Blood, or had you been thinking about the idea for a while?

GLJ, AV & SB: A bit of both actually! Our Fresh Blood sketches from last year had three scenarios based in a world where women have always been the dominant sex. Asking the question, would a world run by women be any better? And we answer with a resounding and ironic, not really.

[The pilot] is an evolution of this concept, where we have included elements of this in some of our sketches, but have also incorporated other ideas from different angles.

We have always wanted to do a sketch variety show where we’re free to explore ideas and genres from a uniquely female perspective. Most of our humour has been based on flipping social or gender norms, and recently we’ve also started playing with other mediums, like animation, and different genres. Turning them on their heads and giving a fresh perspective on entertainment that we’re all familiar with.

SA: How far into creating your pilot are you?

GLJ, AV & SB: We are currently in the final stages of post-production, so grading and final sound design elements.

It’s been a crazy time of year for all of us. Sarah was also playing the female lead in Bedhead, (another Fresh Blood pilot), Greta has been touring her live stand up show Murdernerd at the Adelaide Fringe and Melbourne Comedy Fest, and Adele just gave birth to a baby boy, three weeks after shooting the pilot!

But it has been so much fun so far, and we are dying to get it finished so we can show people!

SA: What’s the main point of difference you’ve found between creating a sketch and a TV pilot?

GLJ, AV & SB: You need a bigger team! The three of us have previously worn many hats in order to make one-off or a series of short sketches. We would share the producing, writing, managing production, directing, assistant directing, coffee running hats to keep within our small budgets. With this funding from Screen Australia for the pilot, we were able to get our amazing producer Michelle Hardy on board and she pulled together an incredibly creative, innovative and all round awesome production team.

With this team, we achieved so much in the pilot that we can all share and be proud of.

It’s an incredible feeling, seeing a group of people hungry to make something great, standing around a half-erected junkie slum apartment set, wondering how to make convincing vomit and where to find a crack pipe quickly… Really rewarding!

SA: If you could make a feature film, what would its one line synopsis be?

GLJ, AV & SB: In a perfect world where money rains down upon us from Hollywood, we would make a coming of age comedy: Set in space, with definite time travel, some romance and a 70s Lost in Space-type feel, we’d call it FOUND in space… maybe.

Keep up with Skit Box on Facebook and Twitter.

Pilots will debut on iView soon. In the meantime, here’s a Skit Box sketch from Fresh Blood phase one:

Comedians Veronica Milsom and Steen Rasko are working on a pilot for iView in joint Screen Australia-ABC initiative, Fresh Blood.

Their sketches, called The Record, were some of more than 70 short sketches created last year for Fresh Blood. Now in round two, they’re one of five teams who will develop a pilot. Round three will see one of the pilots commissioned for a complete series.

In round one, The Record dealt with ambitious world record holders and their stepbrothers/costume designers/coaches. Veronica talks to us about round two.

Screen Australia: How did you come up with the concept for your pilot?

Veronica Milsom: The concept for The Record was born from my fascination with differing notions of what it means to be successful, to be remembered and leave a legacy. The Guinness World Records has always occurred to me as an interesting framework that allows people to strive for bizarre ways to be the best in the world at something, whether it be growing eight metre fingernails or balancing the most amount of spoons on your face.  They’re bizarre scenarios that these people take 100 percent seriously, and I think that’s funny and endearing.

I also love comedy that focuses primarily on character and relationships rather than purely pushing narrative or gags.

The Record felt like it could combine those two ideas nicely.

SA: Was it something new that you had developed specifically for Fresh Blood, or had you been thinking about the idea for a while?

VM: I’d been contemplating how to develop the concept into a live comedy show. Initially I wrote it up as a play to be performed by two actors depicting five different characters each in completely unrelated story lines.

SA: How far into creating your pilot are you?

VM: After a number of rewrites, we’re currently in pre-production and begin shooting in a few weeks. We’re excited to work with Porchlight Films for phase two of Fresh Blood, and thankfully they’ve raised our level of professionalism. We’re crewed up, locations are sorted, casting is mostly complete, so we’re getting there!

SA: What’s the main point of difference you’ve found between creating a sketch and a TV pilot?

VM: The sheer scale of writing a 26 minute production compared to a five minute one has been challenging. I was careful to ensure the jokes would sustain.  I think I’ve achieved that by unpacking the characters a lot more, how they relate to each other and what they want individually as well as pursing the record as couples.

SA: If you could make a feature film, what would its one line synopsis be?

VM: Whatever divides us, there’ll always be one thing that unites us, our need for recognition

Follow Veronica (Facebook, Twitter) and co-creator Steen Rasko (Facebook, Twitter) to stay up to date.

Pilots will air soon. Until then, watch a sketch from Fresh Blood phase one:

Sketch comedy crew Aunty Donna are developing a TV pilot for iView in a joint Screen Australia-ABC initiative, Fresh Blood.

Last year, more than 20 teams created 70 sketches as part of Fresh Blood, and now in round two, five teams are developing pilots. Round three will see one of the pilots picked up for a complete series.

We chat to Aunty Donna performer Broden Kelly about what we can expect from the comedy act in round two.

Screen Australia: How did you come up with the concept for your pilot?

Broden Kelly: A little bit of reality, a little bit of hyper-reality. In our fledgling years, Aunty Donna was a comedy quartet and one day we were rocked by the fourth member leaving! Our choices were to become a trio, or stop all together. This little crossroads for us was quite dramatic, and a good starting point for our log line! Of course, being us, we’ve gone rather farfetched and fantastical in the actual show, just to make sure we could keep our absurdist sketches at the core of our comedy. But to make it an engaging half hour, we wanted a narrative arc so the true story of Adrian leaving was our jumping-off point.

SA: Was it something new that you had developed specifically for Fresh Blood, or had you been thinking about the idea for a while?

BK: Yes, it was a completely new concept developed specifically for Fresh Blood. Although it does include some sketches from our live shows. Basically what we’ve come up with is a narrative-to-sketch hybrid, which means we have been able to play with some different ways to present comedy on screen.

Most of our writing for Donna has been for YouTube, which requires you to be quick, succinct and on-point of the joke. We have dabbled in narrative structure for our live shows, but really it was the opportunity presented to us by ABC and Screen Australia which meant we could combine the two.

For example, we’ve developed our characters and added some new ones with the incredible force, Sally-Ann Upton playing our terrifying agent and the gorgeous and hilarious, Miranda Tapsell in the role of Broden’s love interest (although she’s not in any way interested in him!), which carries us through the narrative.

But in our sketch world, we still get to keep the smorgasbord of completely different characters we play and the quick, silly jokes, which adds variety and a unique twist to the form.

It’s been a real creative thrill to make it.

SA: How far into creating your pilot are you?

BK: We’re currently in post-production and a few drafts deep into our edit. It’s exciting and a bit sad to think we’re almost done with this whole adventure.

SA: What’s the main point of difference you’ve found between creating a sketch and a TV pilot?

BK: There are two major differences for us. Firstly, it’s in the writing. We’ve had to be rigorous. We were lucky to have Andrew Knight as our script mentor who gave us some great advice and the ABC feedback and support has been really brilliant as well.

Secondly, and probably the most exciting for us, is the ability to add some production value to our ideas. The majority of the content found on our YouTube channel has been shot with very minimal crew: Our director on camera, our music-maker on the boom, and us actor/writers doing whatever other jobs need to be done. We shoot four or five [sketches] in a day and hope that they come out OK.

With the support from ABC and Screen Australia, it has been a real joy being able to bring on board a fantastic crew who helped this show come together. We spent a week shooting the pilot and it was a dream come true to be able to really focus all of our energies on making this silly show.

SA: If you could make a feature film, what would its one line synopsis be?

BK: “When a Jamaican sprinter is disqualified from the Olympic Games, he enlists the help of a dishonoured coach to start the first Jamaican Bobsled Team,” … Oh, wait.

Keep up with Aunty Donna on Facebook and Twitter.

Pilots will screen on iView soon, and until then enjoy one of Aunty Donna’s sketches from Fresh Blood phase one: