Top industry talent discuss comedy commissioning in the UK
Starts at
28 May 2020 16:00
Location
Online
Throughout May, Film Hub North presents Genre in Focus: Comedy - a series of online events for filmmakers looking at what makes us laugh. For the final event in the season - taking place on Thursday, 28 May - we're delighted to be partnering with local comedy co-op the North East Comedy Hot House to host a discussion with top industry talent about developing comedy for film and television.
We'll be joined by Jon Petrie, Commissioning Editor for comedy at Channel 4, and Meghan Cruz, Development Executive at Baby Cow Productions, who will share valuable insider insight and take a deeper look at how to to write, pitch and produce comedy for different platforms. Jon and Meghan will draw on their extensive experience - full weighty CVs below! - to demystify comedy commissioning, production and development. They'll chat about what the industry is looking for right now and offer advice on how to make your comedy work stand out from the crowd. Keeping things moving as our session MC is Newcastle-based comedian Hal Branson.
Register Now
The Developing Comedy Discussion is free to attend - book your place via Zoom at the link below. You don't need a live webcam or microphone to participate, just a reliable internet connection.
If you want to ask a question, you can use Zoom's chat feature during the session or submit them in advance to: bfinetwork@filmhubnorth.org.uk
Jon Petrie, Commissioning Editor for Comedy, Channel 4
Jon Petrie began his career working on comedy entertainment shows such as Never Mind The Buzzcocks, QI and Comic Relief. In 2008, Petrie moved to Ash Atalla's company Roughcut Television to develop online comedy content (in his spare time he ran sketch and stand up nights, including a nationwide video comedy night Popcorn Comedy). He produced the hugely successful Misery Bear shorts, which amassed over 10 million views. Since 2009, Petrie has produced the sketch show Anna and Katy, five series of the BAFTA winning People Just Do Nothing (after he discovered the show on YouTube), Hospital People and most recently Channel 4’s Stath Lets Flats. Petrie also ran his own production label, Little A, in partnership with Roughcut Television.
Meghan Cruz, Development Executive, Baby Cow Productions
Meghan is a development executive at Baby Cow working across the comedy and drama slates. Originally from Los Angeles, but living in London for over a decade, Meghan has worked in a variety of roles across the industry. As a consultant at international agency MediaXchange, she developed and script-edited drama projects for European producers and broadcasters. She went on to produce at the BBC, first in the BBC Academy, then producing podcasts for BBC Writersroom. She joined the BBC Films team working across production of 17 films and a development slate of 80+ projects, before moving fully into TV development at Tiger Aspect Productions. She joined Baby Cow in 2016 and has been working across Comedy and Drama development, sourcing material and looking for original ideas and authentic voices that sit within the Baby Cow brand.
